My axolotl is sressed, what should i do?

[ajolotesweytaco]

Their gills are fine, but his tail is curled and he wont eat since 4 days ago
the tank is 40 Lt aprox, and i change the water 25% weekly, my axolotl is 15-16 cm, my tank, isn't cycled, but it wasn't a problem cause i have duckweed, but lately they're dying because of the lack of light.

i have no idea how to post photos.

sorry for my bad english.

thanks.

 

[Lyssa]

What type of substrate do you use?
What is the temperature of the tank?

 

[ajolotesweytaco]

my tank don't have substract, the temperature is 16°C or 60.8 F

 

[keiko]

Have you tested the water parameters (ammonia, nirite, nitrate, pH)? Duckweed won't help if your tank isn't cycled. The axie produces wastes in the tank -> ammonia. Bacteria "eats" ammonia and produces nitrite. Another colony of bacteria "eats" nitrite and produces nitrate. Plants then use some of the nitrates. Ammonia and nitrite are very toxic and should never be more than 0.5 ppm in a tank where there are living animals. If the tank isn't cycled you need to do massive water changes daily to keep the ammonia and nitrite in safe levels.

 

[layna]

As keiko has said above, if you tank isnt cycled then you will need to be doing 25-50% water changes daily not weekly.
If your axie is stressed i would add more hides and lots of plants so they can get in the dark and relax as axies dont like bright light. Your tank is a little bare for an axies liking and even fake plants will do as long as they provide shade and somewhere for your axie to hide.

What are you feeding your axie? He should be on live earthworms by now and the wriggling should encourage him to eat

 

[ajolotesweytaco]

Have you tested the water parameters (ammonia, nirite, nitrate, pH)? Duckweed won't help if your tank isn't cycled. The axie produces wastes in the tank -> ammonia. Bacteria "eats" ammonia and produces nitrite. Another colony of bacteria "eats" nitrite and produces nitrate. Plants then use some of the nitrates. Ammonia and nitrite are very toxic and should never be more than 0.5 ppm in a tank where there are living animals. If the tank isn't cycled you need to do massive water changes daily to keep the ammonia and nitrite in safe levels.

thank you, another question:
i have read that , fridge an axolotl would be better for stress, is this applied to this type of stress?

 

[Bette]

Especially if it already is not eating, I do not recommend fridging your axolotl. Fridging can be stressful in itself, and they lose their appetite in the cold temps.
Keep it calm in its tank, do at least 25% water change daily, and offer a variety of food such as sinking pellets, earth worms, frozen blood worms, efc.
And definitely offer more hides for it, or at least do not use lighting over the tank.

 

[Bette]

Also, do you have a filter running in the tank? The device I can see looks like a heater. But you said the temp is kept at about 60 degrees?

 

[ajolotesweytaco]

Also, do you have a filter running in the tank? The device I can see looks like a heater. But you said the temp is kept at about 60 degrees?

yes, i have a sponge filter like this one running in my tank

 

[ajolotesweytaco]

As keiko has said above, if you tank isnt cycled then you will need to be doing 25-50% water changes daily not weekly.
If your axie is stressed i would add more hides and lots of plants so they can get in the dark and relax as axies dont like bright light. Your tank is a little bare for an axies liking and even fake plants will do as long as they provide shade and somewhere for your axie to hide.

What are you feeding your axie? He should be on live earthworms by now and the wriggling should encourage him to eat

i used to feed him with californian red earthworm and MAZURI (or something like that) for turtles, also something called TETRA.

 

[layna]

Erathworms are best but red wrigglers can secrete a nasty tasting slime the axies dont like, pellets work too.

If you only have a sponge filter in the tank you will need to spot clean any poop/left over waste and they dont have any means for chemical filtration.

Also as i previously said you need to be doing daily water changes if you tank isnt cycled as the high levels of ammonia can hurt you axie and may eventually cause their death

 

[ajolotesweytaco]

Erathworms are best but red wrigglers can secrete a nasty tasting slime the axies dont like, pellets work too.

If you only have a sponge filter in the tank you will need to spot clean any poop/left over waste and they dont have any means for chemical filtration.

Also as i previously said you need to be doing daily water changes if you tank isnt cycled as the high levels of ammonia can hurt you axie and may eventually cause their death

my cousin gave me some cycled water, so the tank contain 30-40% of cycled water, (60% is normal water), also, i have learned that his water had a ph of 6, how can i balance it? thanks for the californian earthworm fact.

Posdata: after 8 days of fasting, my axolotl finally ate some pellets since then he eat everyday, but his tail keep being curled, and their gills are turning forward :S

 

[Cacique]

Unfortunately water doesn't contain enough bacteria to do anything, you would need some substrate, filter media, or plants and rocks. I'm glad your axolotl ate something, hopefully someone will come and have some answers for your other questions.

 

[ajolotesweytaco]

i think my axolotl has recovered, he eat normally, i guess the problem was the ph (6) and the amonia and nitrites. here some photos:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t34.0-12/10705108_10205016395116360_581733492_n.jpg?oh=fab8f5a4f78a3eadd33e8a2b3909c857&oe=541DD505&__gda__=1411255793_0d5229df1f7e2c91010cffe1180c21f2[/IMG
[IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t34.0-12/10708411_10205016394596347_774268630_n.jpg?oh=8e292a10d8a6e4e8a4991cf4327ce088&oe=541DC11E&__gda__=1411245226_9195b3dba78e5253ea5cf4b258530987

[/IMG]

 

[Bette]

He does look good now. Great! Remember the saying "an once of prevention is worth a pound of cure".:happy:

 

[ajolotesweytaco]

He does look good now. Great! Remember the saying "an once of prevention is worth a pound of cure".:happy:

i totally agree with you, the thing is that i was given the axolotl without any notice, so i couldn't never cycle an aquarium, or even buy an aquarium... (that's why i have it in a plastic box:sad: )

 

[Bette]

With daily water changes, it will be fine in the plastic container. Keep it in there until you get a proper aquarium cycled, and everything should be fine. Best of luck!