Questions from New Axie Owner

[nicolle]

Hi I am the owner of 2 axies ( bought them 5 days ago)

Firstly I have an Aquaone tank and proper filter etc etc but the water keeps going cloudy. The PH is fine. Any ideas?

Secondly the big dude has not eatin in 5 days. I have tried blood worms and keal worms - what the pet shop told me to feed them. Is this normal food and should i be worried he is not eating. The feisty girl eats like crazy - 3 mealworms a day and she looks for more.

Thirdly we were told jsut to test for PH but i see on here some test for Nirtrate - do i need to test for more than PH?

Fourthly - do i need a thermometer and water cooler in the tank

Fifthly and this is more of a whinge than anything else - i bought the axies at 10 on saturday morning and by 3 one was dead so they gave me a replacement one and made up a lame **** excuse which was dodgy. i am concerned that all the axies from there might be sick - waht do i need to look for

6thly - i posted in another section on here. the female laid an egg after we put her in the tank (they told us she had already finished laying) what do i do now

 

[Kiowa]

Hello Nicolle

Yes it is important to have more test kits which include a Nitrite, Nitrate, ammonia test because ammonia and Nitrite are toxic and the Nitrate indicates if the tank is cycled or not.

The parameters should be:

Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 30-40

Your tank may be getting cloudy because it hasn't fully cycled yet so the test kits mentioned above will show if it is or not. If not a daily 10-15 % water change is required but if the ammonia and nitrite are at high levels (above 0) you have to do a 20% water change daily.
Here is a link about cycling tanks:

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml

Also if the Nitrite, Ammonia and Nitrate are at toxic levels it can cause an axolotl to be ill such as refusal of food.

It is 'completely normal' for an axolotl to refuse to eat for the a few days after stress from transportation to a new environment but if it continues on you can observe a few factors in the aquarium such as:

Temperature: The temperature must not exceed above 21ºc so a thermometer is required. If your weather conditions are continuously at high temperatures a water cooler is indeed a great idea.

Water levels: The parameters of ammonia and Nitrite must not be above 0.

Filters: Strong water flow can damage the axolotl’s gills and cause stress.

You can tell if your axolotl is stressed by the forward-turned gills (stressed by flowing water) and curled tail end.

Enjoy your axolotls

Bye

 

[Neke]

Hey Nicolle,
Are you removing the heads of the mealworms before you feed them? They can chew through the axolotls insides if you don't. They've got hard shells too I think, so aren't a great staple.

Earthworms are usually recommended as the best food- check this page out for a list of different things you can feed them - http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods.shtml

Some axies just don't like certain foods, or they get bored of the same thing so it's good to have a few different things to offer them. However, the reason he's not eating is probably one of the reasons mentioned by Kiowa.

Pet shops usually don't know much... The one's I've been to have told me some ridiculous things, which I would have believed if I hadn't done some research. What size tank did you get? The minimum size for 1 is 45 cm (I think) because they grow up to 30cm long, so a 3ft long tank for 2 axolotls would be ideal.

What substrate did you put in? Sand or nothing is best, as your axies will suck up gravel and stones which get stuck in their bellies - it's painful for them to pass and could kill them. Whatever you put in you have to rinse it thoroughly first - if you didn't, perhaps that is why your water is cloudy. Otherwise it's probably something to do with the water parameters, which Kiowa already mentioned.

It's hard controlling the temperature in Australia, but you need to think of a way to keep it down. Theres a few cooling suggestions on this page - http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cooling.shtml

I'm sure other people will be able to help you more, and some pictures of your set up and axolotls will help to figure out if anything is wrong.
Good luck!

 

[nicolle]

hi i have a 4 foot aquarium - it is an aquaone - it has 3 lights on top but i only really keep the uv one on most of the time to minimise the heat going into the tank. i have gravel on the bottom which i washed before i put it in but the shop assured me it was big enough for the axies not to swallow it and it is what they had in their shop - i havent put too much in the tank jsut 2 ornaments so that i did not overdo it. we went and bought a wizz bang water test kit that tests nitrate nitrite etc and tested last night and they were all fine.... i might give it the weekend to settle down as the axies have only been in a week

i have tried blood worms but they are a no go and i find it difficult to hold them in the water and get them to the axies - the black girl likes the meal worms but i did not know i had to take the heads off

i might see if i can buy some daphnia on line - i asked the 3 local petshops and they all said no - if not i know i can get brine shrimp

thanks for all your help and i will take a pic of the tank - the camera is charging

 

[nicolle]

You will be happy to know that tonight I dug up a few garden words and Dory ate 2 - they hardly hit the tank and up he came and pounced. I onyl let him eat 2 but I think he would have eaten more. I am soooo relieved he is eating again after 6 days!! Mikey (female) also likes garden worms so I guess no more meal worms are required.

 

[Kiowa]

Thats 'great' to here Nicolle.:happy:

 

[Neke]

Yay! It sounds like they've adjusted to their new home, and you've got heaps of room for them

Just be careful with digging up worms from the garden that they're not coming from any areas where there could be pesticides or chemicals etc. If you get sick of slaving away in the garden for them all the time, you should be able to pick some up pretty easily from a bait shop.

It's good that you're only using one of the lights, but be careful not to leave it on for very long each day - they hate light. If you're going to use it maybe just put it on for a bit in the evenings, and give them heaps of places to hide - at least 2 hiding places for each axie. You said you've only got 2 ornaments in there - If you can't find anything else you like right now, at least just grab some pvc pipes and stick them in as a temporary thing. They don't have eyelids, so have no other way of escaping from the light.

With the gravel, If its smaller than their heads they will eat it no matter what. When they eat they vacuum food up instead of just biting it, so the substrate gets sucked up as well. Plus they like to dig around all the time I think, so its hard to stop them from doing it. Sand or bare bottom are the best - bigger river stones are ok if they are too big to swallow, but food and waste gets stuck in between them making it really hard to keep the tank clean.

Keep an eye on your water parameters with the test kit while its cycling, ammonia and nitrite are toxic. Just make sure you've read the cycling page so you know what to do. You said they're fine - has the water stopped clouding?

Sounds like they're happy and healthy, so congrats!