axolover703
New member
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2017
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- 37
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- United States
- Display Name
- OpalAxies
Hello all 
So I have recently started using a water conditioner in my axolotl tank, as it said it was supposed to help with slime coats. But I've realized that you really don't need nearly as much as the directions say to use. Unfortunately, I didn't realize this soon enough and I've been putting too much in. I did an 80%-ish water change about 3 days ago and put in the directed amount, but the next day the water was VERY cloudy. I realized it was most likely due to the conditioner, so I immediately did a 90% water change, cleaning the items in the tank and not adding the conditioner this time. Now that the tank is so clean, I noticed that my Leucistic, Andrew's gills were looking very thin and short, when just a couple days ago they looked fine. It appeared that his slime coat was starting to come off. I thought it was just him, but I saw that my Melanoid, Tobiko, looked the same way. (Although his gills still look okay.) It seems like I caught this problem right as it has started, so I'm giving it a couple days to see if the problem clears up on it's own in the now clean water. I'm also doing much more frequent water bottle rotations to ensure the water stays cool enough. I considered quarantining my axies, but I figured that transporting them out of the tank right now would only further damage their slime coats and stress them out even more, which are the last things they need right now. I also feel that a tea bath is not needed at this time. Like I said, this problem seems to have not gone too far yet, so I'm waiting a couple days to see if they'll recover, as Andrew has had this problem before, and it cleared up after giving him fresh and cold water. They are also not eating much right now. So in the case that they do not recover after a few days of maintaining the water quality, what should I do? I'd really rather not transport them outside of the tank right now, but if the problem persists I understand that I may have no choice. Thank you in advance!!
So I have recently started using a water conditioner in my axolotl tank, as it said it was supposed to help with slime coats. But I've realized that you really don't need nearly as much as the directions say to use. Unfortunately, I didn't realize this soon enough and I've been putting too much in. I did an 80%-ish water change about 3 days ago and put in the directed amount, but the next day the water was VERY cloudy. I realized it was most likely due to the conditioner, so I immediately did a 90% water change, cleaning the items in the tank and not adding the conditioner this time. Now that the tank is so clean, I noticed that my Leucistic, Andrew's gills were looking very thin and short, when just a couple days ago they looked fine. It appeared that his slime coat was starting to come off. I thought it was just him, but I saw that my Melanoid, Tobiko, looked the same way. (Although his gills still look okay.) It seems like I caught this problem right as it has started, so I'm giving it a couple days to see if the problem clears up on it's own in the now clean water. I'm also doing much more frequent water bottle rotations to ensure the water stays cool enough. I considered quarantining my axies, but I figured that transporting them out of the tank right now would only further damage their slime coats and stress them out even more, which are the last things they need right now. I also feel that a tea bath is not needed at this time. Like I said, this problem seems to have not gone too far yet, so I'm waiting a couple days to see if they'll recover, as Andrew has had this problem before, and it cleared up after giving him fresh and cold water. They are also not eating much right now. So in the case that they do not recover after a few days of maintaining the water quality, what should I do? I'd really rather not transport them outside of the tank right now, but if the problem persists I understand that I may have no choice. Thank you in advance!!