klogue
New member
Im new here 
! Let me start by giving you guys some background info...
I am a new axolotl owner and have a juvenile (3 inch) leucistic axie. I got him about 5 days ago. His tank (20 gallon long, with sand, 100gph marineland power filter, lots of fake plants and decor) is NOT cycled.
I did daily water changes (about 20%) up until about 3 days ago (was told too much changing can cause stress, even if the tank is cycling). I checked the parameters yesterday morning and ammonia levels were up to about 4ppm! I was going to immediately remove him from the tank and put him in fresh dechlorinated tap water in a smal container, so i can let the main tank cycle and keep doing water changes on the small tank temporarily. Well i decided against it.
Now, skip to today, i found out this morning my boyfriend did at LEAST a 50% water change while i was at work last night, DIDNT use dechlorinator (he used fresh tap water), and to throw in another thing, my filter wasnt running when i woke up (plugged in but backed up or something).
My little guy was listless and seemed out of it to say the least. His gills were forward and his tail was curled. He was very unresponsive to my attempts to frighten him (to make sure he was ok) i had to actually touch him or prod him to make him swim away, and even then it wasnt like normal where he would dart like lightning if i got near him. My boyfriend told me he put the coldest tap water in at the time and it may have been 57 or 58 F when he left the tank alone. My tank normally stays at 68-70 (been working on cooling it better). He said he put the axie in the bowl initially and after he finished filling the tank poured him in (temperature shock im certain occurred).
And then, i had been in too much a panic to notice, but a few hours ago i smelled a very strong smell of chemicals or metal from the tank. I dont use anything other than dechlorinator (which i did put some in when i realized my boyfriends mistake). My only guess can be that the fake grass samples i put in (from Georgia Carpet, recommended by facebook group) were contaminating my tank with something. I rinsed them well but it obviously was not a good idea to even put them in. This is my only explanation i can find...
I have put the axolotl in a small shoebox tub filled halfway with fresh tap water (dechlorinated) and made sure it was close to the tanks temperature, floated the axolotl in a ziplock bag to acclimate. I did this maybe around 1pm central time (about 8 hours ago). He does seem to have improved slightly. He isnt AS listless but still very much so. I left a small piece of red wiggler in there for him tonight to let him eat if he felt up to it, but will remove it in the morning if uneaten and do a water change.
My main questions are:
Is there anything i can do to help this little guy? Im still very new and just dont know much about healthcare.
How should i go about cleaning the decor after i remove the carpet samples? (And what about the sand?) I know not to use soap but can i run hot water over them for a while, would that work?
Do you think there is something other than the carpet samples causing the problem? My tap water normally runs clean of any strong smell... I drink it and it even tastes fine (as in very slightly noticeable metal/chlorine taste)
Thank you in advance for any help. Im so smitten with this little guy and want to make this right by him and help him become healthy again!
! Let me start by giving you guys some background info...I am a new axolotl owner and have a juvenile (3 inch) leucistic axie. I got him about 5 days ago. His tank (20 gallon long, with sand, 100gph marineland power filter, lots of fake plants and decor) is NOT cycled.
I did daily water changes (about 20%) up until about 3 days ago (was told too much changing can cause stress, even if the tank is cycling). I checked the parameters yesterday morning and ammonia levels were up to about 4ppm! I was going to immediately remove him from the tank and put him in fresh dechlorinated tap water in a smal container, so i can let the main tank cycle and keep doing water changes on the small tank temporarily. Well i decided against it.
Now, skip to today, i found out this morning my boyfriend did at LEAST a 50% water change while i was at work last night, DIDNT use dechlorinator (he used fresh tap water), and to throw in another thing, my filter wasnt running when i woke up (plugged in but backed up or something).
My little guy was listless and seemed out of it to say the least. His gills were forward and his tail was curled. He was very unresponsive to my attempts to frighten him (to make sure he was ok) i had to actually touch him or prod him to make him swim away, and even then it wasnt like normal where he would dart like lightning if i got near him. My boyfriend told me he put the coldest tap water in at the time and it may have been 57 or 58 F when he left the tank alone. My tank normally stays at 68-70 (been working on cooling it better). He said he put the axie in the bowl initially and after he finished filling the tank poured him in (temperature shock im certain occurred).
And then, i had been in too much a panic to notice, but a few hours ago i smelled a very strong smell of chemicals or metal from the tank. I dont use anything other than dechlorinator (which i did put some in when i realized my boyfriends mistake). My only guess can be that the fake grass samples i put in (from Georgia Carpet, recommended by facebook group) were contaminating my tank with something. I rinsed them well but it obviously was not a good idea to even put them in. This is my only explanation i can find...
I have put the axolotl in a small shoebox tub filled halfway with fresh tap water (dechlorinated) and made sure it was close to the tanks temperature, floated the axolotl in a ziplock bag to acclimate. I did this maybe around 1pm central time (about 8 hours ago). He does seem to have improved slightly. He isnt AS listless but still very much so. I left a small piece of red wiggler in there for him tonight to let him eat if he felt up to it, but will remove it in the morning if uneaten and do a water change.
My main questions are:
Is there anything i can do to help this little guy? Im still very new and just dont know much about healthcare.
How should i go about cleaning the decor after i remove the carpet samples? (And what about the sand?) I know not to use soap but can i run hot water over them for a while, would that work?
Do you think there is something other than the carpet samples causing the problem? My tap water normally runs clean of any strong smell... I drink it and it even tastes fine (as in very slightly noticeable metal/chlorine taste)
Thank you in advance for any help. Im so smitten with this little guy and want to make this right by him and help him become healthy again!