struggling with larvae

[monomike]

Hey all. I have 4 axies in an 60ish gallon cycled tank and one is floating all the time. Otherwise he seems healthy. I took him out and put in the fridge for a few days where things seemed to clear up a bit. I put him back in the tank and after a couple days he's back to floating. I haven't gone with salt baths or anything yet since I already lost a floater about a month ago and I'm sheepish. I've been monitoring the levels in the tank and the other three look fine. Any thoughts? Am I being paranoid?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Jennewt]

No, you aren't being paranoid. Floating is not an "emergency" symptom, but it's not entirely normal either. What is the water temperature (not air temp)? What do you feed them? Does the floater seem stressed by the other 3 axies? Like, do you see competition for food and hiding places?

By the way, how large are the axies? I just realized that your post topic is "struggling with larvae", so are they small ones?

 

[monomike]

Thanks. The water is in the high teens (C) and I have started trying to cool it with ice bottles a bit. I've been feeding earthworms and soft pellets, but thay all seem to prefet the worms so the pellets have fallen back in priority a bit. Actually I've been struggling with pellets dropping away into the substrate before they get to them and then that makes for a waste problem, so I have avoided them a bit because of that too. I need a better feeding method (my amphiuma is a little faster-- never been a problem in the past!... yes, he's in a different tank.) Let's see, the floater is one of the larger ones at maybe 10-12 cm with another the same size and a couple more like 8-10 cm. They don't seem to be competing for spots to hide. I just put them in a larger tank and there is a good bit of turf. Honestly, he really looks the healthiest and largest of them all. I don't get it...

Thanks again!

 

[John]

Sounds like they might be swallowing gravel. Is the substrate swallow-size? Gravel swallowing can cause gas to accumulate in the gut and leed to floating.

 

[monomike]

Gravel in the tank is about as big as the little guy's head. I'm skeptical that is it. Any other thoughts? I have some antibiotics, should I try them?

 

[kapo]

High teens isn't too bad; it's when it starts going into the 20s that you have to be more vigilant about cooling it.

If he continues to float, then either lower the water level, or separate him and put him in a container of tankwater or dechlorinated with lowered water so he doesn't float so much.

Don't use antibiotics. As you really don't know what the problem is yet, you may invariably cause a problem by adding it. Also, most fish medicines can be toxic to axies.

Another thing, you should really remove the gravel, as they grow bigger they will ingest it and it can lead to blockage and possible prolapse. Also, food and waste debri that fall between or eventually gets buried beneath the gravel will build up and can cause a water quality problem.

 

[xxvickyxx]

yep yep yep,please remove the gravel, just today we saw about 6 young axies full of gravel poor things!