Tea Bath Limit

[onyx2011]

Is there a limit to how long I can keep Tabitha in a 2 gallon tub of tea bath? He keeps showing stress signs in his tank, but is chill as a cucumber in the tub. My water is toxic, so we have to buy our water. We go to the store to refill this week, and I've been cut off by my dad from doing anymore water changes. I believe his tank still has too much dechlorinater even though I've done 2 10% water changes since Thursday(the day of my oopsie) would it be best to keep Tabi in the tea bath until then? His tea bath was made with spring water and tea, I didn't dechlorinate it, and he seemed to do better in it, seemed more active and more lively. (He's only 4.5 inches, so activity is supposed to be good, right?)

So basically, would it be best to keep him in a tub that does not have the dechlorinater, or the tea bath that has not been dechlorinated, and has no filter for a couple days?

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[onyx2011]

Sorry I was multitasking, the last paragraph should have "best to keep him in a tank with too much dechlorinater, but with a filter

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[Donna001]

If the tea bath is made with spring water it shouldn't require dechlorinator, as no chlorine or chloramines should be in the water. No filter for a few days would be a problem - normally a tub without filter would have 100% daily water changes to deal with waste.
I don't have enough experience to deal with the decision of tea bath or tank, but no filter is not a good thing as the levels of ammonia will increase quite quickly.
When will you be able to replace deal with the water in your tank? If it is fairly soon I would be tempted to put a 50/50 mix of tank and tea water in a container and put the filter in that with your axie - the water mix will reduce the dechlorinator and also reduce the astringent properties of the tea bath, hopefully making it suitable for both filter and axie until you can get more safe water.
That would only be my gut feeling, and I have absolutle no experince or information to suggest that this is a good idea, so please check with more experienced keeprs before doing anything.
Good luck.

 

[GeorgeAquatics]

I know that a lot of people recommend tea baths, for all sorts of reasons, and I don't have any evidence that the tea itself is necessarily harmful, (although I have my doubts about the safety of caffeine for axolotls) but there are a few things that you might want to be aware of.

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TEA BATHS: RISKS AND BENEFITS:

“Tea bath for axolotls” By Daniel Weiner (Note: The author does not recommend doing tea baths to treat fungus.)
Caudata Culture Articles - Illness Part 2
-
“Skin flaking off after a short tea bath?”:
Skin flaking off after a short tea bath? - Caudata.org Newt and Salamander Forum
-
“ Pesticide traces in some tea exceed allowable limits” (CBC News)
Pesticide traces in some tea exceed allowable limits - Canada - CBC News

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When you say that your tap water is toxic, what do you mean by that? Is there ammonia in it? If so, there are tap water conditioners that will detoxify it (Prime, Amquel etc.)

 

[onyx2011]

I know that a lot of people recommend tea baths, for all sorts of reasons, and I don't have any evidence that the tea itself is necessarily harmful, (although I have my doubts about the safety of caffeine for axolotls) but there are a few things that you might want to be aware of.

---

TEA BATHS: RISKS AND BENEFITS:

“Tea bath for axolotls” By Daniel Weiner (Note: The author does not recommend doing tea baths to treat fungus.)
Caudata Culture Articles - Illness Part 2
-
“Skin flaking off after a short tea bath?”:
Skin flaking off after a short tea bath? - Caudata.org Newt and Salamander Forum
-
“ Pesticide traces in some tea exceed allowable limits” (CBC News)
Pesticide traces in some tea exceed allowable limits - Canada - CBC News

---

When you say that your tap water is toxic, what do you mean by that? Is there ammonia in it? If so, there are tap water conditioners that will detoxify it (Prime, Amquel etc.)

It is toxic to both humans and aquatic life. It is unsafe for drinking, and my mom explained it as e.colis cousin being there when we moved in a couple years ago. My dad's fish got sick when he did a major water change with it, so I'm assuming a more sensitive creature would do horribly

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[onyx2011]

I'm gonna beg my mom to go shopping tonight, Tabi looked alright when I left the house. Hes still snuggling the bubble wand. I turned it off to try and minimize stress.

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[GeorgeAquatics]

Well, a major water change could cause fish to get sick in any case, but if your water has ammonia in it, and your dad didn't add any sort of water conditioner to neutralize it, that could actually kill the fish.

As far as bacteria in the water go, I doubt that would actually be a problem for axolotls. A healthy aquarium typically has thriving bacterial colonies of all sorts, including ones that could be harmful to humans in some cases, (ever heard of Mycobacteria infection? That's why you want to keep aquarium water out of any open cuts.)

Mycobactera

If I were you, I would either buy a test kit to find out exactly what your water chemistry is like, or if you can't afford it and your mother can't be convinced to make the investment, try phoning around to your local pet stores or fish stores and see if one will agree to test your water for free. They often will, if you ask nicely.

Most important will be: Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Second most important are pH, GH, and KH. Also good to know if possible: Iron and copper. Most water conditioners will neutralize heavy metals though.

Here are some of your options.

Note: I don't recommend using a water conditioner with slime coat stimulants, (even though I currently use Prime myself, as do many others, although I'm thinking of switching to Amquel or plain Sodium thiosulfate, since my water has no ammonia.)
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"Most information taken from Tropicaltank.co.uk

If you are looking for :

Removal of Chlorine ONLY:

API Tap Water Conditioner
Kent Chlorinex
Seachem ChlorGuard
Wardley Chlor Out

Removal of chlorine, heavy metals and slime coat protector:

API Stress Coat
Hagen/Nutrafin Aquaplus
Kent Pro Tech Coat FW
Kordon Novaqua
Waterlife Haloex

Complete removal of chlorine, chloramine and ammonia only:

API Ammo-Lock
Kent Ammonia Detox
Kordon Amquel
Marineland BIO-Safe
Seachem AmGuard

Complete removal of chlorine, chloramine and ammonia, heavy metals and slime coat protector:

AquaScience Ultimate
Seachem Prime
Tetra AquaSafe

Protection against Ammonia in a cycling tank (with fish of course.)

API Ammo-Lock
AquaScience Ultimate
Kent Ammonia Detox
Kordon Amquel
Seachem Prime or AmGuard

Slime coat protection only:

Marineland BIO-Coat
Seachem StressGuard..."

Choosing the right water conditioner for your tank. [Archive] - Aquarium Forum "

 

[onyx2011]

Update; I did a major water change on Thursday night! I then left to my cousins house for the weekend. We ended up stopping by a pet shop, and I got some new fake plants, one suction cup and one just to add a flash of color(that isnt green). The trip was completely a surprise(so no water testing ), but I set things up when I got back
His color is looking a lot better, and his gills look fuller than before!

He still loves his bubble wand

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[Donna001]

Great to hear that things are getting better. :happy:

 

[onyx2011]

Thanks everyone for being helpful

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