D
Deleted member 46984
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ANY HELP WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!! Thank you so much!
I will explain what is going on and the details that I think should help you get a proper assessment of the situation to hopefully guide me with what you recommend with my questions and any additional advice you may have. See below:
I have a 50 gallon tank that I keep 3 axolotls in together, all of which are approx. 2 years old and have lived together for 8-12 months now. I am concerned because over the last few weeks, I have noticed a soap like froth at the top waterline of the tank, which I did more frequent water changes to try to resolve and continued to check the water readings, which stayed normal. The only real change I have made recently was about a month ago, I added a second sponge filter to the tank to hopefully help pick up more of the grossness (lol best word I could think of). I have since removed the original sponge filter that I had previously as I read that over filtration could cause the soap looking stuff and have had just the one newer sponge filter now for at least a week. As of today, the soap stuff had finally gone away. But, that is only after I freaked out yesterday and tubbed all three of them because they looked so bad and just seem to keep getting worse each day and I feel this way based on how they have been acting, but even more so on their gills.
All three of them had long, beautiful, healthy, full gills in the past and now they have very broken, frayed/fringed and not healthy looking ones. The Lucy has a bunch of white fuzz in hers, but this has happened in the past a couple of times and has gone away with water changes. The black ones have never had any sign of this previously and now both have it in theirs as well and theirs seem to be deteriorating extremely fast, which is also why I tubbed them yesterday. The water readings are still remaining as they should be (see pics for the readings and the gills of all three of them as well). They have been acting somewhat off, all three of them very zombie like and not very active, staying on top of the hammock, the filter sponge or as I like to call doing the praising God stance, but for very long periods of time. They have maintained their normal appetite the entire time, though.
The water change process I do is - weekly tank cleanings, which I remove approx. 85-90% of their water (which I know is terrible and I should not do). I scrape the inside wall to remove any build up and also remove everything (even the ceramic tile I use as their floor) all décor, etc. and rinse it all very well under tap water. That is with the exception of the sponge filter, which I squeeze in a bowl of the dirty water a lot of times to try to remove all the nastiness. After rinsing everything else, I add it all back in the tank, add the water conditioner, then refill the tank with the water and then the axolotls once their water matches temp wise with the new water. Again, I know that I should not do such large water changes, but I feel like I cannot really get it clean and not absolutely gross, if I don't.
-As mentioned I use a sponge filter and in between I use a turkey baster to remove waste
-I keep their water at approx. 64 degrees and use fans on top to keep it cool and have a temp reader that alerts if the temp gets too high.
-I feed them live worms, as many as they will eat (usually 2-3) every other day and occasionally the sinking pellets
-I have an API freshwater test kit that I use weekly before I do the cleanings.
-I use API water conditioner with each water change
The main things I am really seeking guidance on (as well as anything additional you may be able t o help me with) are the following:
-Since their water readings are still showing how they should be, should I just return them back to their tank, instead of doing the tubbing and daily water changes?
or
-Should I keep them tubbed and just do a full recycle of their tank and fully scrub it down and start over from scratch in case that was soap that I kept seeing somehow?
-Should I do one of the axie aid type treatments, or some other type of gill treatment, since there is clearly fungus going on and if so, do I do that with them separated, or can it be done all together?
Thank you so much,
Jessica
I will explain what is going on and the details that I think should help you get a proper assessment of the situation to hopefully guide me with what you recommend with my questions and any additional advice you may have. See below:
I have a 50 gallon tank that I keep 3 axolotls in together, all of which are approx. 2 years old and have lived together for 8-12 months now. I am concerned because over the last few weeks, I have noticed a soap like froth at the top waterline of the tank, which I did more frequent water changes to try to resolve and continued to check the water readings, which stayed normal. The only real change I have made recently was about a month ago, I added a second sponge filter to the tank to hopefully help pick up more of the grossness (lol best word I could think of). I have since removed the original sponge filter that I had previously as I read that over filtration could cause the soap looking stuff and have had just the one newer sponge filter now for at least a week. As of today, the soap stuff had finally gone away. But, that is only after I freaked out yesterday and tubbed all three of them because they looked so bad and just seem to keep getting worse each day and I feel this way based on how they have been acting, but even more so on their gills.
All three of them had long, beautiful, healthy, full gills in the past and now they have very broken, frayed/fringed and not healthy looking ones. The Lucy has a bunch of white fuzz in hers, but this has happened in the past a couple of times and has gone away with water changes. The black ones have never had any sign of this previously and now both have it in theirs as well and theirs seem to be deteriorating extremely fast, which is also why I tubbed them yesterday. The water readings are still remaining as they should be (see pics for the readings and the gills of all three of them as well). They have been acting somewhat off, all three of them very zombie like and not very active, staying on top of the hammock, the filter sponge or as I like to call doing the praising God stance, but for very long periods of time. They have maintained their normal appetite the entire time, though.
The water change process I do is - weekly tank cleanings, which I remove approx. 85-90% of their water (which I know is terrible and I should not do). I scrape the inside wall to remove any build up and also remove everything (even the ceramic tile I use as their floor) all décor, etc. and rinse it all very well under tap water. That is with the exception of the sponge filter, which I squeeze in a bowl of the dirty water a lot of times to try to remove all the nastiness. After rinsing everything else, I add it all back in the tank, add the water conditioner, then refill the tank with the water and then the axolotls once their water matches temp wise with the new water. Again, I know that I should not do such large water changes, but I feel like I cannot really get it clean and not absolutely gross, if I don't.
-As mentioned I use a sponge filter and in between I use a turkey baster to remove waste
-I keep their water at approx. 64 degrees and use fans on top to keep it cool and have a temp reader that alerts if the temp gets too high.
-I feed them live worms, as many as they will eat (usually 2-3) every other day and occasionally the sinking pellets
-I have an API freshwater test kit that I use weekly before I do the cleanings.
-I use API water conditioner with each water change
The main things I am really seeking guidance on (as well as anything additional you may be able t o help me with) are the following:
-Since their water readings are still showing how they should be, should I just return them back to their tank, instead of doing the tubbing and daily water changes?
or
-Should I keep them tubbed and just do a full recycle of their tank and fully scrub it down and start over from scratch in case that was soap that I kept seeing somehow?
-Should I do one of the axie aid type treatments, or some other type of gill treatment, since there is clearly fungus going on and if so, do I do that with them separated, or can it be done all together?
Thank you so much,
Jessica
