What is he doing?

R

reeba

Guest
my axo *KHALIDA* is in iso at the moment for tank restoration, he has been off the food and inactive for 4 or 5 days now and now tonight he is sitting at the bottom of the little iso tank staring at me flapping his gills like mad and then lunging up and opening his mouth really wide and taking in big gulps of water, when he does this his throat goes big too, what is he doing? i have put a live worm in the iso tank to entice him to eat but he is just standing on it??
 
i forgot to ask, Khalida's feet are in pretty bad shape, his feet and legs are all spotty and the skin is all flaky, and his toes are pretty deformed and really flaky? what could this be? he is only supposed to be 7 months old

my avatar is a pic khalida
 
Reeba - I took your picture from the gallery today and enlarged and made it brighter. I can see the lumps and flaky legs and feet.

You need to give your axolotl salt baths.

Mix 2 teaspoons of salt to 1 litre of water (
Use water from your tank) and soak the axolotl in it for 10 min twice a day.

Be careful not to mix the salt too strong it can burn the gills.

Make sure your salt water is mixed up well and the salt is completely dissolved before putting your axolotl in it.

Do not soak him for more than 10 min.

Let us know if how it does. If it doesn't show signs of improvement you may want to put it in the fridge.
 
How long have you had your tank set up? Have you tested the water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?
 
oh no, is he ok and why are his feet peeling like this? i have hermit crabs is hermit crab salt ok to bath him in? Put KHALIDA in the fridge????????????
i have also just emptied the tank out because i wanted to change to sand but the sand i chose went all murky so i have now moved him to a small iso unit, i am going to take out all the sand tomorrow and restart the tank again, what should i do with KHALIDA in the mean time will she be ok in the small iso unit?
how did u enlarge my pic? and can you make it like that permanently for me?

(Message edited by reeba on April 10, 2005)

(Message edited by reeba on April 10, 2005)
 
Reeba - from what I googled about hermit crab salt, it is sea salt? If it is sea salt yes it is okay to use to salt bath your axolotl in.

Your axolotl appears to have a fungus infection in his feet and legs. Salt baths should help them heal.

When you put axolotls in the fridge you are slowing down their metabolism and the progression of the infection.

A quote from the axolotl newsletter Aug 2000 says:

Cooling the animal helps the animal
get better, but we aren’t sure why. We know
from experience that refrigeration has saved
animals that would have otherwise died. It
could just be because it lowers the level of
stress that the animal is experiencing. It could
be because there is more oxygen dissolved in
the water. It could be because it creates conditions
unfavorable to the bacteria in the
axolotl’s environment. Whatever the reason
may be, cooling the animal is the best and
easiest way to give your axolotl a chance.

You can read the newsletter at http://www.indiana.edu/~axolotl/pdf/28large.pdf

scroll to page 17 Practical Axolotl.
 
here are a few more pics sorry they aren't very good they are done with a web cam
34100.jpg

34101.jpg

also i was wondering if any one can tell if KHALIDA is boy or girl?
 
thank you so much for your help Cynthia, myself and Khalida appreciate it
 
Reeba - When you first set up an aquarium it needs to be cycled so it becomes safe for its inhabitants.

Your axolotl will have to live in a different container until his tank is ready.
You will need to change the water in your axolotls temp container every other day or as needed. Don't let him sit in dirty water.

Set some bottles of water out so you have room temp water to change his water with and salt bath him in. If your axolotl is in the fridge, keep extra water in the fridge to change and salt bath him with.

Now lets talk about the tank. You had large rocks and then went to sand. Sand will cloud the water for a few days but it will settle. I would suggest leaving the sand. If you still have some of the big rocks that you said had slime on them, I would put them in the tank on top of the sand to help speed up the cycle. The slime "is a good thing". It is going to take a few weeks to a month for your tank to cycle and become safe for your axolotl.

Put your sand in the tank fill the tank with water and hook up your filters. You need something to start the cycle in your tank. I use a raw shelled shrimp from the grocery store. You could use a large pinch of fish food or your hermit crab food. Basicly you need something in the water to "rot".

Do not change the water in your tank while your tank is cycling. Cycling takes up to 30 days.
It will get ugly, it will turn white. This is GOOD let it go, do not change any of the tank water.

You will need a test kit so you can test for Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. You will want to start testing your water after about a week. You should have high ammonia readings which will turn into high nitrite readings, which will turn into high nitrate readings.

Once your tank is cycled you will know because your ammonia will be ZERO, your nitrite will be ZERO and your nitrate reading will be low. This takes about 3 weeks (sometimes more sometimes less). You do not put your axolotl back into the tank until ammonia is zero, nitrite is zero.

After your axolotl is in the tank you should do tests twice weekly to watch for ammonia and nitrite spikes.

Once your biological filter is in place (tank cycled) you only change 20% of the water in the tank weekly.

There are a lot more posts on cycling in this forum you can read. And you can do web searches on tank cycling.

let us know how your axolotl is doing.
 
how did u enlarge my pic? and can you make it like that permanently for me?

I used photo shop, it's not spectacular but it made it easier for me to see your axolotls foot.

here is the picture.

34104.jpg
 
hi cynthia, today i went to my local fish shop and picked up some
*AQUACHEM PHENOXINE* It is for the treatment
*white spot
*fin and tail rot
*slimy skin disease and
*body and mouth fungus
i have added this to the tank with khalida in it so fingers crossed that this will help him..
ok i took out all the sand today, because it was just YUCK !! i took out all the water, cleaned the tank, and started from scratch.
however, i didnt clean the filters or the rocks, i figured it would be best to use them as they are, cos they have slime on them still.
my mom has a huge pond that is just crawling with thick green slimy stuff, can i use some stuff from the pond (like a rock) to get things started with the cycling? I think *KHALIDA is quite happy in the little iso tank, he still hasn't had anything to eat yet, but his tail is a little straighter.
 
Green slimy stuff is algae, so you don't want to add that. What you can do, however, is add your filter and decorations to the pond for a week. The bacteria will migrate from the pond to the filter, and your tank will be nearly instantly cycled. I do it all the time with my established fish tank.
 
but wont the algae just go all over the tank stuff??
sorry im i bit slow tonight
crazy.gif

haha.. so if i put the rocks and the filter into a net bag and hang it in the pond for a week, then just put it straight back into the tank ??
do i need to do anything to the stuff b4 i put it back in my tank, turn the filter on or off while its in the pond?
this is great news, i was hoping there was a way to speed up the cycling time?
 
Have the filter running in the pond, and just give thema good rinse with dechlorinated water to remove most of the algae spoors. Don't let them dry out though!
 
Have the filter running in the pond, and just give thema good rinse with dechlorinated water to remove most of the algae spoors. Don't let them dry out though!
 
Reeba - the medication you bought is TOXIC to axolotls please remove your axolotl from the tank and put him in fresh clean water.

Two of the most common compounds used in aquarium medications are malachite green and methylene blue. Malachite green is very toxic to amphibians so avoid anything that contains it.

PRODUCT NAME - Phenoxine
MANUFACTURER - Aquachem
ACTIVE INGREDIENTS - 2-Phenoxyethanol 17.6ml/L, Formaldehyde 37% 28ml/L, Brilliant Green 0.24g/L, Malachite Green 0.08g/L.

He needs salt baths. Just salt baths.
 
Reeba, you should use salt baths for your axolotl I would NOT trust anything that a fish shop sells you in WA to treat an axie, everyone I have come across has no idea, some fish medications can kill an axolotl. The salt is the safest and most effective thing to use.
 
aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggg
stressing now,, my computer keeps booting me, and im stressing and its 1.00am and ohhhhhhhhh nooooooo,,,
what am i gonna do??
ok.. i have taken KHALIDA out of the tank, and put him in an ice cream bucket. I have cleaned the little iso unit, and put in some tap water (this is all that i have access to right now, i have some stress coat here..
KHALIDA just ate a pellet for the first time in days too.
ok now,, what do i do with him now?
and now what to do with the tank that took me a whole day to empty clean and refill.... grrrrrr..
 
is it going to be enough to just empty the water from the tank and give everything a wipe over or am i going to have to cleanse the whole tank properly??
 
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