A few babies dying...

A

anna

Guest
Hi All,

I am a new user but have been using the site for information for awhile now.

My axolotl had laid eggs approx 4 weeks ago. It was only a small group of eggs, so currently I have around 50 babies that are 1 week old.

Most are looking fine, but I have had to remove a few dead axo babies from the tank. I am a little worried, because they all seem to be laying on there side or upside down. I have currently removed around four babies that looked like this.

The first two were born on there side... so I had assumed they had a genetic problem.

All the other babies seem healthy, but this is my first time so Im a little worried.

Is this normal? Could I be under feeding them?

Any advice or info would help. I am currently feeding them brine shrimp with some occasional worms aswell. I have done regular water changes and have an air pump in there to circulate water. I am not sure if I am meant to be doing anything else?
 
Hi Anna

I'm a first time 'breeder' also and my juveniles are 8 weeks old now. In the first couple of weeks after hatching it was quite common to find a dead larvae (usually on its back) in the tank when I checked first thing in the morning. I wondered if I was going to lose them all but around 4 weeks they just seemed to stop dying.

Can you see their bellies glowing orange after eating the BBS? That will tell you if they're getting enough food. I fed about 60 1 week old larvae and I used around 2 big turkey basters of BBS (fairly densely swimming in fresh water) twice a day. That probably isn't much help - put it this way.... I made up 1/4 tsp of eggs at a time in one hatchery and the resultant BBS lasted for about 4 feeds (twice a day for 2 days).Eventually, you will be able to gauge how much they need by watching their stomachs and analysing how much is left...

If you have larvae in a small tank or plastic container with an airstone that's great. Even so, you'll need to replace most of the water each day. We did this with one container as well as keeping others in a small tank with a sponge filter which only needed minimal water changes. Oddly, the larvae in the separate plastic container seemed to grow more quickly - maybe they were not so cramped?

Keep in touch.
 
<font color="119911">You should always check that they are dead. My first lot of axies rolled onto their backs or sides, but they were alive. You can check by looking at their heart beat. If the blood is still flowing it's a live. Also if you're worried that one is dead separate it and try a few things to see if it swims, like pinching it's tail with a pin... not too hard though, just a little pressure, that usually makes them want to swim away. And also I found that when they were dead their little mouths were open. It's sad when you see it.</font>
 
Thanks for your advice!

I am happy to report only four have died, and none have died in the past week. I have counted approx 50 babies now. I think that those which died were the very last to hatch, as I had around 6 eggs which took forever to hatch!

I am however now a bit worried for another reason. My axies seem to be growing rather slowly. They have been hatched now since mid September, and are approx 10-15mm in length.

I hatch approx a teaspoon of brine shrimp for feeding which lasts approx 2-3 days, and also feed them microworms.

Should they be larger than this by now? I have read some info that makes me think they should be?
 
Hi Anna, out of interest, did the deaths in yours start occuring after you introduced micro worms?

I have just lost 200 because the micro worms killed them, did the dead babies have sort of tatty looking tails?

They latch on to their tail fins, and then attacked the body and killed them.
 
Hey ang, I actually just posted in your thread about the microworms! They did start after I introduced the microworms, but they definetly didnt look anything like the photos you showed. The babies looked normal, except they werent moving!
 
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