Axie stress, cycling and cleaning !

[joeingles123]

So i get some axolotls about 2 weeks ago, everything was going swimmingly, eating fine and generally being happy
i came to do my second cycle 2nd after noticing the water was a bit cloudy and there seemed to be quite alot of muk on my sand, mostly being axolotl poo
so i looked up axolotl poo on here and saw it was supposed to be small,round,and brown
but mine is long and thin and is exactly like the blood worm but not red, and there is alot of it all over the bottom of my tank.
i also noticed hugh and gregs gills were pointing forward which i know can be a sign of stress, which i thought might be due to the dirtiness off the water
so i gave it a good clean, rearranged the tank so they had bigger and more hides as there getting big quickly.

after all this movment and not being able to get all the poo worms ! i put them back in hopeing the water would settle by its self, but several hours later it still has small bits in it which is making it rather cloudy and there gills seemed to be aimed forwards like there stressed

im a bit confused by this whole thing and could do with a bit of help ! there in a 65lt tank so thats about 15gallons and eating frozen bloodworm once a day, from a feeding jar so its not so messy
thanks x

 

[Kaysie]

A 15 gallon tank is pretty small for 2 axolotls.

Do you siphon the substrate? What kind of substrate do you have? Cloudy water is usually caused by bacterial blooms, which feed on ammonia in the tank. Since your tank wasn't cycled properly before they were added, and it's too small for 2 axolotls, I would do at least 10% water changes every other day.

While you're doing that, get a bigger tank (or an additional tank), and start cycling it now. Then when the cycle has finished, you can add your little friends to their new home.

 

[ted22]

65ltrs is too small for 2 axies my 60ltr was to small for 1 of my axies! also daily or twice daily spot cleaning is essential there should be no gunk on your sand at all, as soon as you spot any mess remove it straight away with a turkey baster or a syphon, axie poo is different depending on what you are feeding them! The stress is more than likely from the small tank and small water volume, the more water you have the easier it is to maintain it and keep the quality high. Also you have not mentioned your temperature anything over 22deg can cause stress, 16-18deg is ideal!

 

[joeingles123]

yeah i know its a bit small but they only about an inch and a half big as yet, im looking to get a bigger tank with my next pay check, and have started sucking up bits of food poo ect every other day, seems to have worked fine and there back to there normal axolotl self's thank u x