Axolotl juveniles dying ?

[Leeb]

This is my first time trying to hatch axolotl eggs. Mine hatched the first of February. I've had some die here and there but I've had 26 for a while now. They have grown great, and have started to get little legs.
Now all of a sudden they are dying off. I lost eight today! I've been feeding them live daphnia and I just recently moved them from glass 9x13 baking dishes to a large underbed tub. Could it be the plastic? They are dying with very full bellies. One even had a daphnia hanging out of its mouth. Could I be overfeeding them? I don't want to lose them all! I change their water once, sometimes twice, a day. Not 100% but probably 80%. Any ideas? Is this normal?

 

[Otterwoman]

I hope someone weighs in. I've never raised axies but hundreds of other newts. I've never had a larvae die off like that. I would guess some kind of poison - did you add untreated water? Did you rinse the plastic well? Most of use plastic bins with success.

 

[WordsOfFate]

Is this the first batch of eggs your axie has ever laid? I personally haven't bred my axolotls before, but I've read on multiple other posts that usually the first batch of eggs an axolotl lays usually die off. If this isn't the case, I'm honestly not sure what the cause could be.

My only guess is that maybe you didn't fully rinse out the plastic tub before placing the babies in there? I would try removing them and fully washing down the plastic tub. And perhaps maybe only do water changes once a day or every other day instead of twice a day; it could be the stress from constant water changes.

I really hope everything gets better soon and I wish you the best of luck with your babies!

 

[Leeb]

Thank you. I think it was the plastic tub. Once I removed them and put them back in glass they stopped dying off as quickly. I'm only left with six but they have done great this past week. I should have just stayed with what was working for me to begin with. This has definitely been a learning experience.