Kate007
New member
ETA if there's a tread that answers these questions, a link would be great. I searched but didn't find anything, and I'm probably not searching the correct terms. Thanks!
Hi, all! Our family's 1ish year old axie has had some issues of late. He's had some trouble feeding and we're now suspecting a bacterial infection: some gill flicking, curled tail here and there, eats some black worms but not as many as is typical for him, picks at earthworm pieces and sometimes eats/sometimes spits out (recently introduced to him though, so perhaps still getting used to them?), somewhat raggedy slimecoat, and a slightly open mouth. That last one seems to be most significant to point to bacteria, correct?
He's in a 20gal tank, we use mainly spring water for the GH (13-15) and KH (8), pH 7.6, ammonia and nitrite at 0ppm, nitrate at 5-10ppm, chiller set at 62F, pvc hide he loves, no substrate as yet, no air stone but good filter, free feeds on live black worms, still water... that's everything I can think of. Earthworm bits are taken out within 24hours if uneaten and poop is always cleaned up. We're really careful as he had a fungal infection a while back that damaged his gills. Damaged frills didn't grow back but he's seemed healthy until now.
We've tubbed him in our 60F basement with methylene blue and kanaplex with an airstone and he seems pretty comfy. Correct action taken on my part?
Now I need to empty the tank, clean, and refill with fresh water? Or should I treat the 20gal tank with kanaplex?
I'm aware that either way the biofilter will likely crash, so we'll need to cycle. I've cycled with the axie in before and really would rather not do that again. The process was so anxiety inducing for us and probably not the most comfortable for him. Tricks for kicking the cycle into a faster gear? I'd normally inoculate the tank with a filter that's already in use, but I'm assuming that would defeat the purpose of re-cycling a tank in the first place. Correct?
We have other warm water tanks- would it be a good idea to inoculate the new axie water with biofilter bacteria from one of those tanks?
I have so many questions! Thanks for any help!! The 11 year old and I appreciate it.
Hi, all! Our family's 1ish year old axie has had some issues of late. He's had some trouble feeding and we're now suspecting a bacterial infection: some gill flicking, curled tail here and there, eats some black worms but not as many as is typical for him, picks at earthworm pieces and sometimes eats/sometimes spits out (recently introduced to him though, so perhaps still getting used to them?), somewhat raggedy slimecoat, and a slightly open mouth. That last one seems to be most significant to point to bacteria, correct?
He's in a 20gal tank, we use mainly spring water for the GH (13-15) and KH (8), pH 7.6, ammonia and nitrite at 0ppm, nitrate at 5-10ppm, chiller set at 62F, pvc hide he loves, no substrate as yet, no air stone but good filter, free feeds on live black worms, still water... that's everything I can think of. Earthworm bits are taken out within 24hours if uneaten and poop is always cleaned up. We're really careful as he had a fungal infection a while back that damaged his gills. Damaged frills didn't grow back but he's seemed healthy until now.
We've tubbed him in our 60F basement with methylene blue and kanaplex with an airstone and he seems pretty comfy. Correct action taken on my part?
Now I need to empty the tank, clean, and refill with fresh water? Or should I treat the 20gal tank with kanaplex?
I'm aware that either way the biofilter will likely crash, so we'll need to cycle. I've cycled with the axie in before and really would rather not do that again. The process was so anxiety inducing for us and probably not the most comfortable for him. Tricks for kicking the cycle into a faster gear? I'd normally inoculate the tank with a filter that's already in use, but I'm assuming that would defeat the purpose of re-cycling a tank in the first place. Correct?
We have other warm water tanks- would it be a good idea to inoculate the new axie water with biofilter bacteria from one of those tanks?
I have so many questions! Thanks for any help!! The 11 year old and I appreciate it.
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