Mudpuppy Emergency!

[Markgilst]

I've had my new mudpuppy for more than a week, ever since December 12. I've noticed he's just been sitting around not doing much, and when I bought him a little hut to hide in during the weekend he just moved there and he's still there. I can still see him in it though and I see he's moving around occasionally, "beating" his gills occasionally, and just changing position. Since his behavior seems odd for a mudpuppy I decided to test if the water quality was off today and the results in my water tests were egregious.

AMMONIA: 4.0
NITRITE: .25-1.0

Since I love my new salamander and don't want him to suffer any longer, what am I to do to make his water cleaner?

 

[Jennewt]

Immediately do a 50% water change. Look carefully at the setup for all places where small amounts of leftover food could be stuck, and get it all out. The ammonia may be bad enough to justify using Prime or Ammo-lock, on a short term basis. Continue to do partial water changes daily until the problem is under control. The idea of adding plants is also worthwhile, but watch out for any plant material that starts to die off, as it can make things worse.

 

[Greatwtehunter]

Has you tank been cycled?

 

[Markgilst]

I forgot to mention, I added some sponge from a filter in my pond to the filter when I was setting up the tank as well. Today I saw a little green thing which looked like a green spermatophore so I guess it was fecal matter.

 

[pete]

"I can still see him in it though and I see he's moving around occasionally, "beating" his gills occasionally, and just changing position."

This sounds like normal behavior and not very "odd" for a mudpuppy (Necturus sp.) with a comfortable hide. I'd still work on correcting the ammonia.

 

[Markgilst]

I just did a water change, actually. It was atleast 25% but I'm still a little concerned. He seems pretty tough!

Also I found this little green gelatinous thing from him in the tank, it looked like a spermatophore except green and had no scent. What was it?

 

[Greatwtehunter]

If you just recently set up your tank (less than 30 days ago) you'll still need to monitor the water parameters every few days and do water changes as needed until it fully cycles.

 

[Markgilst]

Even if I added the bacteria?
Okay lol.

 

[Greatwtehunter]

Even if I added the bacteria?

Yes, even if you added bacteria from an established tank. It just gives it a head start by only a week or two.

 

[Markgilst]

How often do I do water changes? How long? I read somewhere that if I change more than 10% of the water in the mudpuppy's tank normally, it'll get stressed.

 

[Markgilst]

But can someone tell me what the green jelly thing in the tank was?

 

[Greatwtehunter]

How often do I do water changes? How long?

This depends on what your water test results say but 10% every few days is usually the route most people take.

I read somewhere that if I change more than 10% of the water in the mudpuppy's tank normally, it'll get stressed.

Sure, doing water changes can be stressful for a salamander but not doing them can also be lethal for your mudpuppy.

But can someone tell me what the green jelly thing in the tank was?

Without a picture it could be anyones guess.

 

[Markgilst]

I'll take a pic tomorrow if it's still there.

 

[Markgilst]

I just got a few globs of hair algae from my pond and washed them off and put them in the tank. I'm hoping that they'll grow due to the amount of light the tank gets and the ammonia and whatnot that atleast was in the tank last night. Algae grew on the walls of my pufferfish's tank and ever since there's not been a problem with the water parameters so I'm hoping this will apply to the mudpuppy tank too. I really don't mind algae growing everywhere so will this work?

 

[Markgilst]

Can you please vote on the poll I made too? Thanks.

 

[Markgilst]

I've added a little bit of algae from my pond to the tank. I haven't seen it grow that much, but I do see some tiny bubbles at the water's surface. If it's not growing does that mean there's little or no ammonia in the water? BTW, the mudpuppy's STILL staying just in the cave, sometimes its gills look really small but at the time of this typing its gills are prominent and he's moving them. Does this mean that the water quality is bad or that he's stressed or that the water quality is good? I need help, please.

 

[jclee]

What are the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels like today? And are you dechlorinating the water when you're doing water changes? Cycles take a while, and especially when ammonia or nitrite are high (which can be lethal), you'll want to do daily water changes and daily water testing until you see 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, an 5 (or more) nitrate. If the water is not dechlorinated before a change, the chlorine would kill off beneficial bacteria and restart the process.

While plants will carry some beneficial bacteria on them, and they will use up some amount of ammonia or nitrite, you'd need a whole lot to eat up the amount of ammonia/NO2 that's in the tank at the moment.

 

[Markgilst]

I've seen the tank after a day and it's just a LOAD of bubbles at the surface, possibly from the algae. The last time I changed the water was about a week ago, as it says on this thread. A day after that I added some green algae and it's been slowly growing. I've been seeing these gelatinous deposits at the bottom of the tank, with clear green/brown stuff in them, and I've been thinking they're feces so I clean then out ASAP.

 

[Jennewt]

Regarding the "stress" from doing >10% water changes... the stress from the ammonia is probably far worse. Continue to test the ammonia daily and do partial water changes daily until the ammonia reaches zero.

All sorts of "green gunk" can show up in a tank. I wouldn't worry about it. It could be shed skin, or it may not even be produced by the mudpuppy.

The growth of algae, or the movement of your animals gills, tells you almost nothing about water quality. Only test kits will tell you if the water is doing OK.

 

[Jennewt]

Also, the following info will also help: what kind of substrate do you have on the bottom of the tank? What are you feeding to the mudpuppy, and how are you feeding it (free-feeding, feeding from a tongs, etc)? What tools do you use to remove water/dirt from the tank?