Illness/Sickness: My babies are starving plz help me feed them

[llekias]

I have approx 150 babies 2 and 3 days old
I have been all over the metro area and there are no bbs to be had anywhere I cannot get any small feed for them and there is no blackworm anywhere for at least 2 weeks
I have bought some liquid fry feed and frozen bbs and another small frozen food but
last night over 40 babies died
Should I remove dead babies or are they potential feed for the others
is there anything else they can eat I feel terrible that I cannot get any live food for them
I did try in my outdoor pond but alas there are no little things in there I did scoop but no luck
is there any other food I can give them ?
The lfs suggested egg yolk
I am also looking through posts on here but can only see live food suggestions
I would appreciate any help

thank you

 

[Jadore axolotl]

I have a book called "Care of Uncommon Pets" (William J. Weber, DVM) it's from 1979 but in the section called frogs, toads and salamanders under feeding it says what he feeds his tadpoles and I presume axie babies are just about the same. He says he feeds them "bits of boiled lettuce, high-protein baby cereal, bits of egg yolks, rabbit food pellets, bits of dry dog food, and many other foods" which they will only eat as tadpoles. he says in the wild they (the tadpoles) will eat "algae, aquatic plant life and any dead animal matter they can find".
I hope this helps but this is based on tadpoles not axies...

 

[Kerry1968]

At a push, if you're desperate, (and I think you are!) you can try fish food. If you can get some (or have already got some) try to get some with a high protein content. At the end of the day axolotls are carnivores so the more protein you get in them the better.

I would remove the dead ones fairly quick because it doesn't take long for fungus to grow on them.

At this stage I would think liquid fry and hard boiled egg yolk would the best alternatives if you can't get them to take the frozen stuff. have you tried frozen bloodworms?

 

[llekias]

I have tried frozen daphnia and frozen bbs as well as crushed pellets for axies
I have also tried dried tubifex , tiny little wormy things that look like thread but these seemed to get caught up in thier tiny gills and a fair number died as I left a tinsy amout of the worms in with them as they were so tiny I thought they looked like the best option.
Not sure what to do as any food I have offered so far seems to somehow get trapped around them and I am guessing suffocating them as it gets trapped in the gills
Not sure I am right but this is what it looks like
I am removing dead babies as they do look like a mouldy stuff covers them within a matter of hours
they are slowly all dying so so sad poor babies but try as I might there just seems to be no food around for them.
I am in Perth Western Aust if anyone knows of where I can locate feed
thank you for the useful advice offered so far


take care

 

[Kerry1968]

I don't think the food on their gills would suffocate them, but you do have to be very careful with water quality. If they're not eating the food you give them you'll end up with a lot of waste collecting in the water. Make sure you do 100% water changes at least once a day if you haven't got a filter in with them.

Good luck with it, keep trying to source some food for them.

 

[llekias]

I am feeding them in a small tank
I catch them one by one in a smaller tub which I allow them to swim into to avoid damaging them then allow them to attempt feeding
In the mean time after catching them all I do a complete water change
I then catch them in the tiny tub by allowing them to swim into it again then put them all back in the 2 main tanks which both have a soft foam filter and airstones in them
A tiny amount of food remains in the main tank as it is unavoidable as it is in the tiny amount of water I put them back in
but still they seem to get kinda stcuk in any floating debri
no idea what else to do here and I am spending hours every day trying to care for the babies
I am at this stage removing the babies when they die


ahhhhhhh

 

[Kerry1968]

I really feel for you, I'm sorry I can't offer more help. Hopefully someone more local will be able to find you a source of live food before it's too late

 

[Jadore axolotl]

I think that maybe you should use the water from your pond. there is bound to be living things in that that they will eat even if they are too small for you to see them. I really hope you can atleast save some of them.

 

[Kaysie]

Why did you not start purchasing/culturing brine shrimp or daphnia when the eggs were first laid? You had 3 or more weeks to prepare for this.

Remove the dead larvae. They will foul the water.

As hatchlings, you almost certainly have to provide live food. They will VERY rarely take food that does not move. As a last-ditch effort, one member used frozen daphnia and an air stone in order to create a small current, making the daphnia move in the water, triggering the feeding response.

 

[llekias]

bbs eggs are very hard to come by around here .When our babies were in eggs we rang the local aquarium who told us they had baby brine shrimp ,in my ignorance I didnt think to make sure it was live as I just assumed it would be.
We didnt plan on babies our 2 "girls" suprised us , we were assured when we puchased them that we had 2 girls , we were also informed that the eggs would take 14 - 17 days ( or possibly longer as it is winter ) to hatch but they hatched in 10 days !!
I am still trying to locate live feed for them and have been told I can use my pond water
There are no visable signs of any tiny life in there.
I am confused as the pond is empty and has sat still for the past 2 weeks the confusion is
If I need to change the water daily ( which I religously do) then why is the tinted green pond water ok to put in the babies tank ?
Also the tank temp is 19 is this ok for my babies.
Please understand we are not all experts just loving pet owners doing our best by our new family.
We didnt set out to breed however we are devoted and commited to helping these babies survive.
I understand your query and have answered and hope you understand the situation more clearly now
Also I have used frozen daphnia and the airstone to stimulate movement , we are doing our very best to optimise life for these new babies.
thank you

 

[Greatwtehunter]

Pond water is full of little critters too small for us to see but plenty big enough for axolotl larvae to find.

 

[Zolotl]

Yes I reared baby axies until the were large enough to eat brine shrimp using pond water and also small crustaceans and mosquitoe wrigglers I sucked out my bird bath with a syringe. I also used a solution used for feeding fish fry to feed the babies, it worked for me I grew them to about 10cm before they all died from fungus in the summer.