Sydney people with love - someone take my babies before they die....

C

celia

Guest
If someone has a far better solution to all of this below PLEASE let me know, otherwise:

I'm so upset to be doing this but ever since Yella Fella died (for those who remember) I have been struggling with the other two new axies... The little one has not eaten for a month. He is SO skinny that he looks anorexic and makes me want to cry looking. My larger one was still eating fine, swimming fine etc until just recently when he has now stopped eating too and has started floating.

All I do is continually try to ice their top with bottles, give them salt baths... I have been putting the little one in a tub with baby fish food (fry or whatever it is) to try and make him eat when he takes air in, keep fans on in the room, etc... it doesn't seem to be helping.

They have had a fungus problem for months. The tank conditions have been all good except for the temperature which I cannot keep below 24. I feel so terrible that I realise I have to give them away. I just hope it's not too late.

I have honestly tried my best with the little 'uns but it is just not good enough. This means I can't have them, it's not fair to them. I love them so much but I can't watch them die, they must survive and I am sure someone with a better climate control might be able to save the babies (the top of our house is hideous in summer, I did not know this until summer hit, we just moved in and by then the whole house was set up and there was nowhere for them)... I will be happy to transport them to your house etc...

The big black one - I'm not 100% positive on their sexes - is either Dumb Donald or Thugsy Malone, I call him both, and the little speckly one is called G.I. Jane, she might be a Joe though, not sure.

Anyway, sorry this was so massively long but I figured the full story needed to be here.

Someone with a big heart and a beautiful environment (and a hospital tank to start with I imagine)please take my babies from me before it's too late... I love my babies way too much to let this happen.

I do have a spare fridge. I am scared of putting them in there and them dying from the massive change, would this kill them? Should I get a larger container, put them in there and hope for the best? I am happy to keep them there and change water as need be etc (what is recommended) if there is ANY chance I can keep and save them until I can make an aquarium chiller (a friend has come up with a genius solution but I can't afford the fridge to rip the parts out of yet)...

God I feel like I'm going back and forth. Once again sorry for the rant... I just don't want to give them up but I don't want to see them die either. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!
 
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=20758&item=4355944635&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
That only give 3-5 degrees celsius cooling below the room temperature though- would it be enough?

This is tiny, but may be gutsy enough to cool a small tank?
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=20713&item=3871628604&rd=1

Or how about this one?
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=294&item=5749242009&rd=1

Have you tried checking in pawn shops for used mini fridges?

Sorry I can't do more to help, I really hope you can come up with something or someone nearby to keep them for a while. It'd be awful to have to give them away!
 
Oh Leah thanks for that. I did look yesterday on e-bay and they were all over $200. Might try at the auctions this week too if I can... I really don't want to give them away I love them SO much... I just want them to be better though, poor little fellas.
 
Hi Celia,

I've also had problems with my ax's which all started about 3 to 4 weeks ago. i had a fungus spreading from one to the other etc.
to cut a long story short, i also did plenty of salt baths but eventually ended up placing the ax's in the fridge as salt baths and back into the main tank which was about 23 degrees just wasn't doing it for them.
i eventually placed them all in the fridge and gave them salt baths 3 times a day and back in the fridge. i did this for a week (just as well i was on holidays). i did this because i read that low temps can assist in healing whilst the beast is dormant. i was worried that they would die but they all pulled thru.
i made up fresh salt bath solutions and kept the bottle in the fridge so it was the same temp as their fridge tank water otherwise i think the changes from fridge tank water to room temp salt baths would have surely had a bad outcome.
none of the ax's ate whilst in the fridge.
i placed them back in the main tank yesterday i finally got the one that was sickest to take a sliver of food (after about 3 weeks of no eating) today.

good luck, i hope you are successful

peter
 
Thank you Peter that was very useful information. I will start on that since I have the spare fridge and I might get them a little container each. At least too since one of them is not eating now he won't starve further if they don't eat in the fridge anyways... okay I am also getting a fridge this weekend hopefully from a Vinnie's or something and a friend of mine is helping rip it apart to make a heat exchange unit. Oh I pray this all pulls through.

Thanks for that, it sounds exactly like the probs I've been having.

Oh yeah, once you got them better in the fridge how did the whole fungus thing go back in the main tank? Did you have to do anything in particular there? I have been keeping the conditions good and feel that the heat is keeping the fungus about (anyone know if this is correct?).

Cheers for your info.

Squealie
 
hi Celia,

I'm not sure if fungus can survive without a live host (axi) but during the time the ax's spent out of the tank and in the fridge, i became so demented about the fungus that was consuming their gills, tails, toes, that i did a SALT WATER clean of all logs, rocks, plastic plants, filter pipes and container but make sure the filter sponge
and filter carbon bags and the matrix (stones that the good bacteria attach to) are not cleaned in normal tap water, only with water from the tank. I soaked all the above (plants etc) in a high salt solution to get rid of any junk that might have attached to the above.
i gave the gravel a thorough clean and gave it a good stir draw out as much junk as i could.
I couldn't find the anti-fungal med; FURAN-2, so i used what the aquarium guy said was OK for ax's. i treated the tank water whilst the ax's were resting in the fridge (remember to remove the carbon if you put meds in the tank). I have also replaced about 20% of of the water in the tank with a modified salt solution as described in the main site which links to this forum.

now at day 4 back in the tank, things look OK, the tank looks clean, the ax's look OK and active, the fungus wounds looks better so hopefully it's good from here on.

As you already know, the temp in Sydney is still a prob but i leave the air con running during the day and i reckon that must be helping.

Good luck, there are many of us who know the pain of going mental when your ax's just get worse whilst you're doing everything you've been told to do.
The fridge was my last option and i reckon it works and i think the modified salt solution also helps because it uses more salt than i previously did.

Good luck, keep us posted.

Peter.
 
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