Illness/Sickness: They all died !!!! :'(

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katie11122

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My baby axolotls were doing great, they all had big full bellies and were getting their front legs and then their gills started to curl and they died. I don’t know what happed. I was keeping their food up to them and was changing the water daily from one of my other tanks I have axies in. Does anyone have any ideas??? I just want to know what I did wrong L
 
The most difficult thing to handle with babies is temperatire, as it is hard to keep it stable with so many waterchanges. Maybe they got too hot?

were there any other symtoms like fungus or whitr patches? Did they get bloated?
 
Nothing that I noticed they were fine and with in 24 hours their gills started curling up and their tails weren’t straight. I had them in Chinese take out containers on a table near the heater so maybe in was a contributing factor. I had just feed them, left to go out for a few hours, changed their water and by the morning they weren’t healthy. I changed their water again testing the ph etc but this morning they were all gone :(.

About 4 of them a few days before this happened started swinging in spirals which i assumed was an air bubble or somthing
 
so the ammonia/nitrite was ok? Anything you can think of that may have been unusual? If your changing the water, and adding axolotl tank water, are the axolotls in your tank acting alright?
 
Yeah they seem fine they are feeding well and I have not noticed any changes with them at all. I did recently get a new axolotl though. How do you test for
ammonia/nitrite? i use tap water that has sat for a few days and add easy start which is a conditioner it says it protects the slim on the fish which i figured would be great for axies
 
get a liquid drip test kit(dip strips are notoriously inaccurate). Did you quarantine your new axolotl?
 
most people skip the water testing for larvae because you do water changes once a day if not more anyway. But it would be good at this stage to try and understand why they died.
 
just wondering because she's using tank water from the adult tank, so if something went wrong with that, there would be problems
 
I did have her in a smaller tank to make sure she had a good feed before I put her in with the other two it was probably for 3-4 days though. I will have to get a test kit. I don’t want to try again until I know what I did wrong its so hard when you get them that far and poof its all over : (
 
I'd personally quarantine any new addition for about a month or so to make sure they're not carrying anything that might be harmfull
 
As Axolotls are amphibians and not fish, they do not have scales and therefore not the slime coating that fish have to protect their scales so the slime protector in the water neutralized tends to build up on their delicate skin. Sorry about the loss, hopefully it hasn't deterred you from giving it another shot!
 

Thanks I appreciate you shedding some light on the slime coating thing! And yes I will give it another try hopefully I will be able to get my hands on some Daphina or a culture.

A big thank you to every one that took the time to help me out I really appreciate it!!!!!!
 
Just thought I would say sometimes they die due to genetics issues, sudden death can happen and does quite often, i have lost several from different matings at different stages in the lives.One batch died in a couple of weeks, all except 3 of 20. Another time I had a batch die at approx 6 months and was left with only 1.
I to was worried I had done something wrong but they had their own tubs, fresh dechlorinated water daily, plenty of food and a temp of 15 degrees max. They were eating fine and seemed very happy but in a matter of hours just started to perish 1 by 1.I went on to a site from a univercity that was doing genetic studies and it stated that they had also encountered the same thing sometimes hundreds would just die, they stated that it was down to a genetics issue.
If you do try again and it happens from the same pairing it might be an idea to find another mate.
 
Was this the females first spawn?
I find first spawns tend to have a very high mortality rate.

Mel
 
Mine wasnt , they are getting on and spawn quite regular but only ever kept a few different spawnings as they just kept dying, I havent kept any for a couple of years now as it was getting quite depressing.
I think the issue was with my male as it was 2 differant females but having said that the deaths from one were weeks the other months into the lives so who knows.
 
have you tried keeping a couple in a big tank with a bunch of hides? Perhaps they are wanting for a more natural setup. Their current one may be too sterile? I've read a study in with an endangered frog's tadpoles were being raised. They divided the tads, with the best ones being brought inside and kept in ideal, sterile conditions, and the other, less perfect ones were stuck outside in an old tank and forgotten. Every one in the lab died, but the ones in the neglected tank flourished.
 
pent565 said:
have you tried keeping a couple in a big tank with a bunch of hides? Perhaps they are wanting for a more natural setup. Their current one may be too sterile? I've read a study in with an endangered frog's tadpoles were being raised. They divided the tads, with the best ones being brought inside and kept in ideal, sterile conditions, and the other, less perfect ones were stuck outside in an old tank and forgotten. Every one in the lab died, but the ones in the neglected tank flourished.
Click to expand...

::nods:: Water can be too clean for some animals sometimes.
 
melfly said:
Was this the females first spawn?
I find first spawns tend to have a very high mortality rate.

Mel
Click to expand...
Yes it was and she only laid around 60ish eggs and about 10 didnt develop at all. so yes it could be something to do with that.!!
 
digger said:
Mine wasnt , they are getting on and spawn quite regular but only ever kept a few different spawnings as they just kept dying, I havent kept any for a couple of years now as it was getting quite depressing.
I think the issue was with my male as it was 2 differant females but having said that the deaths from one were weeks the other months into the lives so who knows.
Click to expand...


Yes they were both from a pet shop (different stores) but they could have been related i suppose so maybe it was some sort of genetic issue. i thought i was doing everything right and tried really hard to make sure conditions were pecfect on a day to day basis. very updet they died after all of my hard work. :(
 
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