| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Pookie |
Posted - 09/09/2010 : 12:41:31
Hi
Interested to know more about the health of axolotols. Mine has a problem with water quality having been on holiday for 6 weeks and has returned home with his gills looking red and chewed. Been advised to put some general spec meds in his water. Warned off Myxazin by manufacturer as it now has an extra ingredient which could be harmful to axolotols. Has recommended something like Melafix (? correct spelling)but does anyone know what is safe to put in the water. Thanks |
| 3 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Ade |
Posted - 10/09/2010 : 12:31:16
Glad to hear he's picking up. Sorry if I seemed harsh in reaction to the medication, but it's a bit of a pet topic of mine. The times in the past when I started out with aquariums where supposedly knowledgable shops would tell me to treat with this that and the other, and the actual medication killed my livestock, well it was silly. So I tend to really push not using meds where possible.
Ade |
| Pookie |
Posted - 10/09/2010 : 12:19:08
Hi Ade
Thanks very much. He's already looking a bit better now he's back at home and seems settled so I as yet I haven't put anything in the water and waiting to see what happens. It was probably more a case of different water as he went with his tank and plants so now he's back in the usual medium, hopefully he will improve. Agree with you in water changes and filters, etc as the best first step. Thanks |
| Ade |
Posted - 09/09/2010 : 16:54:32
DON'T. Seriously, just don't. Telling you to put meds in the water, when a water quality issue caused the problems in the first place (in this case, sounds to me like an ammonia spike) is the worst advice you could possibly receive. Take an already unwell animal, in already far from ideal conditions, and throw in some nice chemicals. In my experience this is the fastest way to kill things.
Instead, fix the cause of the problem. With adequate filtration, properly cycled, you shouldn't have had ANY water quality issues during your holiday at all. Axolotls are very dirty creatures, that need a LOT of biological filtration. When I kept one I filtered it's tank with a Fluval 105 external filter with plenty of biological media, this had been thoroughly cycled before the axolotl was even added.
So, here is the best advice I can give you:-
1) Add some zeolite/zeolith to his tank, this will help to reduce ammonia. You can also use a product like AmmoLock2 but I prefer not to use chemicals for this.
2) Do a 50% water change with water properly treated with a tap water conditioner, to remove any chlorine, heavy metals etc. Keep these up, to keep ammonia levels, and subsequently nitrite levels, down to safe limits (shouldn't be detectable on an Ammonia test kit, advice getting one of these, and a nitrite kit. Try to get an ammonia kit that only detects free ammonia, and not ammonia+ammonium.)
3) Improve your axies filtration, seriously for these animals an external is the way to go as you can get more capacity without causing a massive flow rate (axies don't do well in strong currents).
If you dump medication in there now, you risk overloading your axies system, killing what filtration you do have, and making things worst. I know some folks swear by Melafix and primafix, but I am not one of them. For me, natural methods are far more effective and last a whole lot longer. Oh, something else that might help would be to throw in some fast growing, easy to grow, aquatic stem plants. Things like water wysteria are perfect, using those nasty nigtrogenous waste products as food.
Oh, and welcome.
Ade |
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