Project Axolotl

I got paid today so I bought the filter for the pond: https://www.amazon.co.uk/All-Pond-Solutions-CUP-305-Steriliser/dp/B01MSWKJKI It looks like a good value filter with UV and a fountain for oxygenation so I am going to try it. As the water is deep I can't see the fountain upsetting the axolotls too much. It arrives on Saturday so I will fit it and leave the pond for a few days without axolotls for it to get established. I am going to leave the existing spondge filter in there for now too to help the new filter get established. I skimmed off a load of dead algae front he surface of the pond today and added 3 tubes of daphnia that arrived yesterday. Hopefully the daphnia will help with the algae too. I turned the pump back on today too to see how it gets on with clearing the water so that I can see if I need more algae killer before the pump arrives at the weekend. At the moment it is looking like it will be needed though. I have also done cleaning and water changes o...

The hydra pond clear plus arrived this afternoon so I have added the first treatment now to see how it goes. This is how it looked after an hour.

Had to do a water change this morning as the water was really bad after a night with 9 axolotls in it! I picked the axolotls out by hand and put them into one of my 20 litre water storage buckets. I was then able to pour away the water and clean the tub and then pour in the second bucket of water into the tub before pouring half other bucket and the axolotls into the tub. The water lettuce that I ordered last week arrived this morning and was smaller than I was expecting but looks pretty good. I am glad I got the axolotls out yesterday as the green algae is really thick this morning! The stuff to clear the algae has been posted and should be here by the weekend so hopefully next week the axolotls can go back into the pond. I have also got a quote to install an outdoor electrical point near the pond so that I can get a proper filter with UV in the pond and a fountain maybe.

The axolotl with the fungus has pretty much got rid of the fungus now after 2 days of 2 a day salt baths. I will leave it rubbed for another few days and then put it back in the big tank. Today I also had to tub the axolotls from the pond as the water is really green and I was worried that they were going to get sick. I have bought some adative to kill the algae causing the green water and I also have a pond hoover arriving Tomorrow to clean the bottom of the pond. I am looking for a better filter with UV and have also bought some water lettuce to float in the surface which helps with algae and water quality aparently. For size purposes the shoe is my son's size 5 shoe.

I was feeding the axolotls last night and noticed that one of the Juveniles in the big tank has the start of fungus so it has been tubbed and I have started salt baths this morning. As you can see the fungus is on the left hand gills looking from behind. the first picture was before the salt bath and the second one is after. You can see that the fungus has already begun to lift off so I am hoping that it will clear up soon. I am going to do twice daily salt baths and water changes today and tomorrow and then continue the salt baths and water changes once a day for another 5 days. This will hopefully sort the issue out as it has been really successful with my other axolotls that have had much worse cases of fungus than this one. I checked the temperature of the big tank today and to is just under 20 degrees which is a bit too hot and may have caused the fungus on this axolotol. That or it is from stress from me cleaning the tank and doing a water change yesterday. I a...

All the juveniles with fungus are all sorted and all seem healthy and happy. I am moving the bigger Juveniles from the big aquarium into the pond today so that I can move the slightly smaller ones in the 2ft tank in my bedroom into the big aquarium as they are getting too big to be in the 2ft tank. I am planning to move the 2ft tank out of my room and into the lounge as the pump is pretty load when you are sleeping.