Can you spray pyrethrin same day as feeding axolotls? I'm worried my axolotls water has been contaminated.

[Axolotlratearth]

My dad sprayed pyrethrin earlier in the day and fed the axolotls later in the day. I'm not sure if he washed his arms with soap or not. I don't have any clean buckets to do a water change and no clean tubs to tub them. How dangerous is this? He claims none got on his arms, I'm not sure if I believe that. His arms would have dried and he would have been rubbing against things in between. I looked it up and it said that pyrethrin breaks down quickly in water when there is sunlight and heat, which an axolotl tank has neither. The pH of the water has been around 7.0-7.6, it varies. So not acidic but also not very alkaline, which from a google search it says that alkaline water also breaks down pyrethrin. Google AI also says that it can bind to sediment in the water and last even longer. This happened 3 days ago.

 

The reason I don't have any clean buckets is because the bucket we have I previously hosed out with the outdoor hose, I later learned that the outdoor hose had been used for a job including a pesticide/herbicide/fungicide spray, I'm not sure which. A hose end sprayer was used, and I know there is a potential for the chemicals to get sucked back in. That was about 4 months prior and the hose had been used since however.

 

That bucket got rinsed about 3 months ago now and have been used since for the axolotls and dried. As well as the hose being used in between after the chemicals were used before the bucket got rinsed. I was told it was at least around 4 months after the chemicals were sprayed using the hose.

 

I have another bucket however it may have had items that were placed on a towel washed with scented laundry detergent put inside it, as well as water from the ground where a weed killer had been sprayed (but fully dried and I believe rained on. I can't remember how much time in between, but most probably a decent while.) splashing back up at it as I was tipping water out of the bucket.

 

I then bought another new bucket, but that bucket was stored next to the fly sprays and various washing products at the supermarket, you could smell the spray in the air, not very strongly but I could definitely notice it.

 

I have been told but many different people that all of these buckets could potentially be dangerous. I feel like I'm losing my mind, because everywhere I turn is more harmful chemicals. Doing a water change shouldn't feel like diffusing a bomb, yet things seem to keep on going wrong. Common sense tells me they need to get out of the tank immediately, but I am honestly scared to touch them. And, as I mentioned, we don't have any clean tubs that haven't been washed with dishwashing detergent. And once dishwashing detergent gets used on our plastic tubs, it is near impossible to get it out.

 

They have already been showing symptoms such as opening mouth when buccal pumping and swimming uncoordinatedly. I'm worried that there may be soap coming off hands and arms going in to there water and it is harming them. When I checked on them last night. I worried our golden albino is looking maybe more swollen. His body isn't looking very swollen, it is a similar size to his head, however I feel like typically he might be a little bit skinner. I could be wrong though. Most notably though is his chin. Also his legs look kind of a little bit swollen and wrinkly. It is hard to tell looking back at old photos if there has been a change but I figured I should include that as well.

 

The other thing I noticed was our wild type's light patch under his chin looks like it has maybe gotten lighter. He has white and pinkish patches all over him. They were in very high nitrates water. I managed to get the nitrates lower however I need to check them again. I also accidentally picked up the wrong bottle when testing and used some of the nitrate bottle 2 without shaking it so I don't know if that could be now messing up my readings. I use API. I have been told it could be a bacterial infection. Do you know if there is any way to tell the difference between bacterial infection and normal colour change in wild types? To me the skin looks aggravated.

 

I don't have a drivers license but I am going to ask if I can get a ride to pick up another bucket. If I can't though, what should I be doing in this situation? Thank you so much in advance.

[Caryl]

Thank you for all that information. You seem to have 3 possible concerns - pyrethrin or detergent contamination and high nitrates. Any, or all, of these could be affecting your axolotls as they have permeable skin, not scales, so can easily be affected by poor water or added contaminants.

We always had separate buckets that were used for nothing except water changes. They were kept away from other buckets and not where they were near detergents or anything. I would not expect a bucket bought from a shop that had them next to detergents would be bad enough to affect your axolotls though.

I doubt the hose has caused problems. Best thing is to do daily partial water changes, using the new bucket (even if it was stored next to sprays etc) as, if the water has been contaminated or is high in nitrates, partial water changes will slowly correct the problem. Too much at once may be too big a shock for the axolotls.