Advice on a rescued Axolotl
Hello everyone! Meet Mister Mikshake. Also, it's going to be a big rant, but if you have experience with these babies, PLEASE read this to understand the situation, I need help!
So long story short, my neighbours got an axolotl around a year or so ago. The man (Let's call him John) had been keeping fish his whole life, so the axolotl was like a prize possesion. Don't get me wrong, he loves his fishies - the tanks are filtered, clean, equipped and well decorated.
But the axolot's tank? It was empty, and only had a filter. So bla-bla-bla, and John said he can give him to me. So I agreed, obviously, because I really liked the little guy. But I started preparing, and because my cat got sick and later passed away, I was in debt, so buying a tank and everything else (although I had the filter and water dechlori-whatever it's called) was kind of impossible, so I put that idea away, although I still really wanted the baby to live with me.
And so it happened that the day before yesterday, when I visited them again, John told me "I want to get rid of him. So it's either a pet shop, the street, or you."
Well, wow. Mind you, we live in Turkey, in a very hot city, and temperatures here can get as high as 50 degrees Celsius at day time. I think he wanted to let him out in a small pond near our house. But, well, we have crabs, turtles, frogs, toads and hedgehogs living there. Oh, cats, dogs, and sometimes boars, too. So obviously I said "Don't, I'll take him."
So John gave me a really small tank (around 10 litres. He said it'l be enough for some time) and gave me the sponge from his old filter for the water cycling, and uh, boom. Here we are.
After I brought Mister Milkshake home, I put the filter in, got the water, and checked the temperature. It was whopping 28C. I got super scared. I managed to get it to a bit safer 26, then 24, and then 22 for the night (I stayed up till 1am trying to get the temperature down). The next morning I immediately went for a shopping spree, trying to find him food and a cooler. NOTHING. Obviously, I'm panicking. Thankfully, in one of the shops I found a tank. It was 50*35 on the bottom part, and ended up holding around 60 litres. I know it's small, but Mister Milkshake is also not very big - he's around 18cm, maybe less, and he's around 3-4 years old.I think that because of his previous conditions he didn't get to grow normally, so now he's rather tiny. I know they can sill grow after they're 12-18 months, but I heard it's pretty slow. Also, even if I ever have to change the tank, I believe getting him this one for now is better than keeping him in the 10 litres one.
So anyway, I got him a little home for hiding (he loves it so much he's been there the whole day. Idk if he left at night, but overall he's not very active, but I can't blame him), a little plant, and moved him there. The emperature right now is 24C, I know it's high, but all the ice packing I put in barely do anything. So the same day I went back to John, to give him the tank back, and to ask about the temperature.
And oh my god, it turned out that while Mister Milkshake was living there, he did not care one bit about it. He told me "He's a Turkish axolotl, haha, he'd acclimatized!"
MIND YOU, we have days where the temperature is, again, 40-45C. And they don't use the AC often. He told me that my 26C is much colder than what he had before. So here I am, with probably a very stressed, and maybe even sick axolotl, panicking, because I can't get the water temperature down. I ordered a special set of 3 fans, but they will arrive the day after tomorrow - so right now I have to rely on my AC and the ice packages to keep the water at least somewhat cold. I'm also worried I'll give him thermal shock if it's too cold too suddenly, since he'd been living in warm water. I also don't have his food yet, it's supposed to come the day sfter the fans, and I didn't want to take the food John had been feeding him (Minced beef. Oof.), so Mister Milkshake will have to wait for a bit before finally getting food. He also has little scratches on his sides, and his gills are not at all fluffy, so I think he can't regenerate because of the heat? Stress? Wrong diet? I don't know.
I'm so stressed, I worry about him all the time, and I automatically wake up around 6am (after going to bed at 1am) to check the temperature, even if I know there's barely anything I can do. I know that my tank is probably not cycled well enough, and all those nitrates and anemonia or something are really important, too, so I have no idea what to do now, so it feels like I'm a fish trashing on land. My first priority right now is the temperature and his food, but what do I do next? How do I check everything? I'm already spending more than my monthly salary on him (I'm in a bad financial spot right now lol), and I had to ask my mom and sister for money. But it's not even the biggest problem, I'll get money if needed, but it's my first time ever having someone except for cats and dogs, so I'm worried I'll let him down. Any advice will be much appreciated, but please be kind, I promise I'm doing my best right now🥹