not eating & looking very thin

N

natalie14

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hi all

I have 2 albino axie's in the same tank they are about 1 year & 6 months old and i think are about 16cm long ( i think ) & are fab, but Bernard has stopped eating & does not move very much if he does he tends to try to hide under william or stays very close to him, his neck is very thin & make's his head look out of proportion????
yet William is really good he love's prawns & really snap's at them & is really active.

does any1 know what i shoud do?? :confused:

Please help x x
 
If possible, could you post a picture of him?
Can it be that he is in metamorphosis? Do the gills get shorter too?

Are there stones in the tank that he can swallow?
 
I really have no idea,his gills have always been like little stump's with barely any of the those feeler things on & they never hardly move.

I will get a pic to night for you

By metamorphosis do you mean when they change from water to land?
if so we have not tried to change him as he has always seemed a little weak so didn't fancy trying that, can they change by them self's? ( not very good with tech side of it ).:confused:
 
Sorry to hear your little axolotl is not well.
I have lots of questions to ask, but hopefully something will help in what is going on , so here goes!
How long have you had them, which one is the one that is ill ( the older or younger) . What else are you feeding them, what else do you have in your tank and what are your water readings for ammonia, nitrate, nitrite and lastly ph. A picture would be great as we can then gat a better visual of what might be going on.
My initial thought is if one is eating all the food.....you tend to get one that is more greedy and may pinch all the food.
 
I have had them about 4 months so am not very experienced, my m8 who had them b4 had them for about a year.

Bernard is the ill one i think they are the same age. Bernard had his leg bit off by Leroy b4 we had them Leroy had to be put in a diff tank. his leg has grown back but is deformed.

Not been feeding them anything ells as they seemed ok with the prawns i am getting some liver/ heart tonight.

I have to take my water to be tested as not yet got a home testing kit i can only do that the weekend.

In my tank i have sand based bottom,
6 large stone's that are there cave's,
2 live plants
my filter packed up the other night so we have to order one when i get paid :( will they be ok till then (19th) ??



Looking at the food side of it they only really eat what you hand/drop for them once it hits the floor that's where it stays ( then i take it out )
 
i would try a little more variety in the diet....i would get pretty fed up if i had to eat the same thing every day. My 2 eat earthworms, slugs, snails, earwigs(slaters), the odd milipede (head and tail crushed), bloodworm (frozen and live), prawn, liver, fish. They get mostly live insects , the other foods are treats. But i feel its the variety that keeps them interested.
 
I think a little more variety may be in order here, earthworms etc are ideal as gr33neyess says . I think we will need to wait to see what the water quality is like, but I suspect as the filter is not working a good 20% water change with dechlorinated water needs to be done daily until you can get the filter sorted. In the mean time be extra aware of left over food and droppings..these will need to be removed as soon as you can.
With regards to feeding , try hand feeding the thin one (Bernard )...watch out for William as he might try to pinch the food..if he does feed him first!!

Keep us posted on the water quality results etc. If any thing changes with Bernard do let us know so you can be advised...there is always some one who can offer advice.
 
If i have done this right there should be 2 pic's of bernard hopefully.

Thank you for your help i will defo try diff foods

i will keep you posted

:happy:
 
BER FROM TOP.JPG this is Bernard from the top

FACE.JPG this is to show you his small gills :(
 
Bernard looks just fine to me.
 
does he ??? mom keeps drilling it in my head that he is getting thinner :(

glad you think he looks ok thow, i am gonna try diff food x xx
 
If Bernard is getting thinner, it's probably a good thing. He's a little porky.
 
he looks fine to me Natalie....however have a go with different foods, hopefully he should get back his appetite.....good luck :supercool:
 
Are they ment to be thin then???? leroy my other axie is fat this is him.....

big boyEDIT.JPG
 
natalie14 said:

Not been feeding them anything ells as they seemed ok with the prawns i am getting some liver/ heart tonight.

I have to take my water to be tested as not yet got a home testing kit i can only do that the weekend.

my filter packed up the other night so we have to order one when i get paid :( will they be ok till then (19th) ??

Looking at the food side of it they only really eat what you hand/drop for them once it hits the floor that's where it stays ( then i take it out )
Click to expand...

Use the test kit immediately. A tank w/o a filter is at risk of SERIOUS water quality problems. Does it at least have an air bubbler going? You should probably be doing a partial water change of 10-25% daily until you get a new filter, but it's hard to say if you have to do this unless you get some data on the tank water! Please try to make time for this right away.

Instead of dropping the food in, try hand feeding. If they seem frightened of your hand, use chopsticks or a pair of tongs or (non-sharp) tweezers. This way you can wiggle the food in front of the axie's face, and they don't have to only eat it as it falls. This would give Bernard a better chance of seeing the food and thinking about eating it.

Any food that is purely muscle (prawns, liver, heart, etc) will lack vitamins and/or minerals. Foods that are whole (earthworms, insects, slugs, guppies) or supplemented (pellets) will be more complete.

Good luck!
 
Hi Natalie, both your axies look fine to me.

A good rule of thumb is that the girth should not exceed the head width and that they should look proportionate.

Good Luck
 
Leroy looks like a female to me! Is it possible that Bernard, who by the way looks fine, may also be female? One of our axolotls have gill stubs like Bernard but with very fine gill filaments (hairy bits :D). He was like that when we bought him - caused by irregular waterchanges/poor water quality.
 
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