Aw crud... sick axo

Just an FYI ... things have really changed since my computer went out with a great shower of sparks.

I see Mik is a mod here, thats awesome.

Also it didn't ask me to log in, but this is ferretcorner - grey7399 - Or - Sharon.

Well, one of my axos' can't dive down. He is stuck on the surface. I don't really remember what the info here said to do and my time is limited on this computer (using my brothers'). I can't stay until a response comes back so he will have to look for this message and read the responses back to me.

If anyone has any idea of what to do for this axo... I'd love to hear from you.

His other tank mates are doing excellently, their filter is appropriately weak .... .... ...

He is currently in an ice cream bucket with just enough water to cover him. He ate like a pig the minute I put him in there.

Ok, got to go. I've missed everyone here. Hope to "hear" from you soon!

Sharon

Thanks for the vote of confidence Sharon, haven't seen u around in a while. Trust you are well.

Ok put u have put ur floater in another container with water level low enough that he can touch bottom if he wants. If you have any weed throw a bit in they quite like that on their backs and that will help relieve some stress.

Try massaging his belly, gently and see if it encourages a burp.

I was going to say don't feed for a day or so and see if he passes any gravel.

What have you been feeding recently? I know you that you know to rotate the diet often. Sometimes they float after too many meals of beef heart/liver - stuff that they aren't the best at digesting.

If you haven't yet, try an earthworm in a day or so.

Good luck Sharon, nice to see u back

UGH! LOL! I forgot what I had titled this post and couldn't find it.

Mostly he eats salmon pellets but beef heart is a once a week thing and earth worms are a once a week thing.

There isn't any gravel in the tank. just large pieces of slate and some fake plants.

After a week and a half of slowly increasing the water depth in his bucket, I put him back in the tank. He still floats a lot a sometimes it looks like it is difficult for him to get to the bottom for his pellets, but he does get down there to get them.

Oddly enough he is a wildtype and is the smallest of the bunch. The rest have moved on to larger tanks. There is just this guy and one other wildtype left in this particular tank. both are of a similar size although the healthy one is bigger.

What do you think?

I found that floating was only an occurrence with the younger smaller axies. But in nearly all who have experienced it seem to have resolved it by changing diet.

I haven't expereinced it in a good while now. Not even with my young uns.

For a short while, at least, drop the beef heart completely and try mostly worms: say 3 days and pellets for one and repeat.

Is he still small enough that he is interested in brine shrimp or daphnia?

The pellets you use are they about 1mm dia 2mm long things or bigger? But you can get different types. I have trout pellets that are small, dark and very pungent compared with others.

One last idea is the tank relativley warm, say 22 C? If so I suggest try dropping temp a couple of C and see if this helps. It should slow down his metabolism a little.