axolotl strange behavior and now hardly moving

[andreajo]

Hi all. Pepito is an 8 year old axolotl, and generally goes pretty steady. The last few days I've seen him floating more, bum up like he has gas/air. Not too out of the ordinary but more than usual. Then yesterday he started gulping air a lot more than normal. So I decided to do a partial water change, but when I realized it had been longer than I though since I last cleaned his substrate (sand), and there was poo under his hides, I decided to do a full water change and take the opportunity to put in new sand. I rinsed but didn't scrub his hides and fake plants, and kept the filter media so as to not lose the bacterial community. Well, today, he was floating again, more level, and very lethargic. I almost thought he was dead, but finally got him to move. Now he is sitting in his plants, but his mouth is a little open and still not very responsive. I'll be testing water parameters in the meantime and will share in replies, but do you have any advice for me? Is there likely something wrong or something I can do about it?

 

[Calgarycoppers]

Have to tested your parameters?
Sand actually does hold a huge amount of your cycle.
Did you maybe forget to add Prime?
What temp is the tank?

 

[andreajo]

Temp is about 68 F (20C). It may have been slightly warmer last week, as we've had some hot weather, but the tanks are in the basement, which maintains a pretty steady, cooler temp.

 

[andreajo]

These parameters are the day after water and sand change. He happily ate worms today, and seems a little better, but still pretty low responsiveness. Usually he's jumpier. Hopefully the water change was what he needed. I didn't take water chemistry before the change because there was enough crud stirred up from under the hides that I wanted to just change it.

 

[andreajo]

all water was treated

 

[andreajo]

The odd behavior started before the water change. So I hope that if I keep an eye on the cycle he'll be ok. But I wanted to see if anyone saw something I should be addressing. Thank you!

 

[andreajo]

Do you think the pH is too high? We have naturally hard water.

 

[Calgarycoppers]

Can you test the high range pH please - its over the ph range so it just tests maxxed

 

[andreajo]

Can you test the high range pH please - its over the ph range so it just tests maxxed

Looks to be about 7.8. Thank you for taking the time to think about this with me. Pepito is more responsive today, but not quite back to his normal self. Still floating a lot with little movement unless provoked or fed. But the sand is all marked up with feet marks, so he is spending some time at the bottom. This evening when I opened the tank lid to do the water test he swam to the bottom but got stuck head-down. When I touched his tail he moved a bit and got more level, but with odd posture. Maybe he's on the mend, I hope. If this is a reaction to poor water quality before I changed it, what would be likely problems for me to look into? Thank you for your time,

 

[Calgarycoppers]

Awesome 7.8 is safe - high but safe

Looks to be about 7.8. Thank you for taking the time to think about this with me. Pepito is more responsive today, but not quite back to his normal self. Still floating a lot with little movement unless provoked or fed. But the sand is all marked up with feet marks, so he is spending some time at the bottom. This evening when I opened the tank lid to do the water test he swam to the bottom but got stuck head-down. When I touched his tail he moved a bit and got more level, but with odd posture. Maybe he's on the mend, I hope. If this is a reaction to poor water quality before I changed it, what would be likely problems for me to look into? Thank you for your time, View attachment 85143 View attachment 85142