Home remedy before vet visit?

[Oceanpup]

Hello everyone!
I posted earlier about my two babies and the spiny eel tankmate; the eel is gone to my brother favorite needed a partner to take care of! And wanted to give you all an update as one of my babies isn’t feel good I think (?).

The chimera-split Lucy lotl (from a herpetologist opinion and examination since he was sort of different from a normal lucy even though his entire body is pale like a lucy his gills and eyes differ on both sides) is Haku and the Mel lotl is Chihiro Because of their genetics, babies aren’t possible and have a divider as a precaution between them in their big tank so I’m happy with that! A reason for why I’m super happy also is in the following:

My Chihiro girl has been fridged for the first time during the past two nights and three days. Wouldn’t eat, looked fat, but seemed to have trouble swallowing and wanted to eat. Initially, I thought she was gravid as she is about 1 years old, but she still had an appetite as she loves to eat.

Except four nights ago, she couldn’t swallow her proffered pellets (5-7 small Hikari sinking pellets), 1 worm, and a small cube of bloodworms (as a resort to encourage feeding). She was able to eat a couple of bloodworms when I cut them in half, but then she started to exhibit pained gaping mouth behavior the very next day as if she couldn’t swallow. At that point, I decided to fridge after reading the Caudata impaction/fridge manual since I couldn’t find anything in her mouth or feel anything under her tummy other than her just feel taunt and heavy. No snails were eaten, only sand. Finally, because of this tubbing moment, I finally saw that her funny back left leg is definitely deformed (not broken I don’t think since it’s been like this ever and didn’t decay since I received her) but is functional (hence why I don’t want babies; health issues).

So upon seeing that, it was fridge time. I was super nervous as this is my first time fridging, but made sure that the animal fridge was set accordingly: 44F- 46F after reading up the fridging guide. Tub water is treated with Prime prior and each tub (one with clean, dechlorinated water and IAL, and one with the same treated water, Chihiro, and another the IAL leaf) and both water temp are reading 44-45 degree F.

That very first night, she pooped a massive brown turd with pieces of the new brand of undigested bloodworms (when encouraging her to eat from the night before). But after water change, she still did not want to eat which could have been due to the fridging (slow metabolism). I did not see any sand or any thing that could have backed her up, but the undigested bloodworm in the poop and her bigness worries me. She also is stressed every day when I do the daily water changes (curling in a swirl, or big tail kink, no curled gills though) which I don’t blame her, but it’s difficult to see whether she’s on the mend of not.

Now, it’s only been two nights and three days, but her gaping mouth behavior hasn’t been exhibited since that first time of pooping, but is it time for a vet check? Or is she just constipated? Or gravid? Both me and my partner are not sure at this point and are confused, and we both have worked in animal husbandry care at animal conservation orgs so this is new territory for us (frogs and toads yes, but herps like lotl’s nu-uh). So yes, we are confused.

Someone mentioned previously that her lips looked pale which might be an indication of a internal infection, but she’s always had white lips since the first day I received her. She’s still energetic (I think) as she makes bubble noises every so often in the fridge?

What is going on? Should I continue to fridge or not? How long does it take for an axolotl to poop everything out? When should I try to feed her again? I tried feeding last night and Chihiro still wasn’t interested but again could her lack of appetite be from the fridging?

Their OG 55-gal tank water parameters are perfect and have been cycled for over 6+ months. Both Chihiro and Haku are also 1 year and 1 month old.

PH: 7.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10

Thank you for all reading this lengthy post

 

[Calgarycoppers]

Her gravidness seem extensive

was she with the male before and possibly bred but is now egg bound? It isnt common but does happen.

you could try feed high fatty food to see if it more constipation but I would see a radiograph is needed.

foods like repashy, thawed raw salmon or shrimp or cod

 

[Oceanpup]

Her gravidness seem extensive

was she with the male before and possibly bred but is now egg bound? It isnt common but does happen.

you could try feed high fatty food to see if it more constipation but I would see a radiograph is needed.

foods like repashy, thawed raw salmon or shrimp or cod

Hi Calgary! I’m so thankful for you replies to my posts!

She was with another male, but the male is a potential “full” chimera Lucy according to Strohl so the possibility of the male being infertile is pretty high (i.e. I reached out and had an amazing convo with him about axolotl health, genetics, and abnormalities). I never saw them breed together during the month they were with me and the OG owner stated no eggs were seen during his time with them (over a year). There is a newish divider between the two of them regardless since the tank is huge (55 gals), and the female was fridged until yesterday due to improvement on eating, but no pooping.

Just fed her today and she ate about 6 sibling Hikari pellets and a cube of bloodworm before reading your reply Calgary; my apologies! I’ll run to the store right now for the other fatty options that you mentioned. Do you think putting salmon oil on the pellets is a viable way for Chihiro to receive fish oil supplement?

 

[Oceanpup]

Hi, an update!

It’s been a crazy past couple of days. During the previous update, Chihiro spent that night in the fridge in her tub, and the next morning I woke up to a couple of eggs. Because she started laying eggs during next couple of days (which I am keeping a several eggs to teach some of my kiddos about the amphibian life cycle and the rest were ethically culled via this forum’s culling file), I took her out of the fridge to a dark room w/ daily, dechlorinated water changes. Also of note: don’t buy mesh dividers. They don’t work .

Then, yesterday evening after it seemed like she was done laying, Chihiro pooped and ate a couple of the pellets in her tub which I took as a good sign. However during that night, about a couple hours after my attempt of trying to feed her Hikari pellets (soaked in salmon oil), she puked two of the pellets that she ate and... a resulting large, flat triangular stone about the size of her half the size of her head. I don’t see any abnormal swelling since I’ve been paranoias/stressed with this little one, but she is still refusing to eat (which I get because the stone looked quite painful, even though it was smooth). I then looked the OG tank and took out every piece of stone and pebble I could find hidden in the substrate.

Here are my questions:

What should I do or watch out for in the meantime other than swelling and signs of internal injury? Would fridging again cause her unnecessary stress, especially since she finished laying a clutch? And finally, I still attempt to feed her worms and pellets?

The male on the other hand is as happy as he can be.

Chihiro is not exhibiting any abnormal swelling so far during the last many hours that I’ve been observing her, and her nether region looks normal as well (no obvious swelling) other than the fact that she is not eating again. And she’s being tubbed until I receive a full, non permeable divider for the tank in the mail. Am I on the right track so far?

Thank you in advance!

 

[Calgarycoppers]

Yes you are on the right track.

Do not fridge her anymore - see about getting her eating and keep dipping food in oil to lube up her system which should make thing easier while any issues heal