Question: My axolotls eyes are bugging out?

[Red Robin]

I went away for the weekend, and when I came back i noticed that my axolotls eyes had bulged out a fair bit. They've been a bit like that for a few weeks, but I didn't really notice it because it happened over a long period. But now it seems to have accelerated and gotten a lot worse, I've attached a picture of what he looks like below. Really worried that he might be transitioning, and if he is what do I do to make it easier on him?

 

[HayleyK]

My axolotls eye has bulged in the past and I didn't know what caused it but what are those white splodges on him? Those markings and the crumpled look of his gills makes me worried what his parameters are?

 

[Red Robin]

He's pretty much always had white markings on his face, I thought it was because he was trying to blend in better with the light coloured sand. His gills did use to be frillier, but I never found the cause of the change (at the time I checked all the water paramaters, and they were fine, same with the temperature)

Right now though, the pH is at between 7.6-7.8, ammonia levels are between 0ppm and 0.25ppm (the colours are hard to distinguish on the chart), and Nitrite levels are at 1ppm. There also isn't any chlorine/chloramine in the water because I treat it before adding it to the tank when I do water changes. Oh, and the temperature is at 20 degrees Celsius (usually around 18, but it got unexpectedly hot again).

...Yeah, I see the problem now, the nitrite level is way too high (didn't think to check it because the tank looks clean). Just treated the water to get rid of the trace amounts of ammonia, and am going to do a quick clean to lower the nitrite levels. Could this be whats caused it? Thanks for asking about the parameters, it might have taken me a while to consider the nitrite levels

 

[auntiejude]

Just treated the water to get rid of the trace amounts of ammonia

With what? Chemicals are a bad idea, axies absorb stuff through their skin.

Can you post a pic of the whole animal? It could be that he's morphing, although without deliberate hormone treatment to make it happen it's rare. Photos of his tail and head from different angles (and in focus) would help.

 

[Elise]

It is difficult to discern from your image but it appears as though he has a growth and an area of swelling on the head. I have seen other posts where similar symptoms are also accompanied by bulging eyes. That said, any correlation between the two would just be speculation on my part.

I agree that additional images would be helpful.

 

[Jen10s]

Do you have a NitrAte reading ? If not, then you may have a cycling problem.

Also, just saying - he looks underweight, what does he eat and how often?

Lack of Fluffy gills could be either your parameters or too much water flow so maybe look at your filter output and "muffle" if necessary. Hope this helps ..... :happy:

 

[Red Robin]

Sorry for the delay, internets been spotty.

Treating the water I put in some "Complete water treatment" manufactured by Aquarium Science, and neutralises ammonia, chloramine and chlorine. The people at my pet store said that it was ok to use, but they also said pebbles were a good substrate so if it's bad for him I won't use it anymore.

He does have a growth on his head, as well as his tail (more visible in the pictures this time), they started growing a couple of months ago. The tail one grew first, and since he already has more toes than he should, I just assumed it was related to that, but the one on his head is worrying. I'd take him to a vet, but I don't think they look at aquatic animals

I feed him one cube of frozen axolotl food a day, usually at night time, although in winter he might eat less because it gets colder. He's 3 years old now, if that changes how much he needs to eat. I tried to swap to floating pellets for variety, but he had trouble eating them (The pellets floated on the top, and he only noticed them if they sunk past his mouth). Should I be feeding him more often?

With the filter, I place a plant in front of it to muffle the water flow, as well as keep it on the lowest setting, but it could still be causing stress. The nitrate reading was about 20-30 ppm (didn't notice i'd forgotten to add it in, sorry), I think it's so high because about a month ago or so I swapped my substrate out for sand and I've been having trouble cleaning it without losing it all.

The first 3 pictures are what he looks like today, while the last 3 are from october last year to give a comparison of how he has changed (sorry about how dark the old ones are). he didn't have any growths then.

 

[Red Robin]

Also, I posted this elsewhere but it might be relevant here as well; He likes to hang around the top of the tank, sometimes with his head right up against the surface (like part of it won't be underwater anymore). He also likes to gulp in air from time to time, either to help him stay near the top or because his gills are too small, I don't know which one really. When I said this to someone though, they said that it was normal for them to get air from time to time, but is it?

 

[auntiejude]

He looks to be in poor condition - buggy eyes, small gills, tailfin receding, a little skinny - has he always been like that or is that what is changing? As said before these could be symptoms of several things - poor water quality, malnutrition, tumour and morphing among them.

You say he's 3 years old, how long have you had him? I assume your tank is cycled as you've obviously had him at least 6 months, but whats your water change routine?

And what is 'frozen axolotl food'? Earthworms are the best food, and sinking pellets (either designed for axies or carnivorous fish) are better than floating ones - were you using koi pellets? He's skinny, so right now I would switch to earthworms - one or two a day - until he puts on a little weight, then cut back to every other day.

While it is normal for axies to float at the surface and breathe air he could be compensating for his small gills, but that is not really too much of an issue.

I think it's time to get a vet involved, if only to assess that lump on his head - see if you can find one that will look at axies.

 

[Red Robin]

I got him 3 years ago now, at the start of 2011, and he didn't always look like he does now. His gills have definitely become less frilly now that I look at old pictures of him, but I just didn't notice because it happened over such a long period of time (the picture below was taken shortly after getting him, and the substrate is no longer pebbles). His eyes were also a lot less buggy, and he does look skinnier now.

I change the water in his tank about every 2-3 weeks, to keep it from getting too dirty. When changing it, I have to add a dechlorinator to get rid of chlorine/chloramine in the water, and sometimes a pH upper in a small amount to make sure that the pH stays within the 7.6-7.8 range.

Frozen axolotl food is a cube made of various fish, bloodworms and shrimp, which I buy from the pet store (It's pictured below, just ). I let it defrost before feeding it to him though, so that it's not hard for him to eat. When I was looking for other things to feed him a while ago, I asked the owner about it and he said that the frozen food was all that I needed because it had everything that an axolotl needs in it.

The pellets I have are just called "axolotl food", so I assumed that they were the ones everyone else used, but they were really small and my axolotl had trouble eating them. I only used them twice before swapping back to the frozen food.

Where would I generally find earthworms for sale, a pet store? or would I need to find a specialty place for them?

Will definitely contact a vet in the next few days to see if they look at axolotls, to see if they can do anything for him. Thanks for suggesting that.

 

[HayleyK]

Wow, he looks like a completely different axolotl .Pop into bunnings and buy a worm farm and the starter pack of 500 worms, feed them mash and old bananas and they will grow continuously and you will never need to buy food for him again! It'll set you back around 80 bucks but totally worth it.

I have "blue planet" axolotl pellets and they work a treat, they sink pretty much right away and I've had good growth on them ( I have an axolotl who hardly ever eats earthworms and is nice and pudgy on this brand!). It's best to hand feed them or leave him in a dish or jar to avoid ingesting sand. I made a post about that frozen axolotl food and my pet shop stopped stocking it so I could never find out what brand it is, but if it's the right one it contains seaweed or some kind of sea plant that really isn't necessary in their diet as they are purely carnivorous. Stick to earthworms they really are the best food.

 

[auntiejude]

Changing water every 2-3 weeks is not really enough - you'll be getting a build up of nitrates (unless you have a heavily planted tank) and that may be contributing to his gill deterioration. A 25% weekly water chage is what is usually recommended. And the pH adjusters aren't recommended for axies as they absorb chemicals through their skin. You shouldn't need them with good water hygiene anyway. But high nitrates could well account for some of the issues your axie has.

I suspect the frozen food isn't adequate for an adult axie, and why anyone would create floating pellets for axies is beyond me - axies feed from the floor! I don't know exactly where you could get worms from in Australia, I have a worm farm and get mine from an organic farming supplier, others get them from bait shops, but pet shops often only have small quantities. Setting up a worm farm to breed your own food is easy - instructions here.

 

[Red Robin]

Yeah, he used to look way different, but because he changed over a long time I didn't really notice how bad it had gotten . I actually have a worm farm (My mum set it up for compost), so I might be able to convince her to either let me borrow a few of them or to set up another one specifically for food. Didn't think I could just feed him those ones for some reason, do I just feed them to him alive?

I didn't know you had to clean the tank every week, will start doing so immediately though to keep nitrates and stuff down (my tank only has fake plants in it, so it's not heavily planted at all). Also didn't know that pH adjusters were bad for him, so I'll stop using them as well since they aren't really needed anyway.

I'll also get my hand on some sinking pellets as well, thanks guys

 

[Skudo09]

You can feed worms live or you can blanch them first (run hot water over the worm and then immediately cold water). Blanching kills the worm and stops it excreting a foul defensive secretion the axolotls sometimes don't like.

You can get worms at Bunnings, Home Timber and Hardware or online. I just started up my new worm farm and ordered my worms from Kookaburra Worm Farms | Catchall Crawlers | European Nightcrawler | Dendrobaena Veneta | Dendro. Their compost worms consist of five different types of worms which I thought might be good for a bit of variety.

 

[Red Robin]

Okay, I'll blanch them first when I feed him then. Thanks for all your help, I'll also try and get a variety of worms so he can have different ones

 

[HayleyK]

Be careful what worms you feed him. Black and bloodworms aren't as nutritious and wax worms/silk worms are pretty fatty, you can use then as an occassional treat but axolotls don't need varied diets. Earthworms everyday is great

 

[Red Robin]

Ok, I'll be sure not to feed him too many fatty worms then, mainly earthworms

 

[Skudo09]

That is true, a varied diet is not needed as long as they are getting the nutrition they need from the one source which they can from earthworms . The pack of worms for my worm farm are all types of earthworms. There are five types in the mix. Variety is not necessary but I think it is nice to have a little variety just to give them something different once in a while. Having said that, nutrition is far more important so I agree with Hayley, stick to earthworms as their staple diet and only giving other options such as wax worms, bloodworms etc as an occasional treat

What I am hoping is that having the five different types of earthworms in my worm farm will give my axies a little variety in the different types of earthworms without compromising the nutrition the axies are getting

 

[mewsie]

I agree with Jude that the support of a vet at this point would be very wise.

Your nitrate levels are not good, but they certainly are not appalling - unless your tank is sitting at that all the time?

You should be aware that by using the chemical treatment to wipe out the ammonia you will almost certainly have to re-cycle your tank, as the healthy bacteria which process ammonia to nitrate will no longer have anything to feed on and your cycle will most likely collapse.

Measure your water parameters carefully for the next few weeks, and read up and follow this article to ensure you keep the conditions good for your axolotl.

My wild type axolotl has a few silvery patches a little like yours (he's had them at least 2 years) - I'm yet to find out exactly what they are but he is otherwise chubby and healthy and his usual self.

Going forward, make sure you feed him earthworms as they really are a superfood, but at the moment, adding in fatty wax worms may well be a good way to fatten him up a little as he does look a tad skinny.

In the spirit of trying to help further while you seek a vet, can you post some good quality pictures of the whole tank and perhaps outline the contents of the tank and filtration system? It could be that an ornament is leeching harmful chemicals into the water, or perhaps you are using a moisturiser or some other soap etc that is getting into his tank and doing harm.

Always worth considering even the smallest thing, as they are sensitive little critters.

I really hope the little guy gets better, he has such a cute face

 

[itzrainbowkitty]

Sorry for the delay, internets been spotty.

Treating the water I put in some "Complete water treatment" manufactured by Aquarium Science, and neutralises ammonia, chloramine and chlorine. The people at my pet store said that it was ok to use, but they also said pebbles were a good substrate so if it's bad for him I won't use it anymore.

He does have a growth on his head, as well as his tail (more visible in the pictures this time), they started growing a couple of months ago. The tail one grew first, and since he already has more toes than he should, I just assumed it was related to that, but the one on his head is worrying. I'd take him to a vet, but I don't think they look at aquatic animals

I feed him one cube of frozen axolotl food a day, usually at night time, although in winter he might eat less because it gets colder. He's 3 years old now, if that changes how much he needs to eat. I tried to swap to floating pellets for variety, but he had trouble eating them (The pellets floated on the top, and he only noticed them if they sunk past his mouth). Should I be feeding him more often?

With the filter, I place a plant in front of it to muffle the water flow, as well as keep it on the lowest setting, but it could still be causing stress. The nitrate reading was about 20-30 ppm (didn't notice i'd forgotten to add it in, sorry), I think it's so high because about a month ago or so I swapped my substrate out for sand and I've been having trouble cleaning it without losing it all.

The first 3 pictures are what he looks like today, while the last 3 are from october last year to give a comparison of how he has changed (sorry about how dark the old ones are). he didn't have any growths then.

Oh my good what did you do to this poor axolotl. Looks starved to death are there any dead plants in there.