Bubble in stomach

Z

Zookeeper

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Some of my 4 week old babies have developed air bubbles in their stomachs. I have put them in a separate container and drop the water level just enough to cover them during feeding times. I leave it low for about 2 hrs then raise it again. For some babies it has been about a week now and I don't know what else to do. I do water changes twice a day feed them 2 to 3 times a day. The rest are doing well some more then others and getting big and fat. As soon as I see a floater with air I move it out of the main tanks. I am watching the air bubble babies as they feed and most are eating those that aren't I try to stimulate by dropping food in front of them with a pipette. I can see that they are expelling some of the air but obvious not all of it but enough for them to roll over properly but by next feed time it's all back. I'm feeding BBS and finely chopped blood worm which they prefer. What else can I do or are these babies not worth saving. This is my first time trying to raise babies. Any advise would be appreciated
 
Zookeeper said:
Some of my 4 week old babies have developed air bubbles in their stomachs. I have put them in a separate container and drop the water level just enough to cover them during feeding times. I leave it low for about 2 hrs then raise it again. For some babies it has been about a week now and
I don't know what else to do. I do water changes twice a day feed them 2 to 3 times a day. The rest are doing well some more then others and getting big and fat. As soon as I see a floater with air I move it out of the main tanks. I am watching the air bubble babies as they feed and most are eating those that aren't I try to stimulate by dropping food in front of them with a pipette. I can see that they are expelling some of the air but obvious not all of it but enough for them to roll over properly but by next feed time it's all back. I'm feeding BBS and finely chopped blood worm which they prefer. What else can I do or are these babies not worth saving. This is my first time trying to raise babies. Any advise would be appreciated
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A large number of axolotl breeders/hobbyists have experienced this issue with their larvae. I have seen conflicting information on this as well. Some larvae will gulp some air and it just takes a few days or even weeks to expel it. Some develop into "floaters" that will float on their sides or belly up indefinitely. See the following link for more info:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...-discussion/90091-floaters-new-phenotype.html
In my opinion, I would wait several weeks and see if the larvae return to normal. Feed generously. Some studies claim that some surface water movement can encourage them to expel the air and return to the bottom. So you could try putting in an air line with no air stone just under the water surface to accomplish this I suppose. You've got nothing to lose.
If there is no improvement after many weeks, I would consider euthanasia for them. Finding them a home where they have to be hand fed indefinitely is very slim.
I hope this information helps :)
Good luck with the larvae.
 
Thanks for the reply. I continue to get more floaters on a daily bases with now 1/2 of my babies being effected. Have only lost 3 so far and continue to encourage feeding by low water levels during initially feed time and lots of floating plants to hide and anchor to. Some are not eating as well now. Have a fan blowing gently over the tanks water surfaces to help keep the water cool and it does stimulate water movement. Just taking it one day at a time and hoping for the best.
 
Just an update on my floaters. after placing them in a tank that had a hang on top type filter I had great success in curing their floating behaviour. After a few days I noticed that some seemed to be staying on the bottom of the tank however would recommence their floating behaviour once in still water for 30 or more minutes but once replaced back under the water flow returned to the bottom of the tank. Gradually they were able to tolerate the still water longer and now are all in still water with 1 that still semi floats but is able to get down to the tank bottom. these ones have been very slow growing despite eating bloodworm's well and are a fifth of the size of the larvae that never developed the floating behaviour
 
I am glad that you had success with using surface agitation. That's great to hear.
 
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