I think my axolotl might be dying

I just got my first axolotl, he is a juvenile, probably about three inches long. We've had him for about a week, the first few days we couldn't get him to eat so I came here to ask for help and was told to give him live blackworms. Since he seemed to ignore them when I left them in the tank I would catch him in a small bowl and put live blackworms and bloodworms in the container with him. He has been eating better and just ate earlier today but we suddenly found him floating upside down in the tank and not moving. We took him out of the tank in a bowl and noticed that his heart is still beating, so we flipped him over and put him in the fridge. I don't know what to do and I'm scared he is probably going to die, if anyone knows what might be wrong I'd appreciate any help. He has been going up and swallowing air alot and he floats, but the water parameters were fine the last time we checked. His belly looks a little puffy but he is my first axie so I'm not really sure what is normal. When we found him he was kind of stuck in the place where the spray bar pushes out the water. Is it possible he got stuck there and is just stunned or passed out? He's in the fridge right now and we turned him right side up, and last we checked his heart was still beating.

Sorry to hear about your plight! It's best to provide photos for more experienced users to examine for symptoms. I have not encountered this problem with my Axolotls but I have seen other threads about it. Luckily they're very hardy and tend to bounce back.

When I rescued a very sickly Axolotl I found her floating on the surface once; even when I nudged or poked her she didn't respond. I found out she was still alive when I scooped her out.
I found that putting her in warmer water with lots of hides and low light perked her right up! Cold water lowers their heart rate and makes them extremely sluggish. Warmer (17-19 degrees Celsius) makes them lively and active.

She was also very picky and refused to eat. I offered her frozen brine shrimp cubes cut into quarters. She nibbled these and eventually grew strong enough to gobble up quarter cubes at once. Try frozen brine shrimp or frozen blood worms - Axies really seem to like these.


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Also, to my knowledge Axolotls do not require spray bars to aerate an aquarium. Disturbance in the water actually stresses them out; so if that spray bar is causing too much water movement it might actually be detrimental.

Also, I feed my Axolotls with feeding tongs. Get long, steel ones with rounded tips and sort of textured at the ends so it can grip slippery worms. This way you can bring it right to their mouth and wiggle foods around to make them more interesting. It also makes it easier to monitor food intake and it's fun interaction

Please post photos!


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Thank you for your responses, unfortunately he passed away overnight.

Oh no Sorry to hear that.


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