Baby Axie on his side

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Chevybabe1961

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Missy
Heya all, I just found my baby black mel on his side on the bottom of the tank. I poked him and he quickly righted himself and is now behaving normally. I don't see any outward signs of trauma or injury. I did a 15% water change. He's by himself in a 5.5 gallon tank, he's still little only about 3.5 inches long. Is there something else I can do to make sure he's okay?
Thanks!
 
Just keep an eye on him, if it was just a one off it probably nothing to worry about.

Post some images of him and your tank, hopefully he wont do it again
 
a couple of mine are doing this recently and cannot figure out a cause, they eat fine and everything else but just lay on side either at bottom of tank or on surface.
was thinking it might be just the weather as been cold at night so could be themal shock but its just a case of monitoring them.
some did it last year too but soon got back to normal a month later.
 
The temperature of the tank water inside a house would not drop dramatically enough to cause thermal shock.

Post your water parameters (Ammonia, Nitrite, NitrAtes, PH) as it could be a water quality issue.
 
Water quality is good with Ph at 7.0 Nitrite and nitrate levels at 0. He also ate just fine when I fed him last night. I don't have an ammonia test kit yet, it's on it's way in the mail.
 
It seems like your tank is not cycled.

Once the bacteria in the biological filter converts Ammonia to Nitrite, then Nitrite to NitrAte, you will have a complete cycle. Since your NitrAte reading is at 0 it would seem the full cycle is not established.

What kind of test kits are you using? The API Freshwater Master Test Kit is one of the best and is always recommended. Welcome to API Fishcare: FRESHWATER MASTER TEST KIT It tests for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and PH. Test strips aren't reliable.

You could easily be exposing your Axolotl to high ppm of Ammonia since you can't test for it to know it's there. This will cause stress and potentially the adverse behaviour your experiencing.
 
He's been action totally normal since the other night. No more issues. BUT my husband did witness him eating the bubbles from the undergravel (I don't have any gravel in the tank) filter. I believe that's what caused the issue :) Thanks for the help!
 
*** Update!
My kit arrived today and all levels are where they belong. It turned out that the dipstrips from walmart (at your suggestion I went out and bought the little 5 pack thingie) are pretty accurate. So it seems the issue was caused by him eating bubbles from the filter :)
 
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