livialove90
New member
This is my first time posting in this forum, so I'm not sure what to say. All I know is I need help. I have had Dovah for a month and a half. Here recently he was really active up until three days ago when I noticed he was in his normal position to have a bowel movement. But he seemed to be struggling to poop.
I checked on him a few times over a six hour time period, only to find he had pooped small amounts all over his tank. His belly was swollen as well as his cochlea. So I ran a test on the water, only to find the Nitrite levels were higher than expected. This led me to taking Dovah out, putting him in dechlorinated water in a tupperware so I could clean the tank.
Once I cleaned the tank, he stayed in the container on ice packs since our fridge is so cold I was afraid to fridge him.
I came back 5 hours later to find him surrounded by food and poop with substrate in it. (It is the National Geographic substrate due to having issues finding sand that wasn't up to par for the tank. We've never had any issues with him eating substrate since we hand feed him.). So, I cleaned out his container, but him back in the tank.
He wasn't as active as he's been normally. He's very sluggish and staying in the two hides I have.
I saw him again tonight doing the same thing with his bowel movement position and struggling for almost an hour.
So he's back in the container with clean dechlorinated water, being fridged. But when I check on him, his gills are super pale.
Is this normal for fridging? Or has he worn himself out and not as active?
Also is this a sign of impaction?
I'm a first time axolotl mom, and I've done so much research and prepping but I still feel like I'm doing something wrong.
I'm also struggling with nitrite levels, hard and alkaline water. Which our tap water tests at even after bwing treated. We've been doing a lot to try to balance it out, but nothing seems to be helping the water.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I don't want to lose my axie baby.
I checked on him a few times over a six hour time period, only to find he had pooped small amounts all over his tank. His belly was swollen as well as his cochlea. So I ran a test on the water, only to find the Nitrite levels were higher than expected. This led me to taking Dovah out, putting him in dechlorinated water in a tupperware so I could clean the tank.
Once I cleaned the tank, he stayed in the container on ice packs since our fridge is so cold I was afraid to fridge him.
I came back 5 hours later to find him surrounded by food and poop with substrate in it. (It is the National Geographic substrate due to having issues finding sand that wasn't up to par for the tank. We've never had any issues with him eating substrate since we hand feed him.). So, I cleaned out his container, but him back in the tank.
He wasn't as active as he's been normally. He's very sluggish and staying in the two hides I have.
I saw him again tonight doing the same thing with his bowel movement position and struggling for almost an hour.
So he's back in the container with clean dechlorinated water, being fridged. But when I check on him, his gills are super pale.
Is this normal for fridging? Or has he worn himself out and not as active?
Also is this a sign of impaction?
I'm a first time axolotl mom, and I've done so much research and prepping but I still feel like I'm doing something wrong.
I'm also struggling with nitrite levels, hard and alkaline water. Which our tap water tests at even after bwing treated. We've been doing a lot to try to balance it out, but nothing seems to be helping the water.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I don't want to lose my axie baby.
