Illness/Sickness: One eye protruding

What is wrong with my axies eye/head?

I was feeding my axolotl yesterday when I suddenly realised that not only does his right eye look odd but he appears to have some sort of injury on his head? I have no idea what happened. He is the only axolotl in the tank, and apart from a tree trunk decoration there aren't really any sharp things to hurt himself on, just plants and sand. He's been happily eating and swimming around and not showing signs of illness at all.

I can't really see whats wrong with his head other than that the top left of his head looks a bit red in photos and it appears to have some damage/scratches/dents on it that definitely weren't there before? His eyes look really odd because they have always looked identical but now his right eye looks a little...misty maybe? And like the pupil is smaller/lighter than it was before? You should be able to see in the photos what i'm talking about. I did notice yesterday that a speck of sand managed to get stuck to his right eye (this was after I noticed the change) which i've never seen happen before, does this mean theres a film of some sort over it? I should note that I cannot see any other sign of injury or fungal infection anywhere else on his body. I tested water parameters and all are normal, and temperature is around 21/22C and has been for some time.

What you can see in these pictures is exactly what I can see in real life, so I really hope someone has an idea what might be wrong and if there is anything I can do to help him.

Re: What is wrong with my axies eye/head?

Apparently the forum decided to rotate my images even though they were correctly orientated on my computer...helpful. Hopefully this works:

Re: What is wrong with my axies eye/head?

if it was from an injury, hopefully it will heal.

Re: What is wrong with my axies eye/head?

I agree with Dawn, it does look like an injury, maybe something spooked him and he bolted and bashed his head on the decor? There doesn't seem to be any fungus and he looks very healthy to me so he should heal up just fine.
One of my Axies damaged his eye really badly, I mean almost sliced it in half on the siphon hose and it healed up perfectly after a few months, their ability to regenerate damaged tissue is really amazing.

Re: What is wrong with my axies eye/head?

Hi both,

That's certainly very reassuring, thank you! He still looks the same so hopefully its nothing sinister, and his eye will be able to fully heal.

I'll update if anything changes with his condition.

Hi all,

I made a post last week about my axie because his eye looked different, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what the issue is (the tank is pretty dark and he freaks out whenever I turn the light on to look at him) but now I've noticed that one eye is protruding and the lens is 3d while the other is flat against his head as normal. I haven't got a pic but this person has pictures of the same issue:

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...f58-sick-axolotl/97687-funny-eyelid-lens.html

I'm really worried because in that post they don't sound hopeful for survival I did think he was being a bit miserable and antisocial for a week but he was still happily eating and now he's perked up again and been his normal self. Has anyone seen anything like this before and can advise what it could be?? All water parameters are normal and he is the only axolotl in the tank.

Thanks!

debadog said:

Hi all,

I made a post last week about my axie because his eye looked different, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what the issue is (the tank is pretty dark and he freaks out whenever I turn the light on to look at him) but now I've noticed that one eye is protruding and the lens is 3d while the other is flat against his head as normal. I haven't got a pic but this person has pictures of the same issue:

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...f58-sick-axolotl/97687-funny-eyelid-lens.html

I'm really worried because in that post they don't sound hopeful for survival I did think he was being a bit miserable and antisocial for a week but he was still happily eating and now he's perked up again and been his normal self. Has anyone seen anything like this before and can advise what it could be?? All water parameters are normal and he is the only axolotl in the tank.

Thanks!

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Could be various things - if it's actually the eye protruding could be infection, tumour or fluid behind it, for example. It would be best to get him to a vet for an examination and possible tests, although around the eye the risk versus possible benefit of some tests would need to be considered carefully.

Hope you can get him sorted out.

herpvet said:

Could be various things - if it's actually the eye protruding could be infection, tumour or fluid behind it, for example. It would be best to get him to a vet for an examination and possible tests, although around the eye the risk versus possible benefit of some tests would need to be considered carefully.

Hope you can get him sorted out.

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Hi herpvet,

Thanks for responding. All things considered I decided not to take him to the vets because it seems pretty pointless to me. My vet is not a herp specialist and would only really be helpful if it was obvious what was wrong. As you say, hes not going to mess around with his eye due to the risk anyway. The eye is not fully protruding, the lens is just filled with fluid and looks something like a bubble over the eye (my description of the issue was terrible, sorry). It actually looks more like this

Darwin seems happy and is eating well and I really don't think that at this point taking him to a vet and getting him stressed out is going to be good for him and his healing. I'm crossing my fingers that he will hopefully just heal himself, as I don't know if there is anything a vet will be able to do. If the situation changes or worsens than I might reconsider.

Given that I've told you that its not the actual eye protroding and just fluid in the lens, does this make you think of any other condition it might be?

You need to take him to a vet if it has not cleared up. Look around for an "exotic" vet and you can even call and find out if the vet treats amphibians.

Re: What is wrong with my axies eye/head?

Hi all, I like to leave updates on these types of posts because I've been in the position where I'm running around panicking about an illness and I can't find any information about it on the forum!

Update on Darwin today: he is absolutely fine. I think I was imagining the dent on his head in my panic, so thats okay. His eyes, truth be told, are still not 100% the same, perhaps he has regenerated in some way. He no longer has an obvious bubble above one of his eyes and they look normal, just not fully identical. He is happy and eating and seems normal and healthy.

I do think that sometimes, particularly with fish/aquarium animals, panicking and making rash decisions can be a fatal mistake. In the context of my situation I felt that the vet was unlikely to be able to achieve anything and taking him there would have stressed him out and potentially made the situation worse, especially as he apparently needed to regenerate. I'm not saying this is the right course of action for every incident but when you are the one looking at your pet, use your best judgement. I would never keep my pets from a vet if I thought it could help them, but in this case I didn't believe it would, and luckily it worked out. I would still really like to know what happened but I suppose I never will...

Re: What is wrong with my axies eye/head?

debadog said:

Hi all, I like to leave updates on these types of posts because I've been in the position where I'm running around panicking about an illness and I can't find any information about it on the forum!

Update on Darwin today: he is absolutely fine. I think I was imagining the dent on his head in my panic, so thats okay. His eyes, truth be told, are still not 100% the same, perhaps he has regenerated in some way. He no longer has an obvious bubble above one of his eyes and they look normal, just not fully identical. He is happy and eating and seems normal and healthy.

I do think that sometimes, particularly with fish/aquarium animals, panicking and making rash decisions can be a fatal mistake. In the context of my situation I felt that the vet was unlikely to be able to achieve anything and taking him there would have stressed him out and potentially made the situation worse, especially as he apparently needed to regenerate. I'm not saying this is the right course of action for every incident but when you are the one looking at your pet, use your best judgement. I would never keep my pets from a vet if I thought it could help them, but in this case I didn't believe it would, and luckily it worked out. I would still really like to know what happened but I suppose I never will...

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Thanks for the update, it's always good to know how things turned out. Glad he seems okay.

Cheers,
Bruce