Swollen, not eating, needs alot of air. SICK AXIE!

I recently put my axolotl into a tank that had fish in it (I removed the fish of course). I roughly cleaned it out, changed the water and added antibacterial 'MelaFix' into the water along with water ager. Anyway Oscar hasn't eaten for roughly 2 weeks, and he has massive swelling under his chin, his stomach and legs. His tail is shredding at the back without healing, and he is constantly coming up for air. I think it is a fungus or bacterial problem but I am not sure.

Has anyone else had this problem??

Holding him like that will stress him more and mess up his slime coat. Fungus looks like white fluffy stuff. Like a cotton ball. I would say try salt baths and put him in the fridge. What temp is his water at right now. In his tank was he ever on gravel at all even before you got him.

Could he be morphing? Their tail fins disappear when they do that dont they?

That is vary rare. He looks a little sick to me.

Hard to say but he does look sick.

Put him in a container of dechlorinated water, make sure the water is low enough to cover his back if he has been floating at all, put a lid on and wrap with a dishcloth and put in the fridge. Place another container/bottle of dechlorinated water in the fridge to be used for the complete daily waterchanges.

Once he's in the fridge, then sort out your tank.

What has the temperature been at? It needs to be below 24C or you have to cool it down, using a fan and/or frozen bottles of dechlorinated water rotated.

Have you tested your tankwater for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

How long has Oscar been in this tank since you added the melafix/new water and water ager/dechlorinator?

How often have you been doing waterchanges and did you just do it with waterager and tapwater or also continue with melafix treatment?

He died last night. The water temp was fine... maybe alittle bit high, around 19 degrees. I only held him for that photo too, there wasn't any other way I could really show his swelling. I feel like a bad mum!!!

He was only in the tank for about 3 weeks, thats why I'm definatley sure it was something to do with that. I added new water roughly weekly and added the melafix and ager then too.

Also notice in the photo that the tips of his feet were bloodshot. His gills had lost all their little fibres too.

Im sorry for your loss. its not easy losing a pet. Im lost my rat a few months back and it still breaks my heart. She was my best friend.

I'am also sorry to hear that. If I sounded rude about holding him I'am sorry. Is there any other axies with him I hope that they are not sick. Please let us know if you need any more help.

Sorry to hear about that.

It could have been water quality due to cycling which could have contributed to his illness.

Do you have any others in the tank, and if you do test your tankwater for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates? If ammonia or nitrites are above 0 then, and there are tankresidents, you should do daily partial 20 or 30% waterchanges to bring the toxins down so its safe enough to live. Don't add chemicals, other than water ager to your tapwater, they are only temporary fixes.

Also, how much melafix did you use, I know that it is on the safe list of medicines to be used for axies, but you have to be very careful when using fish medicines or treating your tank as they can be toxic for your axie.

(Message edited by kapo on April 18, 2007)

I didn't test the water for ammonia, nitrite or nitrate so it must be something to do with that. The filter I was using I don't trust completley either... I think I will throw it out in anger next time I see it I looked up his symptoms and it definatley was a bacterial of fungal problem, which I am pretty sure was caused by the filtration in the tank. *sigh* it seems like such a stupid thing to loose a member of the family over. I guess I'll know next time, and for anyone else who's pets start swelling, clean out the tank pronto!
Thanx for the help guys and girls.

Courtenay, if your axies get sick you should never "clean" out the tank completely, you effectively wash away any good bacteria that is already established/establishing in your tank. You should test the tankwater and remove the axie (which you did). Otherwise, your tank starts recycling, which in turn needs to be rigorously monitored (through testing and waterchanges where necessary) so they don't get sick. That combined with temperature can be lethal especially in Australia during summer, which I noticed last year when reading the threads very similar to yours and others.

Many people don't realise about tank cycling and testing and/or changing the water daily.

Fungal infections usually occur when an axie is stressed, through temperature or water quality and in turn it lowers their immune system which can lead to fungus or other sickness.

I also have a hit and miss affair with filters - we were given 3 filters when we bought our axies and they were all hopeless (husband has been modifying and/or adding spray bars ever since where needed on filters; and we have no filters on 2 of our tanks.

(Message edited by kapo on April 19, 2007)