Floating, not eating

Hey all

I recently purchased an Axolotl 4 days ago. So far....my Axolotl doesn't seem well at all.

The first problem was the Axolotl swimming up to stick his head out and what seemed to me, gasp for air or belching. This has stopped now, however he continues to remain floating. He also has not eaten since the day I purchased him. I've tried frozen fish, blood worms and beef heart.
Also, my Axolotl likes to go right up to the filter and allow the bubbles to hit his head

Please help! He seems to be getting worser every day as now his tail becomes curled every so often which looks....weird.

Cheers, Mike

Tail curling means he is stressed. When they lift their head out of the water they are just gulping the air, nothing to worry about. They don't usually eat straight away as they are in a new environment and it takes a few days to get used to it. When your axie goes up to the filter it probably likes the bubbles cause they are full of air. The cause of a curled tail could be the water temp being to high and if the gills are curled forwards thats a sign that the water flow from your filter is to fast.

Try feeding him Live/Frozen bloodworms or live earthworms as they are a good nutritious meal.

I wouldn't personally give them fish but if its frozen it should be ok. Just don't put any live fish in the tank with it. And never feed it feeder fish as they are full of parasites.

Give us an update after a day or two. oh, how big is your tank you have your axie in?

Thanks for the response! I can rest a little more easy now

The tank is 46 cm wide with 21 cm sides and has a height of 25 cm

Did you cycle your tank: see: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml

If not, you will need to do daily partial waterchanges of about 30% until your tank cycles (can take up to 8 weeks).

If your temp is above 24C you will need to cool it down. see: www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cooling.shtml

apart from that welcome to the forum, and any questions just ask

Hehehe thanks for your response and welcome!
I've been throwing in ice cubes to keep the temp down, seems to be working..I think

--Mike

Thats an alright size but you will have to upgrade to a bigger one after a few months

Have to be careful with icecubes - 2 reasons, don't use straight tapwater ice and also you can cause fluctuating temperatures and stress your axie. Do you have a fan that you can aim at the surface, that will bring it down a couple of degrees. Also, try frozen bottles of dechlorinated water. Put one? in and before it melts completely remove it an put another in. These have to be rotated consistently to keep your axolotl happy/healthy.

How big is your axie as the size of the tank will be too small in a couple of months and you may need to upgrade size for axie - axies can reach 30cm + in size.