Stomach swollen with air?

Hi guys,

I found my axolotl, Vlad, floating upside down in his tank on Saturday. He's still vital, but his abdomen is filled with what I'm presuming is air (since he's stuck upside down and floating). I have him in the refrigerator, and have been dosing him with Maracyn-2 and also adding aquarium salt. While he's still okay, the air doesn't seem to have diminished at all.

I checked his tank water, which I had changed about 3 days prior to finding him floating (he lives in a 15 gallon tank with filter). Nitrates were under 40ppm, and Nitrites were more or less non-existent. I haven't changed the chemicals I use to treat his water, and he's on a mixed diet of Repti-min sticks and freeze-dried tubifex worms. The temperature in his tank has been stable.

Can anyone shed any light on what might have caused this, and whether anyone else's Axolotl has survived something like this? It seems a wee bit different than bloat, but I could be wrong. Any help would be much appreciated.

Oh, I also checked his throat for obstructions, and there were none (and I don't let anything inedible in his tank small enough for him to get in his mouth).

Thanks in advance,
Sarah (and Vlad)

Is it possible to keep the water shallow enough that he can keep himself right-side up? It could be air, or it could be fluid bloat. What you are doing to treat sounds reasonable, I don't have any further suggestions. Not an easy problem.

When you say you changed his tank water, do you mean all of it, or part of it? I assume you dechlorinate the water? Do you age it also?

Jennifer,

I did lower the level of water last night so he's right side up.

When I change his tank water, I never change all of it. Depending on how messy he's been (it never fails to amaze me how quickly an Axolotl can dirty up water), I will change 40-60%. I don't age the water. This has been my standard tank changing procedure for about... 2 years, I think. Does aging the water make a big difference? And yes, I use AmQuel's products to dechlorinate (I also keep a 55 gallon tropical fish tank... we do a lot of water changing around here. )

Thanks.

Your water changing procedures sound good, basically, although a ~60% change can be a bit of an abrupt change. Smaller, more frequent changes might be less stressful, and maybe a larger tank would be better if you need to do such large water changes. The reasons for aging water, in addition to adding dechlorinator are (1) to get the temperature of the new water to the same as the tank, (2) to let excess gasses dissipate. Water will sometimes come out of the tap very saturated with gas, particularly in winter. (You know how sometimes you put water into a drinking glass and little bubbles form on the inside of the glass? That's the gas coming out of the water.)

Good luck to Vlad, keep us posted!

Jen,

Mr. Vlad is still alive and kicking, but I haven't noticed any change in abdomen. I've lowered the water level so he can stay on his feet. He's still pooing, but doesn't appear to be eating anything.

I've taken some pictures, and will attempt to link them here. I'm a little worried about a dark spot where I think his liver is. To be honest, I've never paid attention before, but I don't remember it looking that dark.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d19/LaCane/Sick%20Axolotl/CIMG1437.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d19/LaCane/Sick%20Axolotl/CIMG1436.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d19/LaCane/Sick%20Axolotl/CIMG1435.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d19/LaCane/Sick%20Axolotl/CIMG1433.jpg

Thank you again for all your help. This forum is absolutely invaluable!

The belly does look bloated. A vet could drain it, if you wanted to go that route.

I dont have any solution for you, but just wanted to let you know our Oopa had the same problem and eventually burped it out one day. However, it seems to come and go. Im not sure what is causing it but he seems to be fine.