What the hec k is happening?!?!?

Hi everyone,

I have had my albino axolotl for about 3 months now and she has always been really healthy and happy…until about 2 days ago! The first thing I noticed was that she seamed to have diarrhea. Some of it would come out and drop of but then some would be left trailing around behind her for I while. The next day the diarrhea seamed to be gone but a new problem arose…she wouldn’t eat. She has always been a really good eater I have never had problems with her not eating before. She still snatches at the food and it appears that she is attempting to swallow it but then it pops strait back out! I tried to feed her all day but the same thing kept happening. When I got up this morning she had turned from really white to VERY pink and blotchy, she still wouldn’t eat and the cloaca area is all fat and open and is blood red.
Can someone please help me I am in such a dilemma…trust Asrai to decide to get sick now I am in the middle of my HSC exams!

What do you feed her\how often and how much and have you changed her food recently? Have you added anything to her tank recently and have you tested her water parameters- ammonia, nitrite, nitrate? What is her tank temp?

Are u able to put her in the fridge, if need be/or u have access to one. This will slow her metabolism down and help her to destress and may give her time to heal.

I usually feed her axolotl pellets but once every week or two I give her a few feeder fish from the pet shop. Her water temp is about 21 degrees Celsius. Sometimes it gets hotter but only on really hot days and it has not been that hot for a while. I am going to try and buy a parameter kit this afternoon. I have never used one before because I have never had a problem with the water. The people at the pet shop give sh*t advice they told me I didn’t need one. You would think that they would at least tell me I need one so that they could sell it to me and get my money. They did however give me some water conditioner stuff or something which I have used ever since I got my axolotl when I replace any water.
If I was to put her in the fridge how long should I leave her in there for?

P.S. thanx for your quick response

Keep her in there a week and see how she goes. Feel free to ask in this forum, someone will be around to help.

Test your fridge temp, unless known, by using a thermometer in a glass of water and leave in fridge for 30mins-1hr. If it is above 4deg C. then its ok for her to go in fridge. She will not eat in the fridge and will need complete daily waterchanges. Easy way to do it.

Two icecream containers with lids both with dechlorinated water (water and water conditioner drops).
Put axie in one, cover and wrap in a teatowel (stops fluctuating temp spikes and light flashing when door opens)
Place both containers in fridge. You can also put an extra bottle of dechlorinated water in fridge.
Next day move her from one container to the 2nd container, cover and wrap, pop back in fridge.
Clean the 1st container (rinse with solution of baking soda and water). Fill with dechlorinated water and pop back in fridge next to axie cntainer.

You can offer food, but she may not eat (that's normal).

As for your tank, an ideal temp is below 20deg if you can keep it there, take a sample of water down to the petshop and ask them to test it (since they gave u such good advice!) and get the no.s for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph. You can buy the tests individually or a freshwater master test kit which includes them all.

BTW I would seriously avoid feeding petstore feeder fish unless you know the breeder they came from and/or breed them yourself. Any fish/axie bought at petstore should be quarantined for 30days b4 being introduced to your tank. Your axie could easily become infested with Parasites or become ill. (Am not saying that this was the cause but probably doesn't help).

Have you tried feeding her earthworms b4, they are a great staple and cheap.

Ok thanks heaps for your help

Oh No!!! Now Asrai has some white stuff coming out of her anus do you know what this could be??? Is it some kind of infection???

There were two little white balls with a kind of more transparent 'tail'. This happened twice...once in a poo and once on its own.

Is she in the fridge now? And are you able to post a pic using the upload attachment button at the bottom next to post message button?

If she's in the fridge anything that is undigested in her gut or still in her intestines will come out both ends otherwise it would just rot. Just wondering is it a little blob on top of a clear/transparent upside down jelly cone? Like this http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Ambystoma/A_mexicanum.shtml (scroll half way down the page and there's a picture of what I'm attempting to describe!

Or does it look like part of the feeder fish tails that you fed her?

Hmmm so Asrai is a boy? I see . No i have not put her...i mean him(stupid pet shop man!) in the fridge because it is too cold and my grandparents wont let me turn it up "just for my stupid fish" . He? seams well now though, no diarrhea, no pink skin.The only thing is that he is still spitting out his food. Why would he try to eat the food if he didnt want it?

IME, axies are opportunistic eaters, they will continually eat given the chance, even if not hungry and end up spitting the food out.

Also, does he/she have a large cloaca (behind the rear legs). And any idea how old he/she would be? What length is s/he from mouth to tail approx?

Can you cool your tank or place it in a cooler part of the house? If you have a fan, pedestal fans are great as height and angle can be adjusted, direct the fan at the surface of the water (this will bring it down a few degrees). Don't use icecubes this can stress your axie. U can also use frozen bottles of dechlorinated water (1 litre if u have a large tank/500ml for a small tank) rotated b4 the ice melts so as not to cause fluctuating temps. The cooler temps might help lower his/her stress a bit.

Also, depending on size of your axie, if below 10cm - feed twice a day; up to 15cm - once a day, over 15cm every 2 days, over 20cm every 3/4 days. If there are any feeder fish left in the tank, remove them (if she isn't eating them then they will just add to the extra waste -ie more ammonia in the tank).

If you can't keep your tank cool, then you will probably have real problems when summer really hits (last year a lot of aussies had problems with the heat and their axies).

Re: the fridge problem; are you able to get a 2nd hand one (small bar one or similar) that could be used for your axie.

And, don't you just hate it when they call your axie a fish and it isn't even when you tell them its an amphibian!

Yeah Asrai has a large cloaca and is about 18cm long. I got 'it' almost exactly 3 months ago and I am pretty sure it was not a baby then, was about 15cm, but the pet shop people did not even know how old.
I am going to see if i can get a fridge and i already have something in mind. Should i put her in there for most of time during the summer?
Also i was planning on getting a bigger tank too, will that have any effect on the temperature of the water? Will it be harder to keep cool?

And yes i hate it when they say anything about my axolotl because whatever it is it is usually mean!

Have you got gravel in your tank?
I'm not an expert or anything, but it sounds like a prolapse...

Is there an amphibian vet close to you?
If so, take her as soon as possible.

One of the girls in Scandinavia kept her axie in the fridge most of the summer and just recently took her out, but she kept her temperature higher I think round 10deg C. so her axie was able to eat. (Lower than 9deg and they tend not to eat.) So, if you have problems cooling then that could be an idea. There is the option to either make a chiller or buy a brandnew one, but they can cost anything from $100-$250ish on ebay to $600+ thru petstores.

Eironn are you able to post a pic of Asrai's near the bum region! Here is a link to another thread where their axie had a prolapse. www.caudata.org/forum/messages/793/52172.html

Also, it was easier for us to keep our bigger tank cooler. Our smaller tanks got warm so fast compared to the larger ones last summer (and our temps only got to 30c (not tanks outside temp!).

I am pretty much certain that Asrai does not have a prolapse or anything like that. I only meant that the cloaca looked kind of swollen but that was when Asrai was doing a lot of poo its back to normal now. I have managed to keep the water below 20 degrees for the last couple of days so things seam to be going quite well. The trouble with getting Asrai to eat still remains though.

Have you tried Asrai on any other food. Some suggestions:

* ox liver, ox heart or sheeps heart, or snitzel or steak - if it's a hassle trying to find heart(heart/liver are cheap but cut off all the fat and sinews of meat and cut in wormlike strips);
* live crickets (petstore may sell them)
* frozen bloodworm cubes
* earthworms or compost worms (some axies won't eat compo worms; ours will eat any worms)
* mealworms (cut of head b4 feeding)

I tried feeding Asrai an earthworm today (it was extremely hard to find because we are in drought and the ground is really dry) but he would not have anything to do with it. He just sat there while i wiggled it around and sat it on his nose. He does not even attempt to try to eat anything now. Do you think i should just try different types of food until i find something Asrai will eat? Meat is easy to get because there is a butcher across the road from my house.

Yes start with the meat, since its avail. but see if you can get some of the other stuff mentioned. When was the last time you fed and he ate? How often do you usually feed? Also sometimes one of our axies will not eat for a week or two (I used to stress out, more than my husband, during this time until they started eating).

I usually feed Asrai twice a day but now it has been 4 days since he last ate. Today he has been really inactive and sits in the same spot pretty much all the time and when he moves it is only a little bit and really slow. this is odd because Asrai usually spends most of the time swimming around.

Gosh twice a day is a lot especially as he is over 15cm! He should probably be fed every 2/3 days at his size. Young axies from hatching size to 10cm do get fed twice a day. He may not be "swimming around" as much because you've cooled the tank down a bit. They do become a little more active when tank is warmer (which can lead to stress if temp cont. to rise). Have you managed to get the water test kits? They will give you a good idea on if your tank water is ok or not.

(Message edited by kapo on October 27, 2006)