My Axolotl has stopped eating,lost alot of weight!!

My Female Axolotl, Oxy, has stopped eating, Yes it is hot here. The water IS too warm. Should i stick her in the fridge? If i must do that, What is the best way? what kind of container, with a lid or without? Will that make her start eating again?

How long since she last ate? Just that axies can go without food for almost a month. Also, does she have any sign of infection or fungus or other symptoms?

Also, what is the tank temp.? Have you tried cooling the tank water, using a fan blowing across the top of the water surface or bottles of frozen dechlorinated water (in case the bottle bursts and leaks into the tank) floating in tank and rotated when the water melts? If you could afford it a chiller would be better, otherwise there have been a few people that have made homemade chillers for their tanks. Use the Search, between Topics and Register, to search this site for "homemade chillers".

The fridge won't necessarily make her eat again, it will destress her (if she is stressed), slow her metabolism down and give her a chance to heal. Axies will not necessarily eat if the fridge temp is between about 5 degree's celcius - 9/10 deg cel (sorry, not sure of fahrenheit).

If putting in fridge, foodsafe plastic or glass container with a lid. Wrap container in a dish cloth/towel to stop the light flashing and temperature spikes from opening/closing of fridge door. Do not put in fridge if fridge temp is lower than 5degrees celcius. A bottle or extra container of dechlorinated water to also be kept in fridge as you will need to do complete daily waterchanges. Offer food every couple of days, but she may not eat even then.

She hasnt ate for around a 2 weeks. no fungus or other symptoms. I think its the water temp.I'm having trouble keeping it below 25-27 degrees celcius. Yes i float frozen water bottles and Frozen gel packs inclosed in ziplock freezer bags. But its still too warm and i cant afford $300 for a chiller. Its getting well over 105 degrees here, so i dont know what to do.

(Message edited by oxylover on July 20, 2006)

Maybe you could freeze a clean milk jug full of water,if the tank is big

Its only a 10 gallon tank.

Put her in the fridge for the time being. Then you should experiment with different ways of keeping the tank cool. Try frozen water bottles in addition to a fan blowing across the surface of the water.

i have a 10 gal tank with little ones. i found a plastic dish that fit within the top. i put declor water in it and freeze it. i take it out of the plastic and lay it on top of the water. i have a tiny fan blowing. doing that twice a day, that tank stays right around 65 degrees. the axies like to go up and float below it. that room stays at 78 degrees most of the day.

I was having trouble here in Texas keeping the tank at a proper temp but but having a screen lid and a little fan blowing across the the top the tank stays between 65-72 degrees (F). We keep our house at 78 (F). Before the fan and screen we had to add frozen water bottles 2 at a time to drop the temp 2 degrees.
This is in a 10 gallon tank.