Oddly floating

when axoltols float, has anyone ever had an occurance whereby the axolol floats on one side? i woke up this morning and my sick one was floating one her side and doens't move much at all, shes really stressed by it and im wondering if it's that she's gonna die or that the gas in her gut is just making its way through?

well shes but and inch from death now, and i cant do anything more, i expect her to die pretty soon. ive done everything i can and to do anymore would make her last few hours, or minutes stressfull and uncomfortable...

Mat, I read recently on this forum about axies floating on side which isn't good, and most of suggestions were to put the axie in a foodsafe container of dechlorinated water that just covers them so they are not floating and their feet touch the bottom of container, put lid on and then wrap the container in a towel/teatowel put axie in the fridge, make sure your fridge temp is not lower than 5 degrees celc. (I kept a thermometer in a glass of water at back of fridge to check b4 I stuck my two in recently and my fridge temp is 7), and do daily water changes. Keep a bottle of dechlorinated water in the fridge beside the container, so when you do the dAily water changes the water temp is the same as that of the container. hope this helps

ive tried that, and im pretty sure its too late, i think its more humane to leave her be, but thanks for the suggestion

is she in the fridge now?

no but she was, she didn't get any better, and i don't want to stress her anymore, so she isn't going back in

Have you put her back in her tank, or is she still in her container? As far as I know and what I have read on this forum putting an axie in the fridge doesn't stress them. But putting an axie in the fridge and just taking them out within a few hours because she didn't get better wont help either. The fridge temp. slows their metabolism down, the water height in her container will stop her floating on her side and cause her a lot less stress than floating sideways at the top of her tank. Also, how high is temp in her tank if you have put her back in there?

ive lowered the water in her tank so shes standing, i took her out slowly after about a week, its not the going into the firde that im worried about, its the getting her out of her tank, putting her into a small container on a slipery bottom and rapidly droping the temperature, and frankly at this stage i dont think it could do much but freak her out and ultimately kill her, it's killing me that shes so bad, but i dont want to do more harm than good, u know

My husband was concerned when we had to put one of our axies in the fridge due to her sudden loss of colour to her gills and skitzing out all over the place. We are so glad we did tho. I even replaced our master fresh water kit, in case we had a faulty one. From reading your other 2 threads I gather that you may not have cycled your tanks. It cud be something to do with water quality and/or temp. I know you do a 50% waterchange once a week. But if you have placed your axies in an uncycled tank, then it is best to do a 30% water change daily until it cycles on both tanks, it can take anywhere up to 4-6 weeks (ours took 5 weeks to cycle). Please don't assume they will be alright just going into it. If you don't have a master freshwater test kit or one that tests the ammonia/nitrite and nitrate levels in your tank, take a sample of water from both tanks to your local fishshop/aquarium shop to get them to test it. It's really important. I know it prob is a bit scary putting her into a shallower container and into the fridge in case she freaks out. But we put ours into a 2litre icecream container, water had been filled half way up container but her feet touched the bottom. She is still in her container, since removing from fridge, so I can feed her; colour still not returned but she is not stressed or skitzed out. And they actually seem to find it easier moving round. Rapid changes of temp would be taking the container out of the fridge and putting her straight back into her tank without waiting for the fridged water to warm back up or putting her straight into icecold water. So I hope you didn't misunderstand my earlier post. The fresh dechlorinated water in the container shud be at room temp, same as your tank (as long as it isn't above 20degrees Cel.) and then putting the container, with your axie, wrapped in a towel, into the fridge (then it will be a gradual cooldown). The dechlorinated water in the bottle in the fridge will cool down and can be used for the water change next day. Sorry for long post

(Message edited by kapo on January 22, 2006)

shes dead

oh Mathew, I am so very sorry to hear that.

thank you, but she went peacefully and had a good and easy life, she will be remembered