Axolotl Escape

E

eric

Guest
I woke up this morning at around 11 to find one of my Axolotls laying on the floor in front of it's tank. It's skin was sticky, not wet and I don't know how long it'd been there. It's still alive and back in the tank now but it's skin seems to be peeling off. One of it's legs is all red - it appears as though one of it's tank mates bit it, which is probably why it jumped out. Has anyone else has this happen? Is there anything special I can do to help it's skin? thanks
 
What a shock that would have been!

I'd get him out of the tank (away from the other) for the time being and quarantine him somewhere cool, quiet, and dark to try and relieve/reduce stress. Don't go crazy checking on him a million times, you'll only add to his stress.

The skin peeling off is probably skin that died when it dried out (I think.) I'm assuming we'd rather have it peel off than stick to the body and have it rot there, so I think peeling is healthy and to be expected. I haven't had it happen with my axolotls, but I did have a betta jump out once. He was *crispy* when I found him and somehow managed to survive- lived to the ripe old age of 4.

Some might disagree with me, but this is a case where I would use a bit of melafix. Even though it's liver-toxic in the long term and irritates the mucous membranes, you probably want to do just that right now. The logic being: the skin dried, and mucous membranes have obviously been damaged/scraped/generally disturbed by his ordeal flopping on dry land. Any mucous at this point is probably a bit lacking. By introducing an irritant, you'll stimulate an over-production of mucous. Since this is what protects your axolotl's skin, you want to help him recover his protection as soon as possible. So- I would use some melafix, but at less than recommended strength.

If he's still alive tomorow start thinking about anti-bacterial and anti-fungal remedies. Have these on hand in case they're needed- you don't know what kind of bugs he could have picked up from the floor!

Hope that helps a bit, and I really hope he recovers!
 
I wanted to ask about axolotls jumping out of tanks. What is needed to prevent this?
 
Just a lid Alan, at one point I didnt have a lid and had no escapes but I kept the water level dont 4-5 inches.
 
Well, he died this morning. I noticed a hole in the bottom of him earlier, no idea what it was from but no doubt it was connected to his escape, and my sister just found him lieing under some plants with rigor mortus set in
sad.gif
 
I'm so sorry to hear the bad news.
sad.gif


My sympathy is with you!
 
Sorry to hear the Eric... I think getting a lid for your tank would be a good idea.
 
It has a lid but there's a gap at the front that's roughly the same size as the Axolotls are now :/ The tank in question is not going to be used in the long term anyways (I'm planning on selling the Axies in it)
 
Axolotls rarely jump out. Whatever the underlying problem is you should be careful not to repeat it. It might be a bully, water quality, temperature, disease, stress, etc. I have hundreds of axolotls and none of the tanks are covered.
 
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