Help, sick axolotl!

Our axolotl Tehanu seems to be sick, she used to live in a small tank with gravel and we changed her tank for a bigger one without gravel about a month ago. She seemed very happy and active for about a week, then she stopped eating, for almost three weeks. She also hasn't pooped for about two weeks, and it was almost all gravel anyway.

The tank had a nice castle in it, but we think it may have been modifying the water's pH too much because the water smelled very strongly of the castle. We changed it for a very pretty (haha) pvc tube, that works just as fine for shelter and shade but doesn't smell.

She ate a small prawn two days ago, and today she snapped at some fish but didn't manage to grab it, and then refused it.

We've fed her mostly with dried prawn (sold as turtle food), frozen fish, ground beef and chicken. I don't know if her not eating is due to some gravel still in her system, or if the chicken or beef was bad for her, or if the fish shouldn't have been frozen (it's been frozen for about two months already, but since it's frozen I assume it's still all right). She is very bloated and floats all the time, and her tail is curved downward and curled at the tip. I know this is a sing of stress, but I can't figure out what it's due to.

The filter we use creates a very strong current that makes poor Tehanu float in circles around the tank, so we only turn it on when we note the water too is dirty (about once every two days, for a couple of hours), and the rest of the time we use a bubble stone. She often sits with her tail in the bubbles.

Please help, we got Tehanu as a birthday gift for a friend but she ended up in our house because his was too cold and the axie's gills were turning white. We moved her so as to avoid her death, and I'd really hate to see her die now... we've done everything we can think of, but I really doubt there are any vets in my city that know much about amphibians and that won't cost a fortune...

I've read a bit on the forum about salt baths, can anyone tell me a bit more about them? In what cases should you use them, how do they work, how do I make one? Would salt baths help Tehanu?

Thanks for reading such a long message! And please help if you can...
Thale

hi
you have several issues here that need to be addressed
first i and im sure others would recommend you remove your axie from the tank place it in a container with some dechlorinated water, just enough to cover its back so it cant float put a cover on and place it in the fridge with a bottle of dechlorinated water for water changes this will help destress it.
next you have to sort out your filter you need to slow the flow as down it will only harm your axie more if you do not use it all the time, some people do not use them at all but this means constant water changes. over here we buy spray bars that fit on to the filter outlet which spreads the water over a greater area, if you can try to get something to slow the speed or change your filter you wil be able to maintain a better enviroment which is less stressful.your axies water needs to be checked for amonia, nitrate and nitrite as these need to be kept to agreeable levels as they irritate and stress axies.also axies like the cold .they come from a very cold enviroment so under 20 degrees is better for them.
keeping axie in the fridge will slow its metabolism and help it calm but please make sure your fridge is somewhere between 5-10 degrees.
it most likely wont want to eat whilst there but you should not worry to much as some axies go a very long time in fridge without eating.
when your tank is sorted and the water quality and flow issues are srted you can try to re introduce it.
sorry for waffling on and i hope i have been of some help.
im sure others wll let you know their ideas and correct mine if im wrong.
good luck

Salt baths are generally used for open wound infections or fungal infections. It doesn't sound like Tehanu has any of those, it does sound like she's stressed. Gravel can remain in their stomachs for a long time before coming out. My four adults took about 18months to poo all the gravel/pebbles out of their systems.

What is your tank temperature?

How often have you done waterchanges on your tank since moving your axolotl to a larger tank? Did you cycle it: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml

Is your filter one that hangs on the back of the tank or an internal one? If it's an internal one and you can't modify it (ie add a homemade spraybar to deflect the flow of water to the back of the tank), then you need to stop using it as the flow obviously does stress it quite a lot. The hang on the back filters flow can be adjusted through tying something (like plastic plants) below the outlet so the flow is spread out and slower. If you can't adjust the flow at all then stop using that filter until you find one that has an adjustable flow or can be modified to suit your axolotl's needs. Using the air/bubble stone on its own is fine, you'll just have to do more frequent partial waterchanges during the week. Filters should be kept running all the time to be effective, not every 2-3 days or turned on when the water is dirty. If the water is dirty you need to do more frequent partial 20% water changes every few days rather than weekly.

The reason your water could be foul/dirty so much could be the amount and type of food you're feeding it and also dependant on how often you clean the tank. Avoid feeding things like ground beef and chicken as they can be quite fatty which is bad for them. Earthworms would be a better choice if you have access to some.

Have you tested your tankwater at all for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates?

Thanks for your advice, we're working on getting a kit to test the water for ammonia and nitrites.

A coule of days ago, a sort of foam started to build up around the water pump, but it's gone now after a partial water change. What was it?

Thanks!

Red dots

Tehanu has got red dots all over her... she's an albino. I read something on axolotl.org about red patches, but these are very small dots. Does anyone know what it might be?

We tested the water for nitrite and nitrate, (nitrite about 0.3 mg/l, nitrate about 5 mg/l) but the test for ammonia requires water between 20 and 30º and it's at 15º... what can we do about that? if I heat only the sample water up to 20º, will this modify the test results?

i cannot comment on the dots im afraid but you need to start doing partial water changes about 10/20 % everyday until you have zero readings on all but your nitrate the red dots may be the ammonia burning her skin which is why i advice fridging her until water problem is sorted.
make sure the water you use for changes is dechlorinated or you will add to the problem.
goodluck

No idea about the temperature for ammonia test.

Do you have one that uses a test tube, you take a sample of water, add ammonia test drops, shake and leave it for required time? I have that sort and it doesn't involve the tankwater being a certain temperature. The test tube ones are usually pretty accurate.

As your nitrite is 0.3mg/l I suggest you do 20% waterchange. If ammonia or nitrite levels are above 0, its considered unsafe/toxic, so need to be remedied by partial waterchanges. Test the water daily and continue the partial waterchanges if needed.

The red dots could be reaction to tankwater nitrite and/or unknown as yet ammonia levels.

With respect to the temperature and the ammonia test kits, it depends on the test kid as some like those that use Nessler's reagent will still work but take longer to give you a reading. If a small amount of tank water is removed from the tank in a clean jar and placed somewhere to warm up for a few minutes, it should be fine for use. I would not suggest heating the water on the stove or in a microwave as this could cause some of the ammonia to boil out (if I remember correctly ammonia has a lower boiling point than water and should begin to distill out at a lower temperature.).

Ed