Dying curly axie, please help?

Hello

I am new to this forum, and am in dire need of advice and help with my axie 'Bob'.

He stopped eating a while ago, and has only eaten a few times in this last month. I had my water tested properly at my local aqualife shop, who told me that the Phosphate levels in my local water went off the scale, at approx 5.0

Bob took a bad turn for the worse, and started to float about the tank, curled in a ball. So i took him straight out and put him in some water that i bought from the aqualife shop, and put Bob in the fridge.....which was at about 10C.

He was in there for about a week with one water change, and he seems no better at all. I have warmed him up slowly, and put him back into his tank, which has a temp of approx 20C. I have to keep a fan on the water surface to be able to keep it at that. But he is no better at all. He cant seem to uncurl himself, even though i have seen him sitting straight, he cannot seem to more without involuntarily curling up (side ways). Even going upside down etc, not seeming to have much control over himself.

I noticed that when he was in the fridge, on one occasion that he was sitting straight, he was bloated more one side of his body than the other, and i fear some kind of tumor? I have sand in my tank, so it cant be something that he has swallowed, although it does look darker that side?

If anyone has any idea's then please let me know, im very upset that he isnt well.

i would put him back in the fridge, 10 degrees sounds high for fridge temp, can you lower it to 5-6 degrees. i dont know much about this sort of thing but i wish you luck. how old/long is your axie?

When keeping the axololt in the fridge the water needs to be changed daily. When the pet store tested the water what were the exact levels? pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

What were the levels of phosphate?

I would suggest contacting the water company as apparently due to the amount of lead piping in the UK, the water company maybe dosing the water with ortho-phosphate to prevent corrosion of the lead (see http://www.ciwem.org/policy/policies/lead.asp )

Ed

Hi there, sorry to hear about your axolotl.
As the others have said I would put him back into the fridge at the lower temperature, making sure you do the daily water changes ( or more if he has deficated) . .Until Bob improves ..i.e eats etc. Last night I was reading a book about axolotl( newts and Samamnders by Frank Indivglio) and I ended up on the health page. There is a problem called Gas bubble disease that can occur when the water temps rise to above 20 degrees..which is likely as our air temperatures have been all over the place.. Anyway, I hope he gets better for you.

Thanks for all your help peeps!

I was watching Bob until the early hours of the morning, and it would seem that he cannot control his tail or the right hand side of his body. He curls up to the right, and although his legs all work ok, if he tries to swim to the surface, he goes round and round in circles, never reaching the top, and when he walks, he goes round and round or sideways.

I am now worried that he might have some kind of tumor that is effecting his nervous system, or sitting on his spine or something? Anybosy had any experience of that??

Thanks

Hi,

It sounds like he does have something affecting his central nervous system (brain/spinal cord) - possibly trauma, infection or tumour although it could be secondary to some metabolic problems. Unfortunately a specific diagnosis may be difficult to obtain, but I would suggest getting him to a vet - at the very least there are treatments that could be tried against some possible causes even if a specific diagnosis is not established.

Hope you can get him sorted.

same symptoms

Hi Charlie my axie had the same symptoms, i took him to the vet he had a bacterial infection, after having an injection every day for 5 days , he is so much better. Best wishes with your little one.

I am going to ask a second time,

when the pet store tested the levels in the tank what were the pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and phosphate levels?

Ed

Hi Lightswitch,

Find a vet that knows about axolotls. What ever it is it doesn't sound very good. Do you have gravel as a substrate?

In the meantime fridging helps axies to destress so I would get it back in fridge.

Best of luck