axie vet

Hi everyone, Do anyone know of any vets in Perth that know something about axies. I am not having a very good run with my axies at present. One died not long ago and another one has seemed to stopped eating. I have given him the fridge treatment but that hasnt appeared to work he keeps hitting the floor of the tank and now has a sore mouth to which i have given him a salt bath he continually gulps for air and swims alot around the tank the temperature of their water is now down to 20.9 which is the lowest i at present i can keep the tank to. He has not eaten now for around 2 weeks his head is now wider than his body which to me is a sign of something wrong. I think I need help.

It sounds like you might have water quality problems and this is causing your axolotl not to eat. What are your ammonia/nitrate/nitrite readings? Also if temperature has been high in the past this can cause trouble as well.

What do you mean by sore mouth? Has it got fungus or something like that? If your axie is getting salt baths and doesn't really need them this is not a good idea.

As far as vets go, not sure about which ones specialise in amphibians in Perth (google was not helpful) I would recommend finding some local vets in the yellowpages, calling them and asking if they can deal with amphibians (or more specifically, axolotls). Even if the vet can't help themselves they may be able to recommend another one that can help.

If it is temperature related (ie you've also posted something similar in the Sick Axie part of the forum - is this the same one having problems?) then you will either have to apply cooling methods (ice bottles in conjunction with polystyrene placed round the tank as well as fan method blowing across the surface). If you can't maintain the temperatures you just may have to keep him in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

axie

Hi Kapo and Sarah,

Kapo, you asked if this is the same axie, the answer is no that one died a couple of weeks ago.
This one is 2 year old when I was given him I have had him around 10 months. The sore mouth Iwas talking about is happening when he keeps hitting the bottom of the tank or some rocks when he is doing his dives . There is a white film all around his mouth and that is why i was giving him salt baths hoping this will get rid of whatever it is. He is still not eating I had put him in the fridge for a couple of days hoping that what ever the problem was might be solved but no. He is now back in with his mates and still not eating. Did try a little bit of meat but ended up spitting it out. His head is now wider than the rest of his body which to me is a sure sign of smoething not right. I have now done a test on their water and the readings are as follows

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0-5
PH 7.8

If everyone is saying that the nitrate is too low is it because of the cleaning of their tank We do a 20% change every week maybe I should let it go for longer I have also managed to get their water temperature down to 19.5 by putting a house fan above the tank

Are you able to post a picture.

I wouldn't say you have a problem with nitrates.

You may need to keep him separated from his tankmates, ideally in a separate container/tub which can be changed daily (if you can keep it cool, even using an esky and icepacks surrounding the temporary tub while he's recuperating and see if you can tempt him to eat with various bits and pieces). I still think it may be temperature related, but if he does have fungus round the mouth you'll probably need to continue the saltbaths twice a day anyway (any chance of a photo of his mouth?)

perth vet

Hi Vicki, i have taken two of my axies to the vet in maddington. Hanly vet clinic, albany hwy. 94595595. Ask when Darius is on. I found him to be wonderful and knew about axies. Hope this helps. Regards Tara.

axies

Hi Kapo,and Tara,

Just letting you know that i took my axie to the vets in maddington on saturday and the outcome is that my axie has a fungi that is the same as thrush. Their water is perfect according to the vet. But he did not explain how axies get thrush. The vet gave him an antibotics injection and now on wednesday when i take him back for another injection of about 4 i am to take the other two with me just so he can have a look to see if they are okay. Am still managing to keep their water temp down to 19.2 which is great The vet said that the temperature is good but in actual fact it was slowing down the healing process and he is not healing a fast cant win.

Antibiotics have little or no direct effect on fungus. Sometimes fungus is secondary to a bacterial infection, or causes a secondary bacterial infection, and thus antibiotics might help. Are you still giving the salt baths too?

hey vicki,
may i recommend this week putting your axies in the fridge???? the temp will soar and so will the tank.......i had been able to keep mine at about 19-20 steady with use of a fan but last week my tank temp got to 30... when it hit the so called 40 on boxing day (ahem ahem 50 odd at my place)

or at the very least prepare yourself with many ice bottles..( mine got moved yesterday)
one of my babies had white stuff... i used salt baths which was helping but found pimafix and melafix eradicated the problem entirely...I used just under full dose and had no problems whatsoever with stress and problems that other people note...in fact i found my axie was soooooo stressed being taken out of the tank twice a day that he was getting worse and the healing was slower..

i put in my dose of pima and mela together in the tank, whilst he was with his girls, so they benefitted from the precautionary measure on their part ( they didnt get sick) and he healed within a few days..
Also the temp..... if you do your research you will find that it says many places ( i cant think of right now) that axies are not like normal fish... raising the temp slows their healing... to heal better make their environment cooler....

Hi, I'd recommend the fridge as well, mine is there currently (five days now), I'm also in Perth. Read about fridging on this forum, but basically, above 5 degrees celsius, container with lid and wrapped in a tea towel so the light going on and off doesn't bother them, and 100% water change with dechlorinated water daily. Especially if he has/has had fungus.

If you do fridge him and continue saltbaths. Keep a separate container in the fridge marked saltbath (prepare the saltbath and leave it in the container), this will make it easier to swap him from his hospital container to the saltbath (make sure when saltbathing to put the container back in the fridge during this time so the container doesn't warm up). Alternatively, if you don't have enough room in the fridge then just make sure you have extra bottles of dechlorinated water in the fridge to prepare the saltbath at the same fridge temperature.

axie

Hi guys.
Thanks for all the info since his visit to the vets i have noticed that the white fungus aroud his mouth is starting to clear even though he still does not want to eat. I put food on a stick and try to coach him to eat he tries but cannot succeed in getting the food into his mouth. I even tried putting food into his mouth but he spat it out. The temperature of the tank today got down to 17.9 and now at present it is sitting at 18.4 Where do i get erth worms from i have tried breeding them but without success. No i have not gone back to giving him salt baths yet. He is due for another injection on wednesday. One thing I have noticed is that ever since I put in glass shrimp that was when things started happening and that was around just over three weeks

You can get earthworms from hardware stores/garden centres. Try Bunnings or something similar. Failing that have you tried your local council, they sometimes have composting/recycling facilities setup and will sell you worms for a wormfarm or will be able to advise where to get them from. I found the following link on how to do an worm farm which is quite good - www.ipswich.qld.gov.au/residents/waste/worm_farming/ (click on the DIY worm farming part)

Axie

Hi,

Just letting you know, my sick axie died today. Found him when i got home from work. I thought he might of been getting better but apparently not. I ended up having to hand feed him to keep food in his stomach, but i did notice that he was spitting most of it out. He wasnt skinny or anything. he was still big and fat but just starting to thin out around his neck area, The other two seem fine.
Maybe it just was his time to go to animal heaven.


regards

Vicki