bent front feet and floating

I just moved back to my parents house (where my 4 year old albino axolotl has lived while I was away at school) and he is floating belly up with his body arched in a "c" shape. He will occasionally swim around and right himself, but quickly floats back around. I also noticed that both of his front feet are bent backward at the wrist. Has anyone sen this type of foot deformity before? All of his toes are intact and he lives by himself with no signs of parasites or fungus. He eats blood worms, mostly frozen cubes and occasional live batches. I have read a bit on this forum about adding salt or puting him in the fridge- would this help in my situation? If so, what amount of salt and what temp (in F) for the fridge (and axolotls in particular) in vet school. I plan on buying a water testing kit ASAP as I would like to keep a larger axolotl collection in the future.

Thanks!!!

My advice would be to remove him from the tank immediately.
Pop him in a container with shallow dechlorinated water, just enough to cover his back and prevent him floating and turning over.
Then pop him in the fridge and cover the container in something dark to stop light and temperature fluctuations.
Pop a spare bottle of dechlorinated water in there with him for daily water changes.
Thereis no need for salt baths unless you see fungus (white fluffy bits) on him.
Then i suggest you get a complete fresh water testing kit and test his water.
Amonia NitrIte and NitrAte are the important thing s to measure.
If Ammonia and/or NitrIte are above zero start doing daily water changes of 20% to 30% until the readings are 0.

NitrAte in a cycled tank will measure approx 40.
Hope this helps some and good luck.

A photo of him would be appreciated please.

Thanks. My pH is 6.2 with a nitrite level of 0.1 ppm and an ammonia level between 0 and 0.25 ( I used one of the test tube kits, not an indicator strip). My camera just ran out of batteries but I will post a picture tomorrow. I will try putting him in the fridge tonight with a low water level and see how it goes.

There should be no measurable ammonia and the pH shouldn't be that low - axolotls shouldn't be kept at anything lower than pH 6.5 and even that's low.

stacie said:

What temp (in F) for the fridge (and axolotls in particular)...I will try putting him in the fridge tonight with a low water level and see how it goes

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Hi Stacie,

Set fridge for at least 41 degrees fahrenheit - set it no lower than this.

Follow fridge procedure as detailed by Digger in previous post.

May I ask what size your tank is and what sort of filter are you using?

If you could also advise of substrate type?

I recall a thread that had suggestions to bring the PH levels up - 6.2 is way too low....I'll see if I can find it - I'm at work at present

6.2 is surprisingly low, It makes me wonder whether there is something in your tank that is lowering the pH. normal dechlorinated tap water shouldn't have this pH.

Hello Stacie,

My pH is 6.2 with a nitrite level of 0.1 ppm and an ammonia level between 0 and 0.25...

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I agree with Ali about the pH being rather low. Having a pH that low usually means that there is too much organic matter within the tank, which means you need to give the tank a good clean. You mentioned that you feed your axolotl bloodworms. Bloodworms create a huge mess in the tank. If you don't clean up the excess bloodworms, they will contribute towards the organic matter, and (1). lower the pH (2). increase ammonia level.

A pH reading of 6.2 isn't good for the nitrifying bacteria because it can either cease/slow down their ability to metabolise ammonia/nitrite/nitrate. All in all, I recommend that you place your axolotl into the fridge, and then fix the water quality in the tank. This is going to involve some elbow grease. Here are few pointers:

- If you have a spare air pump lying around, set it up and get it working for the tank. The more dissolved oxygen you have in your tank, the more efficient the nitrifying bacteria.

- Clean your tank using a gravel siphon. Pick up all the gunk (organic matter, especially if it is decaying).

- Clean the sponge in your filter (if you haven't already done so). Just disassemble the filter and take out the sponge media, give it a good squeeze in a bucket of tank water, and then reassemble again. You will find that if the sponge is clogged up with detritus/gunk, it can reduce the amount of oxygen that is reaching the nitrifying bacteria, hence, reducing the efficiency of the nitrifying bacteria.

- Use shell grit or sea shells to raise pH. However, you should only use this method if you have exhausted everything else.

Good luck with your axolotl, and I hope you can get that camera working any time soon :happy:

Jay.

Hi Stacie,

My oldest axie (4 years) has one front leg that seems to dislocate and lie flat against its body. I have no idea what happened, I just came home from tour one day and there it was. It can be gently manipulated to relocate it but always dislocates.

It can make for a weird very wriggly looking style of swimming but other than that it doesn't effect him. So I have ceased to worry

Thanks for all of the help so far. I restested my water source (I get 5 gallon jugs delivered to the house each week) and they have a pH 0f 7.4 and 0 ammonia and NO2 so I suspect that my numbers were off because I tested the water the I the axolotl had been fed in (since he had been floating we put him in a low level of water so that he could access the worms on the bottom.) He is in the fridge now and swimming normally, though one front foot is still bent back. Since I just moved here I haven't unpacked the car yet and am still looking for my camera cable to recharge to post the photo of the limbs. I will keep you all updated!

Glad to hear that things are going ok, long may they continue.