Axolotl suddenly floating upside down - please help!

Hi there,
When I woke up this morning, my youngest Axolotl, Sprite (she's 1 1/2) was floating upside down in the tank and looking very pale. Her stomach was also looking quite swollen, as if she had a build up of gas. Her tankmate - 8 year old Edgar, is completly fine, and they both looked happy and healthy when I went to bed.

I have recently moved house (14 hours of travelling with me in the car must have been pretty stressful for them) but this was nearly 3 weeks ago.

I attempted to keep all the substrate and also the filter sponge from their tank moist so as not to kill off beneficial bacteria, and since moving I have been doing small frequent water changes to avoid too much ammonia as the tank cycles.

I have tested the water, and ammonia is low, pH around 8 (which is what it always has been).

They have both been eating well, and there are no small stones in the tank that she could have swallowed.

I'm at a complete loss as to what to do for her, other than put her in a smallish, shallow container of fresh dechlorinated water in the fridge (she's there now) and hope for the best. She seemed very agitated when I moved her, swimming around in circles on her side and seemingly struggling to maintain balance.

The water that they were in is certainly not too warm, as it's winter in New Zealand at the moment, and I'm now living in one of the coldest parts of the country!

If anyone can offer any suggestions I would be super grateful, as I love her very much and don't want to lose her.

I've had floating axolotls quite often but only when they were young, less than 6 months. With mine they were mostly from swallowing air. For that I would put them in shallow water, just enough to cover its gills and so its feet could touch the bottom to steady itself. Then I'd feed it allot and they would typically burp up the air. Might take a few feedings. If that didn't work them I'd put them in the refrigerator, also in shallow water so it could steady itself. When they're young, especially albinos and goldens, you can usually see the bubble in their stomachs.

If its constipation then it's usually just the tail end floating and I've never had constipated ones float upside down. Butwith this you just need to put it in the frige.

Hope this helps.

Ron

Thanks for your reply.
She's still in the fridge now, and hasn't gotten any better
I've had axolotls for 11 years now and have seen plenty of run-of-the-mill gas bubble floating and "tail-up" floating before and usually a quick fridge session works a treat and they come right overnight, but I've never seen one float upside down before. Her stomach looks quite swollen though, so maybe it is just a really bad bubble that's making her float that way. I was thinking of taking her out and attempting to feed her, but I'm not sure she'd be able to eat in that position, and I don't want to stress her needlessly.

Anyway cheers for your help, I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed for her unless anyone can come up with any more suggestions.

You've been at this alot longer than I have. I've had mine only about 1.5 years. I raised them from eggs.

I've left mine in the frige for 3-4 days at times. Normally about 2 days though. With water changes everyday.

When I fed mine (with a bubble) I'd give it a whole lot of food to displace the bubble. Since they were small, blood worms worked best. The bigger the better. And in shallow water the axolotl would be somewhat level so it's head wasn't pointed down so much, so the bubble would only have to travel horizontal to get out.

Hope this helps.

Good luck.

Ron

Thanks for your suggestions Ron
I can see a large air bubble in her stomach now, as some of the swelling seems to have gone down, so I have taken her out of the fridge so she can warm up enough to eat and will try to get her to take food like you mentioned.

I spoke to the breeder as well, and she thought that there is a possibility of an infection, even though I can't see any red patches or fungus on her, so I will try salt baths just in case.

Also, I live on a farm, so If she's still not looking better by Monday (the vet is closed over the weekend) then I'll go to the vet and try and get some Gentamicin for a 0.2ml/litre bath as suggested on the axolotl health page - just trying to cover all my bases really.

thanks again - wish us luck!
Ash.

Hi Ash,

Salt baths are of themselves stressful. I would disadvise using them as a precaution. Instead, you could give tea baths. Black tea is an astringent and can also help to prevent fungus, etc., and is not aggressive like salt. More information is available here: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/illness2.shtml

Good luck to you,

-Eva

Thanks for all of your help and suggestions!
I'll keep that info on salt vs. tea baths in mind too - I didn't know that one :happy:

The good news is that Sprite is 100% back to her usual happy self!

I contacted the farm vet and got hold of some Gentamicin, and administered it as a 0.2ml/litre bath for 5 hrs a day for 3 days and got great results . Unfortunatly I still can't work out what caused her to get sick in the first place, so I can't stop it happening again if it wasn't a once off caused by the stress of the move.

I hope this info can help someone else out too - if you can't get hold of gentamicin, Amikacin is mentioned as being a good substitute.

Cheers, Ash.