Illness/Sickness: 2 Axolotls have both lost the use of their rear legs

Terri

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Hi, a very similar post was made regarding the loss of motor functions in the rear legs of an axolotl but that post didn't seem to conclude.

Any help very much appreciated.

I've 2 albino axolotls that appear to have both lost the use of their rear legs over the same time period. They are a boy and a girl assumed to be brother and sister about 18 months old. They live happily together, with no problems or fights, for the 18 months in a 60 litre tank. The temp is usually around 18 to 20 on average with no great fluctuation and the water quality is always pretty good with a water change of about 25 - 30 % every 1 to 2 weeks. Fed for a long time mainly on fish (sprats) by hand. The tank they are in has a filter with a fair amount of flow (this was a fairly recent change about 6 weeks ago). They also have a air bubbler to add oxygen to the water. Substrate is aquarium sand.

About 2 weeks we noticed one of them would very infrequently swim around violently and appeared to be have a 'fit" for about 5 seconds or so but otherwise seemed perfectly fine. We noticed the other one do the same today and a closer look shows they both appear to have lost the use of their rear legs and are using just their front legs to get around (both of them seem ok in their front legs). Didn't notice this earlier as they are normally fairly inactive and I feed from the hand so they move little when fed. Appearance wise they seem ok with no fungus or obvious infections although they can go a little pink especially after a "fit" although they return to normal colour after a while. They both last ate about 3-4 days ago with her eating moderately and him well. She's naturally a lot fatter than he is but both usually eat well. They didn't eat tonight though.

Anybody heard of this before and aware of what we can do? It seems odd both are affected together which makes me think environment or diet .

Sorry for the long post but I'm not sure what's causing it and wanted to list the facts.
Please help, we love the little things and are not sure what to do to help them.
Thanks very much
 
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