floating axolotl

Hi every one. I have a question , I have searched all over the net and asked every fish shop and aquarium and still no answers.

I bought 2 axolotls from a guy a month ago, male and female. they had laid eggs in the tank at the shop. last week the female refused to eat for three days, she always liked to sit on the filter near the top of the tank but then she started floating, the next day she died.
I couldnt figure out what was wrong, my male was fine and i even have 2 babies from them that are ok. they are only a few weeks old.

Now my male is floating all ver the tank and its not by choice, he still looks healthy and strong and swims well but when he stops he floats on his side.

i need help i have read every bit of info i could find and set my tank up just right. i feed him every second day. he eats meal worm and pellets with occasional feedings of fresh fish and a garden worm once in a while.

know one seems to know much about walking fish in particular when something is wrong.


please i hope you can help me.....

Hey Arrowen,
You'll get more of a response if you post in the 'Sick Axolotl' section, or you can use the search function to find heaps of other people who have had the same problem. I'm not very experienced, but I can tell you want everybody else will need to know in order to figure out what's wrong.

What temperature is your tank at? It's been hot in Aus lately and axies should be kept below 22 degrees.
Is your tank cycled? How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you monitor ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels?
Do you remove waste/old food from the tank?
What substrate are you using? Axolotls will eat rocks and gravel which causes impaction - I think this is one of the main causes of floating.
Is your filter causing much flow in the tank? Water flow stresses them out.

In the meantime, I don't think it will hurt to put him in the fridge until you figure out what's wrong.
Theres heaps of info on that, check this thread out
http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=57137&highlight=fridging

Basically it will just slow everything down for a while and give you a bit of time to fix whatever the problem is. If he's eaten a rock or something, I think its easier to pass while in the fridge.

Good luck