Illness/Sickness: Red and stressed PLease Help

Hi I really need help I am not sure what is going on with my female axolotl. I just came home from out of town for the weekend and when I went to go check on my babies she looked different. I thought she was dead but she wasn't. She is very very red towards the back from her back legs to her tail and he mouth looks like there is something in there like it is open. It looks like she is trying to pass something but it looks like she is trying to lay eggs. She just recently laid eggs about 30 in ever week or two three times so about 90 in total. Is she laying eggs or is something else wrong. Ive never seen her lay them just found them there. PLEase help Im really worried and she is very stressed.

Hi Shaye,

Would you be able to post up some photos? At this point it is a bit dangerous to speculate. However we want to rule out potentially fatal conditions like prolapse which can look like a bubble coming out from the cloaca. The hind leg and tail regions would also tend to have increased blood circulation due to the inflammation. I have never heard of axolotls being 'egg bound' but i suppose theoretically it can happen. We do need the photos. If it is indeed one of the emergency conditions, you would need to hurry your axie to a vet.

I have included links for you to compare. Take a look at the one for prolapse. Does it look like this?
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/illness3.shtml

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/illness.shtml

Meanwhile, just to be safe, i would recommend you to fridge your axie.

Fridging your axie will destress it, boost its immune system and render harmful pathogens (both bacterial and fungal) less viable.

- Set your fridge to about 5 degree celsius.
- Put your axie in a container large enough to allow it to stretch its limbs and tail comfortably.
- Fill with fresh dechlorinated water enough to submerge it but not allowing it to float.
- Cover with a lid. You can use a perforated lid or netting to prevent it jumping out.
- Use a tea towel to cover it to keep the environment dark.
- Perform 100% water changes daily with clean dechlorinated water.
- You can pre prepare bottles of water in the fridge.
- Continue to offer a variety of nutritious food daily. Try live wriggly food like blackworms, bloodworms, earthworms. You can also try the usual pellet, offer treats of shrimp and fish etc. Otherwise you can also blend everything in a food processor and then roll the resultant mash into a pea sized ball to try offer your axie. Remove uneaten food within 20 min.

I would try fridging your axolotl while you arrange for a vet appointment.

Cheers.

I think she is dead.... I put her in the fridge just now but when I went to take her out she was on her side and her eyes were pale and she isn't moving. I still wanting know what was wrong with her but don't know.... Can something wrong come from maybe over ferterlization or like having to many or something around that.

Im so sorry. Based on your description, i think she had a prolapse.

Shaye,
I am so....so...sorry !
I'll be saying prayers for your axie and you !
Let me know if I can do something !

Thanks Prayers are needed. Its not something someone looks forward to when she come back from a 4 day out of town trip. I'm wondering if it might be that but I didn't see how she looked before. Do you know anyone who has pictures of what it looks like after its gone or something. I am going to barry her soon. Here are some pictures to remember her by. Rest in Peace my Loving Izzy I will take good care of your tank mates and your babies. This is my first big loss and it has hit me hard. According to my mother who was taking care of them while I was gone she didn't see anything out of the ordinary so how long does it take for prolapse it was called to caused a lot of damage such as what happen to my Izzy.

Im hoping Summer the youngest (goldish albino under izzy in first picture) is a female and now it is going to be harder for me to sell the babies I think I might keep some.

Thanks for all your help and support please let me know if you find out anything.
BTW I also took out all the rocks/stones I had is there so if for some reason she swallowed one or something and that caused her death I am not taking any chances.

Hi Shaye,

After looking at the photos, my suspicion of impaction and prolapse are even higher.

The pebbles, marbles, beads etc. in the tank has to be removed right now. As long as they are small enough to be swallowed by the axie, it can cause impaction and subsequent prolapse.

Impaction is when a foreign body like a pebble, gravel etc. gets lodged in the intestinal tract. A prolapse can be a complication that results from impaction because sometimes the foreign body gets stuck when it is being passed out from the cloaca and cause internal tissue to be 'eventrated' or 'herniated' out, pushing out the tissues such that it looks like a bubble.

For axies, the safest substrate is NO substrate, whereby you keep them on a bare bottomed tank. If you want to have substrate, the only suitable substrate is sand (less than 2mm diameter). Suitable sand types include freshwater aquarium sand, pool filter sand or children play pit sand.

Cheers.

Thinking it might of been a rock I took them all out yesterday so don't worry, it is only sand now, and the rocks I don't think were small enough to swallow. Yesterday after I knew she was passed on I tried to see what caused her death. I haven't done a full optopsy yet but will, but all that came out of her was a bloddy tissue covered egg and thats all I could get out of her but till I really open her up which Im kinda scared to do because she is my baby I wont know for sure. I really thought she was trying to pass eggs because I did see a clear like tissue coming out when I found her but then went away, but never saw any bubble or anything like that. I will put pictures of her dead body in a bit i need to upload them to my computer. I am still very sad and will do anything to find out what happend and to help prevent it from happening again or to anyone else.

So sorry for your loss. Yours is a good question about how you can tell if she is definitely dead -- I wouldn't know -- perhaps the eyes go opaque or something? A sad day for you.

Here is a picture of my dead Izzy

My axolotl has done the same thing gone really red all over but mostly the tail???

the other axolotl seams worried and snuggles up to he side...

any ideas what might be wrong there is not thing in the tank that she can swallow...

can a fluro tube (tank light) do this if she is not hiding from the light???

I am not sure what it is I am currently out of town and when I get back I am going to do an autopsy on him so I can hopefully find out what happened. I recommend taking him out and putting her somewhere cold to help with stress and it a dark place like the fridge.

Are you sure yours is a he because mine was a female and I think it might of been a problem with the eggs or just stress of not being able to reproduce so quickly because I have two other mature males in the tank with her and they kept producing sperm and she had already laid about 30 eggs each week for 3 weeks so about 90 in total. So if yours is a she not a he that might be the problem, but still not sure if that was the problem with mine.

Yep she is a she since she laided eggs when i first got her...
the other one is also a she but has never laid eggs
and the male i had died about 2 months ago...

Im not sure but the redness has faded a little but she wont eat and is not moving much at all...

You don't have anything they can swallow? can you post a picture.. also have you tested your water? knowing that you have another death not to long ago it has to be something in their surroundings.