Illness/Sickness: Unusually nervous axolotl?

Hi! I bought a black male axolotl (about 6 inches long) from an aquarium about 6 weeks ago. I quarantined him in a tank next to my other axolotl (a big albino female about 7 inches long) and I have not been able to work out what is wrong with him.

When he was in the shop, he was housed with 3 other females with aquarium gravel as substrate. He had a little bit of skin flaking but I got him any way as axolotls are hard to come by in Canberra. One of the other females had a sore on her tail, thus the quarantine. When I was paying for him at the counter, the girl accidentally knocked him over and most of the water spilled out. Not sure whether this incident has any bearing, but I thought I'll mention it any way.

When I got him into his quarantine tank, I then noticed that his left fore leg was twisted around at the elbow, so the digits faced backwards, like if we rest our hand on the knuckles, sometimes. He also has an extra digit on that foot so obviously he had some old injury. He can swim quite fine but prefers to not put too much weight on that leg. His gills were also quite short and twisted. I wasn't that worried because I managed to nurse the female back to health without too much problem.

He didn't seem to be able to suck up food as strongly as the female but ate some earthworms and axolotl pellets. After a few days, he started to float. No external fungal infection, pooped a little, but had bad skin flakes. That I can now probably explain, after reading some of the threads here, and put it down to bacteria booster I added to the water. My fault, but I didn't know then.

So I fridged him. I changed the fridge water with clean decholorinated fridged water everyday. First time for about week and a half, thinking it could be infection and possibly also impaction. After fridging, I put him back in the tank which has been continuously cycling, air filter, ceramic noodles, no gravel, with a fresh water mussel, a tunnel for hiding, and some real floating plants. He was fine for a day, ate lots, and floated again. The other axolotl was very interested in him and would pace alongside and look at him.

So back to the fridge again. He went down within a day, but by then he pooped and looked quite skinny. No gravel though. Thinking he wouldn't be digesting food in the cold, I took him out after 3 days so that he could put on some weight. He was again fine for half a day, with the two eyeing each other out. Then he floated.

Fridge again (third time), and he is still there after a week. It was only yesterday that I noticed something quite unexpected. I fed him a small slice of beefheart about 4 days ago because it was something I could hang on to and wave in front of him. A day later, I fed him two earthworms which he also ate. Yesterday, he chucked the beefheart and worms out. I tried to feed him a smaller earthworm. Because the worm was shorter, I had to put the an inch of my fingers in the water. My axolotl became more interested in my fingers than the worm and came closer for a sniff. And then he poked his head slowly out of the water and had a good look around. Then he went into the stiff hunched floating posture, like a switch was thrown. I gave up feeding, changed his water, checked on him 2 hours later and he was relaxed and at the bottom of the container again. I always increase the fridging water to about 2-inches deep after he stops floating.

So, (my apologies for the long narrative) I am guessing he was stressed by his next door neighbour and the sight of things out of the water. Prior 'emotional' trauma? How intelligent are axolotls and do they have long memories? Can I train him out of his fear? Also, isn't floating the most vulnerable position to be in if the expected predator is above the water? Or else internal infection of some sort?

I'm worried and exaspareted. He can't live in the fridge and/or darkness forever. Please help.

Sincerely,
Mun

Hi Mun,

I will try to be concise with a few points i thought are quite important.

1) I recommend you keep the fresh water mussel separately. Glochidiasis can occur in axies. Have a look at this thread. http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=60969&highlight=glochidia

2) Avoid the intermittent fridging and return into main tank routine with only 3 day or so interval between them. Fridging is most effective when done continuously for a period of 2 to 3 weeks. By constantly moving the axie between fridge and main tank, it is creating stress by itself and doesn't give ample time for proper healing to occur. I recommend you fridge continuously for 3 weeks and monitor daily during the water changes.

3) Fill only enough water to cover the axie's back and do not allow it to float. There is no need to increase water level in the tub. Follow Jacq's guide. http://www.caudata.org/axolotl-sanctuary/Fridging.shtml

4) Ensure no thermal shocks between water changes or 'returning to tank'. Allow the temperature to equillibrate and prepare bottles of dechlorinated water in the fridge.

5) Axies do soemtimes regurgitate food when the food is decomposing, or the temperature is below 10 degree celsius which impairs digestive rate. This is normal.

6) When fridged the axie can safely go without food for 2 months.

7) Twisted foot may be a congenital defect or regeneration gone less than perfect. It shouldn't be too much of a problem.

8) To determine whether its normal or pathological skin shedding, it depends on the extent of the shedding. Could you provide photos?

9) Short twisted gills probably attributed to poor water parameters, nutrition etc. It should get better with proper husbandry.

10) Do you check your water parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, pH, hardness) and temperature? What are they?

11) Hunched floating posture could indicate gas accumulation in the alimentary tract due to diet type, impaction or constipation. Friding will help.

12) Axies can be conditioned to routines. They habituate to their surroundings as well. This means that if you stick to a regular pattern of tank maintenance, feeding etc., the axie can associate a particular practice with a particular outcome. For eg. some axies get conditioned to expect food when you open the tank lid. Axies also adjust to their surroundings. A new axie in a new tank will take some time to settle down.

Lucky 13) Axies tend to react to vibration and photo exposure (light) more strongly. They can get startled if placed in a tank subjected to vibration (noise/equipment/footsteps...) or sudden bright lights being switched on. They do have eyesight but its not as sharp as their other senses.

Cheers.

Hi Mun,

Rayson has provided excellent advice, If you follow it you should see results in a fairly short space of time. It can take a week or so for an axolotl to acclimatise so hold off on the panic button and provide some time for this to take place.

Bets Of Luck

Hi Rayson,

Thanks very much for your advice and information. I will follow them. I had no idea about the danger of freshwater mussels.

1) As for skin flaking, I forgot to say that my axolotl recovered from that episode after the first fridging. I didn't have an underwater camera and the picture was very blurry. The largest piece of skin flake was under his throat and it flapped as he swam. He was a matt dark grey and is now a glossy black with brown spots on his tail.

2) The tank temperature is about 15C all day, and the water test kit I ordered hasn't arrived. Hopefully I'll receive it tomorrow. Didn't think I would need it when I was changing 10-20% of the water every second day.

3) Does an axolotl need food to help move gravel along its digestive tract, like mammals? If I don't feed him, will he still get better?

Thanks very much again!

And Ianclick, thanks for your support. Much appreciated.

Regards,
Mun

Hi Mun,

The skin flaking is probably normal skin shedding and nothing to be too concerned about.

Water temperature is good. Do perform regular water testing when your kit arrives.

You can continue to offer small portions of food particularly live blackworms, chopped live earthworms and small fine slivers of shrimp while fridging. With live food, you can also leave a small amount even overnight. You would be surprised the axie do snack on them even while fridged. I usually have the best success with live blackworms.

Even if the axie does not feed at all during the fridging period, in most cases, it will still substantially get better.

There are obvious benefits of continual feeding while fridging. Besides providing the nutrients, it does aid in peristalsis, nourishing the intestinal cells and stimulating specialised mucus secreting cells in the alimentary tract. This can further accelerate the healing process. Have a look at this thread where i explained it a bit more in detail.

http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=60051&highlight=goblet

Cheers.