Illness/Sickness: Thin Axolotl, what to do...

I was hoping the experts could help me out, as I have a wild-type female axolotl that is way too thin.
My setup is a 55 gallon aquarium with 5 adult axolotls, 2 wild type, 2 golden albinos, and 1 white axolotl. I have been doing a 20% water change bi-weekly (I love axolotls, but good grief they are messy creatures!). The 2 wild types I have had for ~5 years, and I have had the white axolotl for ~4 years.
This leads to my problem, one of the wild types is very thin while the rest of her tank mates are just right. I usually feed 2-3 times per week a meal of bloodworms, brine shrimp or the food sticks for cichlids, but I have been feeding her 5+ times a week. When I do this, she puts weight back on, however when I cut her back to the regular feeding schedule, she begins losing weight again. I noticed her weight issues early this summer.
I am beginning to suspect internal parasites, but I have no idea what to do it she does have them.
Please help! She is one of my favorites, and I really don't want to loose her!!

Hello, Welcome to the forum!

Is there any way you can seperate the girl in a different tank, or a plastic tub? Perhaps keeping and feeding her seperately you'll be able to monitor her more closely. I would say the diet you are feeding isn't ideal in any case, earthworms (or nightcrawlers) are a much better food for your axies, all the nutrition they need.

I wonder if there is something going on with your female for her to be the only one not able to keep her weight up. Perhaps a trip to the vet is necessary?

I would also think of parasites but I don't know how she would've picked them up and if she has them I would assume the others would too.

Hopefully someone with some better advice will come along soon.

I'm having the same problem! I only have the one axolotl though. I'm wondering if there are other ways to find out what's wrong with her since I don't have the money for a vet visit

You can easily detect internal parasites by means of a faecal floatation test. Gather some fresh axie poo (the more the better) and you can have them stained and analysed under the microscope after being suspended in a special solution. The test is not too expensive and most vets and labs will provide this service.

Sometimes some owners routinely treat their axies for parasites once or twice a year.

Your vet would be able to de-worm/de-protozoa your axolotl. Normally fenbendazole would be used to get rid of intestinal worms whereas metronidazole would get rid of protozoa. Your vet may choose to collect some fresh faecal sample off your axolotl to look under the microscope and perform some tests (such as faecal float) to determine if there is a internal parasite problem before administering medication. Here is an extract from one of my previous posts which may be helpful to you.

"The antiparasitic action of Panacur with active ingredient fenbendazole is believed to be due to the inhibition of energy metabolism in the parasite. Fenbendazole is effective in treating nematodes such as the following - pentastomids, strongyles, roundworm, pinworm , lungworm, liver flukes as well as hookworms.

When i am deciding on dosing axolotls, i prefer to do a faecal egg count first to qualitate as well as quantitate the parasite load. Fenbendazole can then be used to treat nematodes 'off-label'.

Efficacy is dependent on the correct dose level based on body weight over the appropriate treatment period. When possible, animals should be weighed to determine body weight accurately, otherwise weights can be estimated. It is essential to administer fenbendazole orally by mixing into food for optimal absorption. I personally administer fenbendazole by injecting it into an earthworm to offer to the axolotl providing the axolotl is not inappetant. Otherwise, it is possible to manually drench the axolotl but i must admit i am not very confident in terms of skill.

Generally for adult axolotls, i would dose 50mg/kg per oral route once every 2 weeks. Textbooks has suggested up to 100mg/kg but i tend to be more conservative. In axolotls with very high parasite load, a high dose of fenbendazole can cause a nematode massacre that would result in gross intestinal blockage and gastrointestinal inflammation. The inflammation itself can be fatal. Some vets might use an anti-inflammatory in conjunction to fenbendazole dosing.

Fenbendazole has a generally high safety margin, compared to other drugs such as levamisole or ivermectin, however correct dosing, frequency and route are still paramount to prevent things like resistance or toxicity (can still happen if overdosed) to occur."

thank you thank you thank you thank you!

GalLuvsAxolotls said:

I was hoping the experts could help me out, as I have a wild-type female axolotl that is way too thin.
My setup is a 55 gallon aquarium with 5 adult axolotls, 2 wild type, 2 golden albinos, and 1 white axolotl. I have been doing a 20% water change bi-weekly (I love axolotls, but good grief they are messy creatures!). The 2 wild types I have had for ~5 years, and I have had the white axolotl for ~4 years.
This leads to my problem, one of the wild types is very thin while the rest of her tank mates are just right. I usually feed 2-3 times per week a meal of bloodworms, brine shrimp or the food sticks for cichlids, but I have been feeding her 5+ times a week. When I do this, she puts weight back on, however when I cut her back to the regular feeding schedule, she begins losing weight again. I noticed her weight issues early this summer.
I am beginning to suspect internal parasites, but I have no idea what to do it she does have them.
Please help! She is one of my favorites, and I really don't want to loose her!!

Click to expand...

What is the average water temperature of this axolotl's tank?