Question: What could cause an Axolotl to float?

I just got home from work, went to check on him, and he was floating inside his hollow log. I got him out of the log and he floated to the surface. He's still very much alive- he was in the log trying to keep himself from floating. He was perfectly fine just last night when I fed him. His water is about 66*F. He's trying really hard to keep himself down... now I feel bad for taking him out of the log >< What could be wrong? Is there any way to fix this? I just checked his water last night and this is what I got:
Ammonia: .10
Nitrates: 30
Nitrites: 0

I'm about to clean it now. Could that little bit of ammonia be causing a problem? I'm really worried about him =[ I have some Tetracycline stuff (that's not the name of it, but tetracycline is the main ingredient) could I put sme of that in the tank?

I've removed the majority of water and only left in a few inches so that he's covered. I've been using the ice bottle method to keep his tank cold, so now that there's a lot less water I think it will be colder and better for him. However I'm gonna have to clean the tank every day now since the filters can't run with so little water... and I'm not sure how to do this since I can't really take any more water out =/ I'd still like to know if the Tetracycline would help at all too.

I'm sorry I don't know what tetracycline is so I can't help you there.

Personally I think you would've been better transferring your axie to another container and keeping the tank running. You will now have to cycle your tank again once you refill it as the good bacteria will only survive in the tank if it is wet and has a constant supply of oxygen (as it does when your filter is switched on).

Is it possible for you to put your axolotl in the fridge while you sort the water chemistry out in your tank? Enough water to cover him but not enough for him to float is the ideal depth.

What substrate do you have in your tank and what do you feed your axie? It might give clues as to why he's floating.

I also have a floating axy. Went to my parents for a few days and when i've come back today and checked on them one is floating and she seems really stressed out and can't get herself to the bottom and stay there. However her tankmate The Bandit is fine, he's just chilling out at the bottom. Don't have a water test kit so can't tell you what's what in the tank. Can anyone fill me in as to what causes it and what i need to do to help little Smokey, i'm getting worried that she's going to stress herself to bits!

Many thanks in advance.

No, I shouldn't have to re-cycle the tank. Most of the bacteria is in the filters and, even though they've been off for a couple hours, I kept them filled with tank water. And I added an air stone to keep the tank oxygenated while the filters were off.

As substrate I use large pebbles (i'd be amazed if he managed to swallow one of these). I feed him a frozen cube of blood worms every other day. I also put in a couple sinking shrimp pellets every now and then. I have reptomin that I could give him, but since it floats I don't really bother with it.

I have the tank filled about half-way now. He seems better already, maybe because the temperature dropped when I took most of the water out. He's still kind-sorta floating, but he stays towards the bottom now at least. Is this good or bad? I'm glad he's not floating at the top anymore, but I'm concerned that the floating problem went away so quickly. Getting ready to fill up the rest of the tank so I can turn the filters back on.

PS. I couldn't have put him in the fridge. My grandmother can't stand him, and she would have killed me if she saw him in the fridge. She's a clean freak. If I use one of her dishes for my rat's food, instead of just cleaning it or letting me keep it, she throws it away. It's ridiculous. So if she saw my axie in the fridge, she woulda thrown a fit and most likely would have gotten rid of all the food we have.

UPDATE: I left the tank half-full for a while and he seemed fine. He wasn't floating anymore. I added more water so I could turn the filters back on, and now he's floating again. WTF?!
The filters should not be bothering him. They are small (Tetra PF10s) and should not be creating a huge amount of disturbance in the water. Plus I have ice bottles blocking the output space so they're really not doing a whole lot.
Regurdless, I turned both filters off and am waiting to see if he stops floating again.

Hi xasdfcore,

The most common cause for an axolotl to float uncontrollably is impaction. Something the axolotl has swallowed blocks the axolotl's digestive tract; the tummy fills with air and there you are.

Unfortunately you really can't do much else but wait for the axolotl to pass the obstruction. Keeping it cool helps in this process, but if you can't fridge him, you'll just have to try and keep him as cool as possible.

A couple of other things: With the levels of ammonia etc as high as they are, you will need to be doing daily water changes. You need to add fresh water to keep the toxins diluted until enough bacteria can colonize to get levels down to normal.

Sonme of the bacteria in your filter are called aerobic bacteria, which means that they need oxygen. It is not enough just to have the filter filled with water. The bacteria will be dead by now and if you hook te filter back up, that dead bacteria is going to fill your tank and give you another nice nitrite peak. I'm afraid you'll need to clean the filter before setting it back to work, which means that you will have at least a mini-cycle to endure before things return to normal.

I hope some of this helps.

-Eva

Well I just got an idea. Don't know why I didn't think of this before ><
Since it's winter, the daily temp is from 30-40*F. At night it drops a few degrees, sometimes to the mid-high 20s. Would he be okay staying in my garage until I manage to get a chiller? I'm not moving his whole tank out there because there's no space, but I have a small 1g tank he could stay in. It would be cleaned daily of course. I'm just worried that the temp will be too low. I know very low temps are good to help them get better when they're sick, but he'd be out there for quite a while since I'm having trouble getting my grandmother to let me get my money out of the bank for a chiller.

I would not keep him outside at below freezing temperatures in a small container. There is too much risk he will freeze.

The main thing right now is to get the water cleaned up of ammonia and nitrite. Which means daily water changes of at least 30%. How is your axolotl today?

-Eva

The water is fine... there was never any nitrite. I think everyone is reading my ammonia results wrong. I said it was .10, not 10. .10 is just next to nothing. It took over a week for it just to get there. I shouldn't have to clean the tank every day.

I really don't know how he's doing. Sometimes he floats to the top, other times he'll stay on the bottom but his upper-half floats. He was fine when the tank was only half full so I don't know what his problem is =/ As soon as I filled it up a bit more he started to float again.

What is its usual diet? Avoid feeding too much chitinous treats like mealworms and shelled insects. They can cause constipation. I would recommend you feed a soft and easily digestable diet like blackworms or earthworms.

A water change might be helpful. Even trace levels of ammonia can make axies go unwell.

Do not use tetracyclines with axies. They are very strong skin irritants to axies and really there is no indication to use them.

I did the water change yesterday (or the day before, i cant remember). And his diet is listed above somewhere, but I just got him the day after christmas so I've only fed him a few times. I didn't feed him for 2 days after I brought him home and after that I've only been feeding him every other day.

I really can't tell if there's even anything wrong with him or not now. One minute he floats, the next minute he doesn't. He's confusing ><

And I just thought of one more problem I may be having... I have the entire surface of his tank covered with frozen water bottles. Could this cause a problem with oxygen and such? It's only like this for 12 hours a day though because I have to double the amount of ice at night. The other 12 hours of the day the surface is only half covered with water bottles. I need this many bottles in there to keep the temp down though.

As long as you keep water parameters, temperature and currents ideal, it would greatly help the axie recover. Try feeding live earthworms and blackworms.

I don't think the ice bottles covering the entire surface is a problem but i do think that you have to be careful that the ice bottles do not cause any drastic temperature fluctuations. Even though axies love the cold, drastic and unstable temperature shifts are equally stressful.

Have you tried using a mesh top lid and then angling a pedestal fan against the water surface? That can help with evaporative cooling and is more 'stable' long term.

The mesh top with fan was already suggested. I'm not allowed to have a fan in my room. Besides, my room is cold enough with a fan added. I have to wear a sweatshirt whenever I'm in here and my hands freeze. I still haven't been able to figure out what's making the tank so warm, but I wish that whatever it is would make my room warmer ><

xasdfcore said:

The water is fine... there was never any nitrite. I think everyone is reading my ammonia results wrong. I said it was .10, not 10. .10 is just next to nothing. It took over a week for it just to get there. I shouldn't have to clean the tank every day.

I really don't know how he's doing. Sometimes he floats to the top, other times he'll stay on the bottom but his upper-half floats. He was fine when the tank was only half full so I don't know what his problem is =/ As soon as I filled it up a bit more he started to float again.

Click to expand...

Hi xasdfcore,

At the risk of sounding like I'm harping, I really must emphasize the importance of water quality. Any amount of ammonia is toxic. It isn't a question of how much or little, but rather how sensitive your axolotl is. If you have not shown any nitrite yet, then your tank is at the very beginning of its cycle. It is really, really important to do daily water changes. Imagine sitting in a toilet. It wouldn't be very comfortable even if you are only sitting in a litte bit of urine, right? You'd want that bowl flushed each day. You don't have to clean the tank completely every day. Just let off a third of the water and add fresh to replace it. But you need to do this every day until the tank is completely cycled, which will take at least a month.

You wrote that your axolotl is floating on the front end. With impaction, the axolotl would be more likely to float from the back end. I truly believe that water quality is at issue here.

I am so sorry if I seem like a nag.

-Eva

He doesn't always float though. Like last night he was floating a little, then when I woke up he was completely fine- laying on the ground. Now he's starting to float slightly above the ground. Actually, even as I'm typing this, he's gone back to not floating at all.

There's always going to be some ammonia. .10 is is as low as my test goes before it hits 0, so that's why I only clean it once a week. Despite you saying that my tank needs to be recycled, it still seems perfectly fine. Since I cleaned it a few days ago, the ammonia is still at 0, nitrites 0, and nitrates somewhere around 30. I test it every day. If ammonia goes up at all, then I'll clean it. But I don't have time between work, school, and taking care of several other animals to be cleaning a tank that doesn't need to be cleaned. I'm pretty sure he's gonna be fine as long as I don't let the temperature go above 66 now.

Hi xasdfcore,

Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you or your tank hygiene. In a cycled tank, there is no ammonia. Your tank has 0 amm., 0 nitrite, and shows a reading for nitrate. So your tank is cycled. You shouldn't see any ammonia reading anymore, unless something new happens (an unusually high amount of waste accumulates; you add new animals) but your bacteria should make quick work of that, too. How is your axolotl today?

-Eva

He's weird. Sometimes his front end floats, sometimes his back end floats, sometimes his whole body floats, and sometimes he doesn't float at all x_x He seems fine right now though.

I got an axolotl yesterday, and it seems to be having a similar problem with floating.
It's only its top half. And it seems to "sleep" close to the surface.
How long does it usually take for them to settle into their new environment?
I'm using a crushed coral/sand-like substrate and large rocks for shelter.


(It isn't always as brightly lit as this.)

It seems to be eating fine. I don't have a water testing kit yet, but I have a pH indicator. It's neutral. I've consistently been changing around 20% of the water over the last 24 hours out of concern. Do axolotls prefer to be cool rather than warm? Considering the average temperature to keep them at is 16-18ºC. It's on around 20-22ºC at the moment. It's Summer here. Should I put ice bottles in the tank? I also read that they sometimes float to the top because they get more oxygen that way.

My axolotl was missing two gills on its left side when I got it. It seemed perfectly healthy at the pet store. So I think it's something to do with the water conditions. I'm afraid to move it out of the tank while I do a water change, in case it causes more stress.