Illness/Sickness: Gravel swallowed lumpy tummy???

HI All,

Can anyone help me on this please I'm really worried ?? I got some axies last weekend and after my introduction post I was informed I had been wrongly informed about some gravel! I was advised by a well known breeder & Maidenhead Aquatics that I should go for smooth 4mm+ gravel, Caudata members were very poilte in telling me that this was not the case so I have bought a 3ft tank now as I wanted a bigger tank for my guys and have set this up with the very very small gravel anyway I was due to transfer my little guys over but have noticed today that 2 of them appear to have lumpy tummies on one side which to me looks like possible gravel shaped lumps am so upset as I researched all of this properly before I got my guys but this breeder told me sand was an absolute no no and now I am worried I will lose my Axies as I know gravel is hard to get out, is fridging what I do, sounds such a strange thing to do, I am so new to this and am so worried about doing anything else wrong any help would be so much appreciated as I am stressing Thanks Zoe

OK UPDATE lumps seem to have gone, I was not imagining them as hubby saw them to, why would they go when they have been there for most of today??? I have not seen them sick them up either?? Finley was the worst but again his body shape is back to how it was?? Will be SO HAPPY when they are moved tomorrow as tank will be already then thanks for reading!

"Sand is an absolute no no?" Your "breeder" said that? That is kind of a red flag for me. It appears that your breeder gave you the complete wrong information about substrates.

Sand is great. Some people prefer huge rocks completely bigger than the axies head. Not just slightly. Either is good. Small gravel is not good because it is more like a disaster waiting. You axies may be fine for a while, but there is no telling when they ingest a large amount searching for food.

And to answer you question, your axies probably pooed the gravel out.

lumps seem to be back this morning they keep changing so now not sure if gravel could be moving around?? The breeder in question has actually published a book thanks for taking the time to reply

zoezakella said:

The breeder in question has actually published a book

Click to expand...

Was it called 'Freddy the Frog goes Shopping and other Bedtime Stories' ?

(No disrespect meant to you, but certainly was very weird advice)

Hi Zoe.

What are you feeding your axolotl?. When mine where young I used to occasionally feed them pellets, the greedy ones tended to get lumpy tummies. :wacko: It is possible that the gravel ( the breeder uses small pea gravel) may be moving through the system. If you get the chance, would you be able to post a photo ?

Julia

This is the book that we are referring to :- http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1-gen...iews/62687-keeping-axolotls-linda-adkins.html

Put simply, that book is absolute tripe and full of errors.

As soon as i read "reptile" near the start of the book the woman lost any reputation she may have had.

Should be removed from sale afaic.

I know am on the right path now just need the water in the new tank to sort itself and they are out of the gravel tank and in there new 36" x 15" x 20" :happy:

OK HERE IS THE PICCY ANY ADVICE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED

Hi Julia,

Thanks for replying and for your help, I have just posted a pic so hope this is of use?

I feed them, blood worms, mussles, krill, shrimp & earthworm pellets change it daily for them but have only had them for a week so am working out what they like and bloodworms are the fave, all 3 are hand feeding now which is cool

Zoe if I were you, I'd not be waiting for the new tank to cycle before you get that gravel out. They would probably do better on a bare-bottom tank than that substrate. And yeah, their tummies do look unusually bulgey to me. Read up about the refrigerator process that axy keepers use to dislodge gravel. It can get stuck in their digestive system and cause them great distress. I have very fine white sand in my tank and haven't had any issues with it causing constipation, most of it just flies out of her gills when she eats.

Hi Seona,

Thanks for your comments, they are on a bare bottomed tank at the moment until new tank us ready, lumps have been there for a few days but keep coming and going? Have read up on "fridging" but am scared stiff in doing it was waiting on some responses from you kid guys 1st to see where I should go :happy:

dazkeirle said:

Put simply, that book is absolute tripe and full of errors.

As soon as i read "reptile" near the start of the book the woman lost any reputation she may have had.

Should be removed from sale afaic.

Click to expand...

I notice this book is on sale from Amazon and has had some good reviews. As you've read it yourself and are therefore qualified to do so, perhaps you might consider adding a comment about this there?

Hi Steve,

Yes I actually bought it from Amazon, am only half way through at the moment but I actually spoke to the lady as the shop I was getting them from was where she worked so she quizzed me about my set up etc and I was told sand was a big NO so she advised the 4mm+ gravel, as it happened her shop had the whites I wanted but Maidenhead Aquatics had the goldens so went to MA first and was going to hber shop 2nd as it happened MA had both colours so bought both from there and whilst I was there the lady that served me also advised this gravel and actually picked it out for me, what more can I say!

Thanks again :happy:

zoezakella said:

Hi Steve,
what more can I say!

Thanks again :happy:

Click to expand...

Really hope your axie's get better, there's every chance they will they are pretty resilient! And for the record you are obviously doing everything properly now and you're taking your new pets very seriously - it wasn't your fault that you were misinformed at first. The new setup you're preparing sounds ideal!

Thanks Steve appreciate it! Always take new pets seriously which was why I spent so long reading up on them but then doubted myself after talking to the lady!

Cant wait for them to get in their new tank it is massive and have had to change the whole lounge around to accommodate it, hubby not happy as it blovks his view to the tv so had to do further moving

Will get some piccies on here when they are moved and settled. Thanks again for your help! :happy:

The sad thing is that most people who work in pet shops, are working there for a wage slip, not because they're interested in the animals ect, they are selling, and so alot of workers actually know sweet nothing about the animals, and are just regurgitating the words of their manager who was most likely misinformed by those silly books.

zoezakella said:

Hi Julia,

Thanks for replying and for your help, I have just posted a pic so hope this is of use?

I feed them, blood worms, mussles, krill, shrimp & earthworm pellets change it daily for them but have only had them for a week so am working out what they like and bloodworms are the fave, all 3 are hand feeding now which is cool

Click to expand...

How is she doing on eating and bowel movements?
I would place her by herself and see if she does the number 2. If not and she cuts back on eating she is impacted with something.

Cut back on the blood worms and do a epsom salt bath. Use the search for info on salt baths.

It might not be that they are coming and going but shifting around just enough to go unnoticed at the moment of time.

Find out what that lady was using as a staple. It may be that she fed to many blood worms or it may even be that her idea on gravel just came back and smacked her in the face.

Not to scare you but you should cross your fingers if its gravel and hope its of passable size. Even if so it could still be damaging.

All 3 are eating normally and there have been some poos in the tank, now when I say that I am new to this but they are round and quite large is that what there poo looks like Never really noticed it before on the gravel but as tank is bare for teh next few days until the big one is ready you really see everything!

I gently felt around the tummy area and could not feel anything hard so am hoping it is what Julia said about the pellets, again looks pretty normal today so fingers crossed!

Thanks again for all your comments, love this site!

zoezakella said:

they are round and quite large is that what there poo looks like

Click to expand...

That sounds good, their poo should look like that when they are healthy.

I'd be wary of feeding them too many bloodworms though. When I have problems getting hold of earthworms I give them bloodworms but they dont always get digested properly and when they pass them their poo often still has live bloodworms wriggling around in them (and then they snap them up and eat them again)

Not sure if this is related or not but sometimes after a hefty feeding of bloodworm they have developed mild columnaris on the gills (which is a kind of fluffy white growth and can cause real problems). I've been lucky so far with this and it has always cleared itself up after I step up water changes, I've not needed to resort to salt baths.

Thanks for that Steve It is frozen bloodworms I give them so not sure if you would have the same live problems but thanks for that

They only get one cube between the 3 as they are 4 inches big and I still have to clear up remains but I try and change the food every other day for variety.

Sorting earthworms at the moment, again thanks for your help :happy: