Swimming upside down.

Ohm'r have begun to have one of her back legs raised over the water. Because of this she seems to have some problems swimming. She is almost always swimming on her side with 2 legs over water, but sometimes she even swims upside down. It looks like it is a problem for her, because she tries to turn around but its sometimes abit hard for her.

All water parameters are fine. And she dosent seem to have any infection or visible defects.

Anyone know whats wrong?

What size is the tank, what is the substrate? Do you have any pictures?

In addition to Eric's questions - any tank mates?

I would suggest to put her in a small container with just enough water to cover her back to see if she can right herself - poor thing has to be stressed. I would also suggest to fridge her for a few days - does her abdomen seem to be swollen or anything?

While in the fridge, if she cannot keep herself righted, please gently assist her as much as you can without causing her further stress.

It's only when she swims that she happens to turn upside down. She isnt bloated either. She lays at the bottom too, but is mostly at the surface. And yes she have a tankmate, but i dont think its a injured leg either, because she changes from her left and right leg.

She have also begun to squize herself between the spraybar of my tank med 501 and just float there on her side.

I will repeat....

Shizeric said:

What size is the tank, what is the substrate? Do you have any pictures?

Click to expand...

The sizee is 60cmx50cm and i use a fine sand as substrate. I dont have anything to take pictures with atm.

60cm is a bit on the small side for 2 axolotls, do you have plans for an upgrade?

It sounds like your axie has something internal going on then. It sounds almost like she has suffered a head injury and this has messed up her equilibrium so that she cannot swim correctly. However, you say she is not injured so maybe an infection or parasite even might be the culprit.

I would suggest that you put her in a small container as I mentioned before and fridging her for a few days, keeping her as quiet as possible. Try to only disturb her when you are changing the water, yes offer her a worm, but don't be shocked if she doesn't take it.

After a few days, I would allow her to return to tank temperature and try her in her tank again to see if she has improved. If not, I would fridge her for a longer period.

Yes i know its abit on the small side, but i dont have room for anything bigger. It bothers me that i cant give them more space, but i dont see it as a good enough reason to give them away. And i dont want to give one away, because i think they should be kept togheter.

I will try to fridge her and hope for the best. When you mention it i have seen her swimming very fast and crashing into the walls.

Should i put some plastic foil over the container with some holes in it to prevent her from jumping out? or is that impossible?

Also something i have forgot to say, was that last time i fed them i found some worms that had been swalloed, but it think one of them have thrown them up again. They were gone a little later... I will try offering her some worms once in a while and see what happens.

If you feel bad about having 2 in a cramped space...why did you get 2? And they are not social animals, so there's not reason to believe they should be kept together. You don't need to put holes in the container...since they get their oxygen from the water. Water changes will provide enough oxygen when done regularly.

how often do you do water changes on their main tank?

once a week. I got two and was planing on getting them a larce aquarium, but it couldn't be done. So i had to deal with what i have.