Illness/Sickness: Axie stressed after 24 hrs in fridge

i put both my axies in the fridge last night after giving them a salt bath for fungus. i feed them today and they were not stressed, the white axie didnt eat her worm so i left it in there while i went to school and when i came home to do the water change and salt bath the worm was gone and she is showing signs of stress. the wild axie looks fine so far an ate his worm when it was offered. the fridge wouldnt be to cold would it. im going to try and attach pictures to show how their fridge containers are like.

also the water is treated with prime and i gave them a salt bath yesterday with 3 tsp of aquarium salt in 1 liter of treated water. tonight i gave them a bath with 2.5 tsp because i did not use quite i full liter of water...

What signs of stress exactly?

Keep in mind - you've taken them out of "home" , handled them, washed them in salt, exposed them to bright light - so i wouldn't expect them to be "happy"

Keeping dark and cool will reduce stress and help slow down the ill effects of fungus etc.

Re food, they wont eat as much in the fridge, it slows the metabolism, so one worm once a week is probably all they need in the fridge.

Re temp - no less than 5 celcius - but you read up on how to fridge an axie (including minimum allowable temp ) BEFORE you did it - didn't you?

And read up on salt baths as well for that matter?

Bren

i only offered them 1 quarter of an earthworm, usually i offer them 2 quarters, i did read up on salt baths and some about fridging but i dont have a thermometer to put in the fridge... :-/ the fridge is set to 4 out of 7, 4 being reccomended, 1 being warmer 7 being colder. should i move it to be 3 to be safe? i also have towels wrapped around their tubs so they dont get startled by the light when it comes on. her gills are curling forward when they are usually back and relaxed... these are my 1st axies and the 1st time ive ever fridged them or gave them salt baths.

you couldve scared her when you took the towel off the container or she could be is hunt mode. Abbys gills go forward when he is hunting for food.
Your lucky your axie is still talking to you, when abby needed salt bathes he didnt talk to me for a few days, he even refused food just to prove he was upset.
lea

ok well i have never done this before so i guess i am over reacting i just dont want to do anything wrong, i really dont wana kill these little guys. so do you think since they are in the fridge i should only offer them food every other day? or still offer it everyday? after their bath yesterday they still have fuzz on them, it doesnt really look like its going away but does not look like its getting worse. i do see fuzzies in their water both in the tubs and the baths though. also how should i disinfect their stuff from their main tank? i have some live plants, a terra cota pot and some big rocks...

Thank you all so much for the help :wacko:

Gills being forward CAN be a sign of stress, especially in conjunction with other signs (curved tails, etc.). But they're not always a sign of stress. Some axolotls have gills that naturally curve foward, and some times they change positions based on activity, like Lea mentioned.

Do you know the cause of the fungus (heat, injury, whatever)? If not, then I don't know if there's a reason to disinfect the tank. Fungus is usually opportunistic, rather than predatory. That is, it's always in the tank, and pops up when an animal is sick, stressed, or injured. If you do feel the need, you can boil the things that can be or wash items with a 10% bleach solution (rinse REALLY well). Substrate can be removed and boiled.

Keep with the salt baths. The fungus should clear up in a few days. Offer food as you were, but be aware they might not eat as much since they're in the fridge.

im fairly certain the fungus is due to improper size nad temperature, i had them in a 10 gallon, im ordering a 29 gallon for them it should be in on friday. my tank temp was normally 70-73 which i know is high, im hoping with the bigger tank the temp will be a little lower beacuse of the bigger water mass. so im going to set the new tank up friday, hopefully the fungus will be gone by monday because that is the last day i can keep them in the fridge how long do i need to let the new tank sit for before i can put them in it?