Sick axolotl

Hello to all ,
my name is lauren and i am the owner of two axolotles , they were a part of my daughters birthday present.. we have owned them for nearly three months and through trial and error we finally have the water temperature sorted out and have made them quite a nice home. They both seemed fine until 10 days ago when the yellow one stopped eating. for the life of me i just cant seem to get it to swallow any food and now it is looking really really thin and sick. the black one has not been picking on it or dominating it in any way , there has been nothing in the tank that could have caused an obstruction , the pH is good , the water is airated and clean and the temperature is 17-18degrees celcius. I am really worried that if it goes much longer it will starve to death. Also the black one is going great and is eating. The sick one spent alot of time swimming around vertically , bobbing its face in and out of the water , now he does not even seem to have the energy to do that. i truelly hope that i can help it i just don't know how to.

Re: Sick axolotle

Do you have any pictures of the axolotls and their tank?
Do you have the water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate?)

Mel

Re: Sick axolotle

Aw, poor thing . I've heard of axolotls not eating for weeks and still being fine, but a picture of your axolotl would really help. Now when you say that it's not taking any food, are you attempting to force feed it or is it just refusing food you put in front of it? Also, do you see any patches on their skin? Are their gills or their tail curled?

Re: Sick axolotle

Do you have a practical way to separate the sick one? If you don't have a spare tank, you could make a quarantine container using a plastic sweater box with some holes in the lid. If it was bobbing to the top, it may be less stressed by being in a shallow container - just enough water to cover the animal. Keep it in a cool dark place. It's possible that refrigerating it might be good for it, but if the primary objective is to get it eating again, then a cool room temp might be better.

If you don't have water testing kits, find out if there is a pet shop near you that will do some simple water tests, as melfly suggested.

Also, what are you feeding them?

Re: Sick axolotle

Jennewt said:

Also, what are you feeding them?

Click to expand...

That was the first question that occurred to me too.

Re: Sick axolotle

just uploaded some photos of my axies... the tank is 600mm x 300mm x 450mm.
Just cleaned out tank today and while they were in holding tank i managed to force feed the yellow one one axolotle pellet. YAY!!. It seems to be a little more active then before but as you can see in photos it is still very thin. Thankyou for replying.

Re: Sick axolotle

Jennewt said:

Do you have a practical way to separate the sick one? If you don't have a spare tank, you could make a quarantine container using a plastic sweater box with some holes in the lid. If it was bobbing to the top, it may be less stressed by being in a shallow container - just enough water to cover the animal. Keep it in a cool dark place. It's possible that refrigerating it might be good for it, but if the primary objective is to get it eating again, then a cool room temp might be better.

If you don't have water testing kits, find out if there is a pet shop near you that will do some simple water tests, as melfly suggested.

Also, what are you feeding them?

Click to expand...

i can separate the sick one to feed it so i can check that it hasn't regurgitated food. I am feeding them meal worms and pellets. It is alot less stressful to force feed a softened pellet I have found. Thankyou for replying to my message too , I really appreciate it. I have also uploaded some pictures. What is the ideal temperature to keep water at?

Re: Sick axolotle

from what I've read on here, mealworms aren't a great staple for axolotls. They can't digest the exoskeleton, so maybe that's a contributing factor?

also, I can't see any photos on this thread... :s

not sure why photos won't come up. Maybe check my profile>albums. ?? they are there somewhere!!

Siona is absolutely right. Mealworms are things to avoid at all costs. There are very little nutrients in them, and the exoskeleton IS hard to digest. I would advice using troutworms (small earthworms) if you have small animals.. You may need to cut up the worms depending on how young your animals are.

How long are they, approx? Or if you happen to have the age of them, that would be helpful, too.
What kind of water are you using with your axolotls (because you do not have a kit). What kinds of decorations are in the tank (including the floor covering--do you use sand or gravel)? Is there any water flow in the tank (water flow is bad)? How often do you change the water, and do you do 100% changes?

Also, are there any markings on the sick axolotl that weren't there before? White markings, bruises, hair-like worms sticking off of the animal?