Illness/Sickness: Injury: Down to the bone!

Hello. Juan has a nasty injury. All of the flesh from his left front forearm is missing, as well as most of the flesh from his "hand", so that his bones are exposed. We noticed this a few hours ago and have separated him from his tank mate. Should I put him in the frig to reduce stress, or should I keep him in his tank so he can hopefully regenerate? Do you think there is still blood supply to his distal limb?

Also, the remaining flesh at the proximal part of the injury (elbow) looks white. Do you think this looks like a fungal infection? It doesn't look "fluffy" to me, so I'm wondering if it's possibly just the pigment stripped from a more superficial injury at this site. Any recommendations would be appreciated. Fridge? Salt Bath? Just watch? Thanks.

I'd go with fridge for a few days and keep an eye on him, if fungus starts to develop then do salt baths. Definitely keep him separated from his tank mate though in case it is a nipping injury or in case it is an infection and keep a close eye on his mate in case of the latter. They regenerate quicker when in the fridge.

Fungus manifests as a white 'fluff'. It looks quite a bit like cotton. The white you're seeing is just dead flesh.

Since you can see all the bones, this arm might fall off. Although, from a scientific standpoint, that is really frickin' cool looking, to see all the bones in the arm/wrist/hand.

Thanks so much, for the advice and input guys!

Kaysie, I agree about the coolness factor of the bones. I'm a doctor but thought everyone else would be just grossed out at the pic. I feel a bit guilty for considering seeing all the bones like that as cool, since Juan probably wouldn't agree!

Anyway, Juan moved into his new home in the fridge and seems to be doing alright. His arm is still attached. We're doing daily 100% water changes. He's not eating though. Is that normal?

That's normal. The fridge will slow his metabolism, so he won't eat as much. But it also slows the metabolism of any offending organism that might want to infect your poor guy's injury.

Thanks! I was so scared to refrigerate him, but he's survived 3 days in the frige so far! Thanks for the advice, guys.

Here's a fun pic taken while Juan was out of the fridge for his water change. I call it "Visiting Hours"!

Would you recommend I keep him in the refrigerator until his arm is completely regenerated? If so, I need to go out of town for a week next month and (although my pet sitter is really cool with feeding the axolotls) daily water changes and the fridge thing may be too much to ask of him.

Could I place Juan in a much bigger refrigerator container to help buffer any waste build-up and get by without doing the water changes for 7 days? Would he have enough oxygen if left alone in the fridge? I'm guessing that's WAY too long, but thought I'd ask.

Another option (other than cancelling the trip) could be to place him into a regular temperature tank while I'm gone and then re-refrigerate him after returning. I'd really appreciate your input. Thanks!

I'm not sure about the larger container but I wouldn't recommend it but I'm sure Kaysie will respond to that With the regular temperature tank that should be fine in my experience. Both of my leucies had their legs bitten off by my wild type one had a bone stump sticking out. I put her back into a normal tank after about a week or 2 as I had to go away and she has been fine in there. It's regenerating nicely. I don't know if you would need to refrigerate him when you get back but it would be up to you? As long as there is no fungus and he seems fine I guess it would be Ok to leave him there

In a month's time, his leg should have healed enough that he'll be fine in his regular tank.

Thanks. Do you recommend a proceedure for acclimating him back to his regular tank's temperature when I stop refrigerating him?

Put his "fridge container" in the same room as his tank and wait for it to return to room temp. What size tank are you housing both of them in?