She won't eat???

Hi

I've had my Axolotl now for about 8 years. Around this time most years she stops eating normally for about 2 weeks. However this year she has been refusing food now for 4 weeks, when I offer her something she just swimings away and when she is really fed up with me waving food in her face she goes and hides under her log.

Have checked the tank and it appears fine, have checked her out and she seems fine, is showing no signs of stress, illness or anything, she isn't swimming about quite as much as normal but my mine concern is her starving herself to death.

Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong ??

Thanks

Test the water, ammonia will make them very stressed and can kill them, nitrite can also do a lot of damage.

When i sorted my water quality out my axy ate.

Have you got a filter? If so do you use dechlorinated water? If so do a 20% water change rinse the filter in the water and add bacteria to the water which u can buy in a shop to reduce ammonia and nitrite levels if there is something wrong with the water, if not it doesnt hurt to add bacteria

Try her on earthworms? They normally cant resist?

If theres ammonia or any type of bad water quality it can result in fungal growth or illnesses. So i think your best bet is to get the water tested and if theres problems do what i suggested above

Check the temperature make sure its right. And if it continues try and post a couple of clear pics up for us to have a look, she might just be fussy at the moment or something, doesnt sound too good though.

Tried some pigs liver? Mine loves a thin strip as a treat every now and again.

Sorry if i havent been too clear, hope shes eating now if not dont hesistate to PM me x

She will be just fine axolotls are so strong x

humbug said:

Hi

I've had my Axolotl now for about 8 years. Around this time most years she stops eating normally for about 2 weeks. However this year she has been refusing food now for 4 weeks, when I offer her something she just swimings away and when she is really fed up with me waving food in her face she goes and hides under her log.

Have checked the tank and it appears fine, have checked her out and she seems fine, is showing no signs of stress, illness or anything, she isn't swimming about quite as much as normal but my mine concern is her starving herself to death.

Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong ??

Thanks

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It's happend evry year for 8years? thats very odd.
Juring the 2 weaks she stops eating do you change anything E.G. food or maybe its because of temp since i would have thought she would be hotter than normal because of the time of the year what is the tanks temperture,maybe try cooling the tank? What do you normaly feed her? Maybe a trip to the fridge is needed to cool her down and it should also slow her matabolsim down so she can go longer without eating but she will brobably not eat while in the fridge.

Any questions feel free to ask.
Sam:happy:

Hi

Thanks for the advice, everything relating to her care is the same as it has been for last 8 years, she has filters, airblock, water is checked weekly, water temp is pretty much as normal and when it does go up a bit I do what I've done since I've had her and float bottles of frozen water in the tank, there is not sign of fungus or any other signs of illness other than she won't eat.

Have tried, mussels, her normal small whitebait fish, she's never liked liver of any type, was advised not to give her earthworms when I got her but she does get live bloodworms but even those aren't getting her eating. I show her the food and she just swims away. She is starting to get skinny now so am really getting worried.

TT

humbug said:

Hi

Thanks for the advice, everything relating to her care is the same as it has been for last 8 years, she has filters, airblock, water is checked weekly, water temp is pretty much as normal and when it does go up a bit I do what I've done since I've had her and float bottles of frozen water in the tank, there is not sign of fungus or any other signs of illness other than she won't eat.

Have tried, mussels, her normal small whitebait fish, she's never liked liver of any type, was advised not to give her earthworms when I got her but she does get live bloodworms but even those aren't getting her eating. I show her the food and she just swims away. She is starting to get skinny now so am really getting worried.

TT

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Who advised you not to give her earth worms?! there the best thing to feed her.
I would offer her some now.

Sam:happy:

Earthworms are what most of us here feed our babies

One of the most nutritional foods there is available.

The Acquatic place I got her from said earthworms were not good as you wouldn't know what they had eaten and therefore they could cause disease problems in her so too stay away from them..

OK where do I get earthworms to try her on. Am assuming I can't just dig them up from the garden??? I live in London SE16.

OK found somewhere not to far from me that will be able to get me in ?? Log worm /? for Saturday so I'll try them and will let you all know what happens. (have just bought some more pigs livers to try her on tonight)

Fingers crossed

humbug said:

The Acquatic place I got her from said earthworms were not good as you wouldn't know what they had eaten and therefore they could cause disease problems in her so too stay away from them..

OK where do I get earthworms to try her on. Am assuming I can't just dig them up from the garden??? I live in London SE16.

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I feed mine earthworms from my mother's garden, but it depends on whether or not there are foreign chemicals, like pesticides, in your garden.

Earthworms are the best never had any problems. Night crawlers are good but are very large and red wrigglers x

humbug said:

Log worm /?

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Lob worm

Yeahhh, lob worms are good ol' regular garden worms. Might be worth specifying a size as they can be HUGE!

Medium ones are usually 5-8cm resting, so a good bet. The large ones might fight back a bit

Earthworms are definitely the best thing to feed her, and she'll love them, it's always really cool on here when we recommend earthworms to sceptics who come back and go 'HE LOVED THEM'

OK the liver didn't work, spent over an hour trying to get her to eat last night and she just wasn't having any of it, I tried putting it at the bottom of the tank, in her feeding glass (where she normal eats from), swimming it around the tank on tweezers so it moved, held it in front of her mouth, she just wasn't interested. Here's hoping the worms work on Saturday as I'm totally at a loss of what else to do :-(

If you know that there are no pesticides or products in your garden, then you can dig up some worms, or find a nice big peice of cardboard, make it moist, put it on some soil in a shady place, and come back about 2 hours later, there should be some worms in/under it. Collect them, rinse them well in cool water, then if they are as wide as your axie's head, offer her it, if bigger cut down a bit. Put in tweezer hold and offer her them, make sure it's alive (wriggling) and she should take it. If she doesn't leave it in there for 3-4 minutes, if she hasn't eaten it, take it out...

Good luck!
Don't hesitate to PM me.
Lastly - I live in London too

ZoeT94 said:

or find a nice big peice of cardboard, make it moist, put it on some soil in a shady place, and come back about 2 hours later, there should be some worms in/under it.

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Why does that attract worms?

Moisty ground make worms go up. And they like to hide under something I guess, so you can find them there, all snuggled up together. It worked for me, so I guess that would be an idea.

humbug said:

OK found somewhere not to far from me that will be able to get me in ?? Log worm /? for Saturday so I'll try them and will let you all know what happens. (have just bought some more pigs livers to try her on tonight)

Fingers crossed

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Hi there, Forgive me if I am wrong but I just wanted to point out that if the worms you are getting are Lug Worm, then they will be unsuitable for axolotls. They are salt water worms that spew their guts up as a defence mechanism and are full of iodine and that is really not good, they are used in sea fishing. If however they are Lob worms then they should be fine, as they are used in fresh water fishing, and are like the worms found in the garden, hopefully you are getting the latter, just wanted to tell you before something terrible happens. All the best on your axie adventure!!