Illness/Sickness: Emaciated baby; pet store rescue

Hello!

Today I was at my local "Big Al's" and I saw this little guy. He was in with 3 large albinos (first picture), each at least twice his size! He is missing/regrowing one of his front feet, missing the end of his tail, has lesions on his back, and is seriously emaciated. I couldn't leave him there. Even if he dies in the next few days it'll be a better life/death than in a pet store...

Anyways, I'm wondering what seasoned axolotl enthusiasts would do in my scenario? I'm very new to them and have spent the last month researching daily before even purchasing one - but reading about it and experiencing it are two very different things! I put him in the fridge this evening after giving him a chance to settle, and eat a pellet or two and some bloodworms. He didn't eat a lot but he did eat some. Before I put him in his gills were curled forward which I read is a sign of stress and after being in for a couple hours they're already straightening out (yay!). I was thinking tomorrow I might do a salt bath for the lesions on his back. The pictures don't show it very well, they don't look badly infected but they do look a bit greyish - thoughts?

Any insight/comments/anecdotes/whathaveyou that you can offer is welcome and appreciated!

* Also good to note: I have one other axolotl (my first) purchased 6 days ago from the same place [I'm ashamed to say]. She is currently in the fridge also, to treat a presumed fungal infection that I first noticed on monday. She had her second salt bath today 9fourth picture) and, while still a little fuzzy, seems to be improving (thanks to Kaysie for her salt bath tutorial and axolotl sanctuary for fridge tutorial). She is 8cm long compared to this guy's 6cm.

ps. I've named him Pickle and her Snuffles (and I don't actually know their genders; too little yet). I threw in a picture of their future home once they've stabilized (I worked hard on it and I wanted to show it off a bit, haha)

I don't think I'd do salt baths unless their is fungus.

I don't feel experienced enough to give a lot of advice, but I wanted to say I love your tank, it looks awesome, but I'd remove the pebbles as they look small enough for the axies to swallow and that's not a good thing

I'm with Mandy, while your tank looks awesome, get rid of the pebbles/rocks, you would be amazed how wide they can get their mouths.. wait till you catch them yawning!!

Stick with the salt baths for fungus, maybe someone with more experience will jump in here, I've read that tea baths (black tea only with nothing else added) can help with skin conditons, but don't act on it till you hear from some one with more experience with nursing injured axies back to health. Good on you for your rescue :happy:

I wouldn't give him salt baths until a fungus forms, I'd leave him in the fridge for a couple of days so they heal up quicker then put him into a tank but not with any other axie, he'd be eaten quite quickly or have more missing limbs. I found when feeding one of mine up that they love live wax worms. They are super fatty and put the weight on them in no time. Keep giving him the other food too but give him plenty of fatty food to put the weight back on him. Keep an eye on the lesions and if they develop fungus then give salt baths but for now I think your best bet will probably be what I've already said

Another thing (considering their size) to feed them could be blackworms My guys vacuum them up, and they tend to be slightly tidier than bloodworms (Another fun one for the babies to hunt for-just the clean up to deal with when there's no cleaning crew).
Is there another pet store around? I'd probably stop going there if there's another option-no point in letting them hurt more of our precious babies!

Thank you everyone for the speedy and helpful responses!

@ Mandy & shells: I'll definitely be taking the pebbles out; I saw a picture of an axie that had surgery after eating 3 stones of comparable size (I can't remember who posted it but the x-ray is incredible).

This morning I changed the water and got a good look at Pickle. I think he actually does have a bit of fungus happening after all, I could see the cottony stuff in his toes, and on his back and tail. At what point would a person decide that yes this is a fungus and will require a salt bath? There wasn't a lot of fuzz, but there's also not a lot of body there, haha.

@ Star & Caitie: thank you for the worm suggestions, I wouldn't have known what would fatten them up faster. Any thoughts on exo-terra canned mealworms? I've read they are fatty as well and the canned ones are supposed to be easier to digest. (I ask because they might be the easiest for me to get until I can figure out where to get live worms)

meal worms aren't too good because axies can't digest their chitin so you'll be picking bits of it out of your filter for ages but if you're happy with that then they will fatten him up too but I had more success with the wax worms compared to the meal worms
If he looks like he has cotton wool on him then I'd probably start with salt baths. If you can get hold of earthworms easier just over feed him with them

I'll try them all - anything so long as he fattens up (and soon!). On account of being in the fridge since day one I haven't had the pleasure of seeing him eat. I understand that this is normal so I'm not super worried about it, but I am concerned that if he goes too long without eating his ability to heal will be compromised despite the fridging (and salt baths*). He's just soooooo tiny. He's so skinny that he looks like he has googley eyes! I sincerely hope that it's just the malnutrition and not the beginning of metamorphosis! There's no way he'd survive that!

for those who are interested in his progress over the next week or so I think I'll continue to put updates in this thread. I'm putting posts on my blog too...

I just want to say thanks again to the people who replied and put in their two-cents. It's nice to have a "community" to turn to. Talking with my friends about it is starting to bore them I think! Hahaha!

I once rescued an axie from the local pet store as well. Little wildtype with almost nothing left and sooo terribly skinny. He (or she, it was a young little axie) also had those 'poppy' eyes. But when s/he gained weight it became normal. (So there was no morphing going on) It became a little pretty axie and I hope yours will become a healthy little axie very soon
Just feed him enough so that he has the energy to get well. And I guess your axie is about 7 cm if the tail wasn't bitten off. Some pet stores make me go mad

Good luck with your gilled baby

Good news! Pickle has now eaten mashed/chopped up Canadian night crawlers for 4 days in a row. He doesn't eat a lot but I'm satisfied that there is at least something in his wee lil' belly. I think he might even be filling out. He's lumpy! The fungus is gone as well, and the healing skin on his back looks kinda grey - but I think it's ok.

There is one strange thing about him... he floats. Almost all the time. I had to keep the water in his quarantine "tank" (actually a big glass mixing bowl for lack of something better) very very low to ensure he could touch the bottom. Is that normal? He's now back in the fridge as we've recently had some very hot weather. Today it looked like he wasn't floating too much, but I'm keeping the level low there too just in case. Why is he floating?

ps. Snuffles, my other axie, is fully recovered and looking very happy in her regular tank. I think her gills might even grow back! Well, they are on one side at least. Today I discovered I have some planaria too oops. They aren't too bad though and I've vacuumed* the substrate and done a 20% water change. It looks like they've already declined.

aw, I'm glad they're both doing ok! The gills should grow back over time
I try to avoid salt baths unless the fungus gets quite bad - mine had fungus before I knew what it was and with cold clean water it went away by itself in a few days. The salt baths seemed to stress them out so much!
I don't know about the floating, some axies seem to like chilling out - mine both did when they were younger. Now they just mope around the bottom in a grump!

Maybe he has some air in his belly. Usually they'll poop/burp it out.

I just wanted to congratulate you on rescuing an axie in need. Good on you! It sounds like he's gone from a really bad situation to a super loving home :happy:

Poor axies Well done for saving the lovely thing - he may be in a bad state but he is a very pretty axolotl!

Yes....that was Neptune's surgery... You'd be surprised at what they can swallow!

Sorry it's been a while since I posted any updates - school has been super crazy this term!

I have FANTASTIC news!!! Pickle [and Snuffles] are both THRIVING! I've attached pictures.
Pickle has his own tank now (no more salad bowl for him!) and today I bought him a little Anubias. The tank is only a 10 gallon but he's still quite small so I'm hoping it'll be ok for a while (like a year at least). I haven't measured him recently but I'm sure he's grown. His gills have grown back significantly too and even look pretty fluffy (I'm hoping they get even fluffier :-D ). My favourite part is that he now has a little pot belly!!! He's really sweet and as affectionate as an axolotl could be; every time I walk by his tank he picks his head up and starts coming to the front - he'll even start to stand on his back legs and put his little hands out to swim up to me. He hasn't figured out that he should be eating the worm and not the forceps I use to feed him, but he is eating a lot now so I'm satisfied. And to be honest, I'd be sad if he would eat it if I just dropped it in - I like "hand" feeding him. I put in a picture of Snuffles too, her gills have grown back beautifully on her right side, he left side is all gnarled and curly but, as you can se in the picture, the fluffy parts have actually grown back anyways! I'm so happy and in love with them - they are so frickin' cute it feels like my heart might explode. It's probably a good thing they can't come out of the water or I'd take them with me everywhere I go!

Thanks again to everyone who offered support and made comments!

They are lovely look to have lots of character. They do thrive so well on worms and once hooked, ignore likes of bloodworms I found.