Illness/Sickness: Is my axie sick or just cranky?

My male axie El Berto who is usually very happy and healthy has in the past two weeks gone a bit crazy?

I have no idea what is wrong with him?

We have been having some really hot days in Sydney, I keep all the windows closd during the day, and place ice blocks (in bottles of course) in their tanks to cool this them down, as well as, pointing a fan towards their tank all day..

But he seems to be off his food, He freaks out if I come near him, which is really unusual. He has also taken to swimming frantically? He normally loves a pat on the head and a belly rub.. Coco my female is in the tank with him, but with new babies to look after, I took most of the plants out to try to stop them breeding. Since then he has been really cranky. My 200litre tank has just about finished cycling, so I will move them soon.

Is it the heat? Or is he cranky because I keep removing his spermaphores?
Also this morning he looks a little dull, his gills are normally bright pink/red, today they look a slight yellow? His normal colour is in my profile picture. Tried to take a picture this morning, but dropped the phone in a bucket of dirty water. Will try to video it.

Regards
Francesca

Hi Guys, I could really use some help here..
He is getting worse, he hasn't really eaten anything for days, he backs up when I try and feed him, and his colour is getting really pale, it also looks as if on one side of his gills they have been broken off? He is normally really golden in colour but he now looks an off yellow and his gills are not red anymore they are looking dull pinky colour..

He is my favorite, I cant loose him, please someone give me some advice.. :-(((((

Hi Francesca,

Sounds more like the weather than removal of the sperm being removed...I would say spermatophores wouldn't be the reason if his colour is changing/is having gill problems.

I lost two of my little guys recently - had the airconditioner on every day that I wasn't at home, for the hottest 5 hours of each day, still can't work out what happened though think it might be induced by this horrid weather we've had lately.

Is he coming up for gulps of air frequently? I am looking for a herp vet in Sydney at the moment, will let you know if I have any luck!

If you're looking for a Herp vet, go to the 'looking for a vet' thread, and if that doesn't help, google is your friend :happy: The weather in Aus recently hasn't been ideal at all for axi's, so it could be heat stress As I like to say, if all else fails; fridge em

Good luck.

Thanks for your advice.. I quarantined him for a couple of weeks, in the new tank, thankfully he is OK.
However, I noticed that he passed a pebble about 4mm x 3mm, I was not sure where it came from? As I have very fine gravel in his tank. But on further investigation, I discovered much to my alarm, that his old tank has a platform, and after checking the size of the pebbles on it & noticed there are a couple of pebbles that size.. Needless to say I am trying to get that platform out, but its rather strong silicone..

I went through a process of him eating nothing or only very small pieces of fish, and only one or two pieces. When he ate his colour did come back, only to find him looking pale and sickly a few hours later.. Next he became really fussy about eating only certain things, again only a small amount..

But "Fantastic News", I have been feeding him meal worms, it seemed to be the only food he would eat. He is now back to his good old self, even starting to get that chewing and swallowing action happening again. So needless to say it was the rotten little pebble...

Thankfully he survived to live another day..
Francesca..