Question: How to finish fridging without stress?

First of all, thank you so much for the fantastic photo tutorial of how to fridge an axolotl! It was a great help in doing it for the first time, took a lot of anxiety out of the process :happy:

Now my question is this: how do I finish the fridge stay and get Pear back in his tank without causing too much stress on my little man? This is probably quite obvious, but I would like someone to go through that step by step as well, because when I took him out of the fridge and back into the tank last time, he got so hugely stressed, I had to put him back in after only 12 hours. I don't know if the reason was something I did wrong, or his tank mates or something else in the tank, or the fact that he simply wasn't ready, but I really do not want to repeat that experience!

This is how I did it last time.

The temperature in the fridge was 7 degrees Celcius, the tank temperature was about 19. To acclimatise him for the temperature change, I took his container out of the fridge, opened it and placed it on the table, and then we waited. I had a thermometer in the container to follow the warming of the water. We kept an eye on him, but didn't disturbe him in anyway, and kept the lights dim in the room.

Once the temperature got closer to the tank temperature (it too several hours, without any artificial help), we floated the container in the tank to even out the remaining temperature difference. Once the temperature was the same, we released him in the tank. The tank lights were turned off all this time, and there was only a small spot light on in the room, near the tank though.

Thinking back, I don't think he was very happy about the floating part. And he didn't look good when he got into the tank, didn't eat, and in the morning he looked just awful. I actually thought he had eaten gravel or something! The photos of him are in another thread here on this sub-forum.

So he went back into the fridge that very morning! And it seems to have worked, as he looks good now. No stress signs visible anymore, he is active when I pull his container out of the fridge to check on him and to change his water, his body feels good and strong. He is a bit thin, but not overly so. To be expected, I suppose, after not eating for over 2 weeks!

So he is looking all better, and I would like to get him back into his tank in the next day or two, (also because we have to go away for a week next week, and if there is any issues still with him, I'd rather find out sooner rather than later so I can still do something about it!) BUT I do want to do it right. So if someone could please tell me what did I do wrong last time, and how to do it right this time, I would very much appreciate it, and Pear would too, I'm sure! :happy:

Also, can I suggest that the process of ending the fridging would be added to the fridging tutorial, or as a separate one, as I'm sure I'm not the only one who is unsure of things while doing them for the first time! It might be obvious and self-explanatory to most, but if it's your first axolotl and you don't know too much about them, then even the self-explanatory is not that obvious! As a dance instructor I'm reminded about that in almost every class; what's obvious to me after over 20 years of practice is not so for someone with less experience.

Thank very much for your help!

I don't think the floating should have caused him any problems. But I am wondering if there are major differences between the water you are using in the fridge and the water parameters in the tank. Your procedure for bringing him up to temp sounds perfect. You might also want to re-acclimate him to his tank water before the return to room temp. A day or two before, refrigerate some of his tank water and mix it with the water you are using in the fridge.

Oh, I should have thought about that! Of course there would be quite a difference as the water he's in the fridge is straight treated tap water, without all the biological elements of the tank! So not only did he need to get out of his solitude and confined space in the dark, and adjust to a higher temperature, but also a different water quality. Sometimes the obvious is not so obvious, sigh... Even with fish, you add some tank water into the bag when floating them, before letting them get in!

Thank you for that, Jennewt! I might do a partial water change, and then do as you suggested, and maybe also try and reduce the temperature difference a little bit by turning the fridge to a bit milder temperature (if it lets me, as it's playing up all of a sudden. And maybe floating some ice bottles in the tank to get it down a degree or two. He's in 5 degrees now, and the tank is 19, it's quite a hike!). Hopefully tomorrow or day after, he'll be happily in his tank with his mates again, fingers crossed! :happy: I'll post some photos, once it's all done!

Paivi said:

Also, can I suggest that the process of ending the fridging would be added to the fridging tutorial, or as a separate one, as I'm sure I'm not the only one who is unsure of things while doing them for the first time! It might be obvious and self-explanatory to most, but if it's your first axolotl and you don't know too much about them, then even the self-explanatory is not that obvious! As a dance instructor I'm reminded about that in almost every class; what's obvious to me after over 20 years of practice is not so for someone with less experience.

Click to expand...

Very well said! I'll add that information to the fridging guide this weekend. If you (or any other members) can think of anything further you'd like added to the guide, or have any suggestions as to how it can be improved to help you, please let me know.

Thank you for the feedback. :happy:

Thanks Jacqui!

I cannot think of anything else at present, what's there now worked perfectly well for me, and if the ending of the treatment gets added, then I think it's perfect! :happy:

I have started the process with Pear now by doing a 20% water change in the tank this afternoon and then fridging a 2-litre bottle of the tank water. I'm just about to do a 100% water change on his fridge container, so I will add 25% of the fridged tank water in his fridge container. Then if all is well tomorrow, I will add 50% tank water at the next water change and maybe day after tomorrow, I can get him back into his tank. Well, that's the plan at the moment.

If during this process somthing pops up or springs to mind regarding the fridging guide, I will let you know!

Hey, while I'm at it, I'm happy to take some photos for you, if you think you'd like or need some! Just let me know what, and I'll keep on snapping.

Thank you, Jacqui!

Re: How to finish fridging without stress? - UPDATE: not looking good, help needed!

Well, Pear went back into the big tank last night, but it did not go to plan, and he is back in the fridge again. :-( Here is what happened, if anyone has any ideas at all as to what is wrong with him, it would be greatly apprecaited, as I am lost and running out of ideas!

Pear was looking really good in the fridge at 5 dgrees Celcius, active and strong every time I took him out to change his water, so I decided it was time for him to go back in his tank. As the previous attempt to transfer him back failed, and he ended up in the fridge only 12 hours later, I wanted to do better this time! But it wasn't meant to be. Here is what happened.

After preparing him for a couple of days by adding fridged tank water into his fridge tub for a couple of days (25% first day, 50% the second day), yesterday afternoon at about 2.30pm, I took his tub out of the fridge and left it on the table, coverd by a tea towel, to slowly warm up.

At about 10pm, the water in the tub was only 2 degrees from the tank temperature of 19 degrees, and he was getting more active, so I put a bit of defrosted Turtle Mix (fish meal, blood worms & spinach) in the tub to see if he would eat, and he actually had a little go at it, although I don't think he really ate much at all. (Note, this is not his normal food, but was recommended by our local pet shop keeper as that's what she said she gives to her axies after fridging to get them eating again, so I thought I'd give it a go as Pear has not eaten for 3 weeks now).

All good so far, so at about 11pm, I took the tub over to the tank to float it. And the troubles began. As soon as I placed the tub in the water, he started to look less happy. In the hope that it would pass, I persisted, and floated the tub for 10min before adding some tank water and floating a further 5min. I stayed with him most of that time, keeping the tub steady as I didn't like the bloating look that started to develop under his chin.

After the floating time was up, I released him in the tank, and he swam away, moved around a bit and went into hiding. He didn't look comfortable though, but a bit bloated, and kept on trying to squeeze into some very awkward and weird places in the tank. He kept on going up to the surface for gulps of air, and when I finally went to bed at about midnight, he was floating up near the surface. The lights were off all the time, by the way.

This morning, it all had gone worse, and I was waken up by the kids with greetings of "Pear is upside-down in the tank and he is dead"! Shock horror! I got to the tank and there he was, lying on his back on the bottom of the tank, mouth open, looking bloated and all other possible stress signs visible.

But he wasn't dead. I picked him up and turned him around, and took a gulp of air as I took him up to the surface to take a closer look at him. As I released him again, he just sank right down to the bottom, although he did make attempts to swimm, and I realised that he had lost the control of his buoyancy, he could not swim, and he could not move his back legs at all but they were just hanging limp.

On the bottom of the tank, he landed kind of funny half on his side, and stayed there for a while before trying to move again. His gills were moving, and he dragged himself along the bottom with his front legs, the back legs still limp and motionless. And bloated, gasping for air. As I picked him up again, he gulped for more air on the surface.

So out he came, back into the tub. I still had some treated water in the bottles, at room temperature, so he was ok for that. Left him in the tub, covered up, on the table, while I took the kids to school. The tub seemed to calm him down a bit and he looked less stressed when I got home, but those back legs were still not moving. SO in to the fridge he went, yet again.

And now I need to decide what to do next with him! I have formed two options in my mind, what do you think? Any input would be greatly appreciated! Or even a plan 3!

1) Diagnosis: he is simply a very sensitive guy who gets distressed very easily, and needs to be treated accordingly.
Action plan: another couple of days in the fridge to calm him down again and hopefully regain the use of his legs and his buoyancy, then slow transfer back into the tank WITHOUT a floating tub but by hand, acclimatising differently first. ANd then hoping for the best, and hoping that he will start to eat again, as that was the initial issue we had three weeks ago.

2) Diagnosis: He has an internal problem (injury, infection, disease...) that I don't know about and cannot see.
Action plan: to the vet to find out what is going on.

Externally, he looks fine, except for these stress signs now, and the loss of mobility in his back legs. But there is no visible injury or infection or parasite that I can see. The rest of the axies in the tank are fine, eating and behaving normally, even the newbie that we got while he was in the fridge (although she has some injuries from before we got her, but that's another unrelated issue). And I don't think she's got nothing to do with Pear's condition as he started to stress out already before he got back into the tank and I don't think he even saw her as she was in hiding.

I wish I had a spare tank I could release him into, so he could try and get better in solitude. But all the tanks are in use, and the only one I could reset for him is a tiny little 1ft tank that's used for the baby guppies at the moment. It's a bit small for him, but I suppose if that's the only option, then I could do that. It has a little filter, and only minimal sand on the bottom, and a bit of java moss for the babies, so it could be reset for him quite easily. And if he'd end up eating the baby guppies, then good for him, it's food!

The problem I have is, that we have to go away for a week on Tuesday, so I cannot keep him in the fridge for long, something has to be done before that.

Or could I perhaps take him with us? In his fridge tub in a cooler bag with some ice bricks. Although I'm not so sure what Grandmother would say about a little monster in her fridge, she is not an animal person at all! And the trip is long as we are driving, with a break inbetween, so it might end up being even more stressful for him.

Sorry for the long post, and thank you for reading! I suppose I am just really worried and trying to bounce ideas even with myself here! Any input would be greatly appreciated!

I have attached a few photos from this morning, not a pretty sight.