Illness/Sickness: Arm damage, still attached

Hello! I'm not to sure what to do. I came home the other day and my axies arm looked almost ripped off. It is hanging on by a ligament. I have had him fridges for a couple of day now with fresh water changes daily. I thought the arm would fall off on its own but it has not. Should I try to remove it? I don't know if I am brave enough I cut it off. There now seems to be fungus on his gills, should i salt bath him? I also have not fed him while in the fridge, should I try to feed him? Please help me, thanks

poor little thing i would start with salt baths to get rid off the fungus there is a sticky about how do do this. keep him in the fridge change his water daily other than that im not to sure

Awww poor baby.

Im not expert (but someone will correct if wrong) but one of mine injured its leg and it did go " funky" - I just slightly salted her water, changed regularly and gave her salt baths.

The flesh kinda slowly disappeared to the knee then the bones came away and after that it started to heal. No vets with any experience in the area so I relied on info from our local zoo.

I'd start off with salt baths every 12 hours (basically once a day) to try and clear the fungus. Although fridging aids healing it's not necessary. I'd want to make sure axie is still ok in himself; eating well, behavioral changes, etc and obviously fridging slows the metabolism down so keeping him in a cool, dark room may be another option. Change container water daily to keep it nice and fresh. Unfortunately, if the limb isn't dropped amputation may be necessary. If you choose to/have to amputate, cut as far away from the axolotls body as possible and keep a close eye out for fungus and any signs it has gone septic.

So I performed the surgery today. Using cuisinart scissors I cut the arm off. I did cut through bone but it went very smoothly. I then soaked him for 15 min in a salt bath and he is now in his clean dechlorinated water in the fridge at 5 degrees. I will continue salt baths until it has cleared up. Should I try feeding? There has been no poop since I started fridging.

natjobe said:

So I performed the surgery today. Using cuisinart scissors I cut the arm off. I did cut through bone but it went very smoothly. I then soaked him for 15 min in a salt bath and he is now in his clean dechlorinated water in the fridge at 5 degrees. I will continue salt baths until it has cleared up. Should I try feeding? There has been no poop since I started fridging.
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Did he rife around when you amputated? If not the tissue was probably already dead and needed to come off. Being as he's in the fridge he won't eat a lot but you can offer small amounts. Obviously clean out anything uneaten and keep an eye on the wound. Once you can see a significant improvement it may be worth removing him from the fridge as although it aids healing, is not necessary. A cool, dimly lit room will be fine. This way you can definitely make sure he's eating and not bringing food back up. Wishing you the best of luck!

It's been a while but I guess I should end this thread. I lost her pretty sad about it. She was the momma to my babies.

I did twice daily water changes and a daily salt bath for 10-15 min. I think I waited to long to amputate. It was scary thinking of doing it, but in the future I would deal with it much faster if it ever happened again. Definitely a learning experience. Thanks everyone for your help!

Awww. I'm sorry for your loss. You did your best.

Im sad for you , you tried your best and you were so brave, Im sure your thread will help someone else in the future though.

I'm sorry for your loss. My axolotl also had a grievous arm wound. Its tankmate bit off most of its arm, save for the bones somehow. Eventually, the forearm fell off and all that remained was a bone sticking out and now some meat is growing back. This happened almost a month ago so I haven't been logging on as much so I missed your post.

Did a tankmate bite its arm? How did yours die eventually die? (I don't know if its too early to talk about being lucky because mine could still die I guess). I didn't fridge mine and I didn't use salt. I've used Jungle Brand Fungus Clear (active ingredients: nitrofurazone, furazolidone, and potassium dichromate) in the past and it worked fine for me. I read it on some list of proven to be safe remedies, but I don't remember where, probably somewhere on this site. Yeah, amphibans are sensitive to chemicals, but I would think the immediate threat is fungus and infection, not a possibly increased risk of cancer years from now.

Munchausen said:

I'm sorry for your loss. My axolotl also had a grievous arm wound. Its tankmate bit off most of its arm, save for the bones somehow. Eventually, the forearm fell off and all that remained was a bone sticking out and now some meat is growing back. This happened almost a month ago so I haven't been logging on as much so I missed your post.

Did a tankmate bite its arm? How did yours die eventually die? (I don't know if its too early to talk about being lucky because mine could still die I guess). I didn't fridge mine and I didn't use salt. I've used Jungle Brand Fungus Clear (active ingredients: nitrofurazone, furazolidone, and potassium dichromate) in the past and it worked fine for me. I read it on some list of proven to be safe remedies, but I don't remember where, probably somewhere on this site. Yeah, amphibans are sensitive to chemicals, but I would think the immediate threat is fungus and infection, not a possibly increased risk of cancer years from now.

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If salt baths work then why try chemicals?

Talk to me in a few years when you're dealing with possible cancers after you've had a few years to get even more attached to your axie!

It's every living creatures right to be treated for any injury or medical issue & animal husbandry should always start with a gentler natural option if its available & treatment is started early rather than waiting until a worst case scenario situation when the only 'chance' is using heavy toxic chemicals & crossing fingers.

Being blasé about animal treatment probably won't win you any fans on here



<3 >o_o< <3

If I understood natjobe's story, it seems that the salt bath did not work because the axie passed away. My oldest axolotl is nearly 7 years old. I've used salt baths and the chemical way. The salt way can work, but it takes a lot more effort and it too can be deadly for amphibians if its not measured out properly or you leave them in too long. The product says "Known to the state of California to cause cancer." Such a label could be put on anything. That's probably more of a warning to the human users of it than to the fish or axolotls its meant for (and it is California)... Or maybe its to release the manufacturer from liability so they are not sued in the future. (The United States is to litigation as Sparta was to warfare). I'm much more likely to get cancer from eating pork, beef, alcohol, the 4 cigarettes I smoke a year, the Sun, and fast food. Everything causes cancer and all food is basically bad for you and the experts aren't very helpful because they don't agree and they always change their studies' findings. A once-in-a-while use of a product to save the life of your pet seems to be worth the risk to me. Even though the risk of dying in an auto accident is 1 in 100 here in the US, most of us in American drive in cars anyway. Nothing is certain.


Axolotls seem to be more likely to die from fungus, tank mates, water flowing too fast in the aquarium because of a filter being too strong, its own food nipping at its gills, or water parameters. I'm sure axolotls can die from cancer, but how would you know what killed them?

But sh!t happens to these goofy creatures that bring us so much joy and its hard to cure something that cannot talk. Its hard to find a vet to cure them or someone else who even knows what they are (we are a special group here). When ask what my axolotls are, many of them don't even know what a salamander is! Is that an iguana? A catfish?

Lol

If I'm dying from cancer, I'll need to find someone to care for my critters so I guess I'll sign on here one last time. Who doesn't want free axolotls?