Sick

Hey everyone

I fed Wooper, my axolotl his first earth worm yesterday. He's only little so I fed him about half a worm chopped into small bits (took a bit of freaking out before I finally made the cuts!).

He seemed to enjoy it last night, but when I woke up this morning, they had all been sicked back up again. There was also blood worm in there from a previous meal. Is it normal for him to sick the first worm up? He's never been sick before.

There's no gravel in his tank, and there wasn't any at the pet shop we got him from. I tested his water this morning after I siphoned the sick out. I siphon about 25% water out everyday, his filter is not yet established.

PH: 7.6
High PH: 7.4
Ammonia : 0.25 (better than 2 days ago which was 0.5 and 4 days earlier it was at 1)
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Water temp has dropped to 14c, it was very cold last night.

We have been feeding him nearly every day, trying to get his weight up. Not sure if we are feeding him too much though? How much should a young axolotl be fed? I'll post some pictures below so you can see his size.

Thanks

He looks fine to me and your parameters aren't what I'd call terrible, considering your tanks still establishing. How often is he going to the toilet? It could have something to do with the temp drop if this is the first time he's done it or he may just be eating too much. I keep my juveniles in groups of three to a tank and they get a shared cube of bloodworm daily (with the odd chopped earthworm thrown in several times a week) until they're roughly 6 inches. I've never experienced any food regurgitation or starving axies using this method. For the time being I'd cut his food intake down slightly. I know you want him to gain weight but what's the use in over feeding if he's just going to throw it back up again? Maybe give him half a cube of bloodworm a day to see if he finds it more manageable, then you can try him with the earthworms again. With a little time and patience I think he'll gradually be able to up his food intake :happy:

Ok thanks, I'll feed him every other day. He poops everyday, so it's definitely coming out the other end alright lol.

He's been feeding on frozen bloodworm so i'll maybe alternate between those and small amounts of earthworms for a while. That also gives me a break from being a constant earthworm murderer :shocked: My partner refuses to cut them up, lol!

I also just put an air pump into the tank, so I'm hoping it's not that which has stressed him out. :s

Does the air pump seem quite..."violent" if you can say that?! Does it seem like it's creating a lot of motion in the water? I doubt it's causing any problems but it's worth asking :happy: I don't think it would have any thing to do with him bringing food back up.

No the air pump isn't too strong. I've surrounded it by rocks and plants so it doesn't create a strong current.

Ok so, I didn't feed him yesterday so was thinking he might be hungry today.

Tried a bit of earthworm this morning and he wasn't interested. Put a bit more in this evening and he ate one small bit, doesn't seem interested in any more offerings. My partner reckons he might be hungry and thinks we should try blood worm again. But I want him to eat earthworms. Bloodworms can be more of a treat. Should I carry on offering only earthworms? I don't want him to be a fussy lotl :s

snuggly time said:

Ok so, I didn't feed him yesterday so was thinking he might be hungry today.

Tried a bit of earthworm this morning and he wasn't interested. Put a bit more in this evening and he ate one small bit, doesn't seem interested in any more offerings. My partner reckons he might be hungry and thinks we should try blood worm again. But I want him to eat earthworms. Bloodworms can be more of a treat. Should I carry on offering only earthworms? I don't want him to be a fussy lotl :s

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I wouldn't be too worried at the moment. Some axolotls go for earthworms straight away, others take a while to catch on that oh, its food! He'll get it eventually but it might just take some time. :happy: How large are the pieces you're giving him? Could they possibly too small for him to take interest? Chopping them roughly as wide as the axolotls head is a good guideline. Persevere with it. At the end of a day if an axolotls hungry, they will almost always eat what's given to them. I doubt he'll go weeks without eating purely because you're refusing to give him bloodworm.

The pieces of worm are maybe an inch. He's tried a few bits and spat them back out. So I've cut up lots of different sizes. I'm still struggling with the chopping up part! I've found the best technique is a pair of scissors... He's more interested in his new air pump so I've threatened to take it away if he doesn't eat. I seriously feel like a parent haha

I would recommend you do.bigger water changes,test the water and then base the water change on the result you get,0.25 is still pretty toxic,better than your previous results but toxic all the same. Id also test the water about an.hour after the water change so.you get an.idea of how much ammonia tour are taking out.
Also test your tap water to see if that has traces.

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Perhaps try something other than earthworms? My axie eats newt pellets( by Zoomed) and bloodworms as a treat. I've even given him mini mealworms and he liked that too.
I commend you for being brave enough to cut up the earthworms ...I haven't tried it yet!
Some newts are just more picky than others...my red efts all love bloodworms except for one of them which outright refuses to eat them. I ended up getting the mini mealworms for that reason.
Perhaps that is part of the issue. Good luck...please keep us updated.

Ok so Wooper ate an earthworm yesterday. It took him a while, but he did it! Checked this morning and everything looks normal in the tank... No worm vomit