Sick Axolotl

Hey there, my son has an axolotl that we assume is adult. It usually only feeds on garden worms and we recently went away on hols and had my dad look after it. While we were away 'Nim' lost a heap of weight and now is skinny as and looks to be shedding skin. I have had her water tested and it is perfect. She wont eat at all and I have put it in the fridge she doesn't look good My son will be devastated if she dies. What more can I do, she doesn't appear to be moving and I'm worried she has died. Do they slow right down when placed in the fridge (we followed all your instructions to put her in fridge). She looked like she was bleeding a little when we placed her into the water. They are strange little creatures and she has gone 5 weeks without food before but lost no weight. Please heeeellllppp, I don't know what to do.

Hi Kel73, sad to hear Nim is not well. Could you post some photos of her and also her tank so everyone can try to see what might be causing this?

Also could you give us water parameters - Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate. What temperature is the tank and how is it kept cool (we've had some shocking weather in Aus as you know) so it could also be a heat problem.

Yes, fridging does slow their metabolism and they are less likely to eat but continue to offer earthworms and she'll eat if she wants, if uneaten, remove them when you do your daily water change with dechlorinated refrigerated water. Remove any poop as you see it to keep the water as clean as possible.

Sorry for all the questions, but it really helps to see the whole picture before jumping to give advice :happy:

Thanks anyway but Nim passed away overnight. I really don't think putting her in the fridge did her any good and may have killed her (I was very scepticle of this in the first place but as I couldnt get any quick advise at the time, I thought I'd give it a go). She was really skinny tho and maybe the shock was too much for her. It would be nice if there were more sites in Australia to help with Axolotle cos we had a heap of trouble finding any advice throughout the 2 years we had her and had to guess how to look after her half the time.

Kel73 said:

Thanks anyway but Nim passed away overnight. I really don't think putting her in the fridge did her any good and may have killed her (I was very scepticle of this in the first place but as I couldnt get any quick advise at the time, I thought I'd give it a go). She was really skinny tho and maybe the shock was too much for her. It would be nice if there were more sites in Australia to help with Axolotle cos we had a heap of trouble finding any advice throughout the 2 years we had her and had to guess how to look after her half the time.

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Sorry to hear about Nim

This is a terrific place for information & advice - there's usually people around from all over the world & it's very active so answers normally follow soon after posting. I'm in sydney & there are a few other Aussie axolotl lovers here too.

Have a read & maybe you can reset the tank & fix anything that may have caused problems - then get another one - hopefully 2nd time around with the help of the information here & on axolotl.org you'll find it easier.

If you want to post a pic of the tank & test the water parameters - that might help work out what the biggest issue may have been.

Once again sorry to hear of your loss, you did all you could - RIP Nim



<3 >o_o< <3

Sorry to hear Nim passed away

As Nikki says, don't be discouraged, now you've found this forum, you've got help and advice to burn, most the time you'll get a fairly quick response and you can be assured these people are well experienced in all things Axolotl.

You did your very best with Nim, perhaps you'll go better 2nd time around.