Illness/Sickness: Floating Sideways

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MummaNikki

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Hi All. Im very new to owning an Axolotl (maybe 2 months) as my Son was given it for Xmas from his Nana

The axolotl is very young and maybe only 7 or 8 cm's long. I have been going to pet stores to get advice but everyone tells me something different.

at first i was feeding him baby crickets for about a month, then tried him on liver but now he wont eat, he is floating on his side and he always has his mouth open a little bit. I tried to feed him a baby cricket and he took it but as he always has his mouth open it floated out.

I have a 40lt tank which I have now only filled about 1/2 way and turned off the filter. Im also changing his water once a week.

I have a live plant that is growning on some wood in his tank, could this be making him sick??

There are SO many conflicting things I have been told that I just DONT know what to do and I dont want the little fella to be in any pain or die.
 
Please post a pic of your axolotl & the tank he's in.
What is on the ground of the tank - gravel / sand / rocks / bare?
Has he ever been in gravel - what did the shop have him on?
Have you tried to feed earthworms or live blackworms or bloodworms?
What is the water temp in the tank?

Don't turn the filter off unless its particularly strong - just place a rock or plant in front of the filter to break the flow.

Have you tested the water in the tank? If so, what are the parameters? Have you been removing poop & uneaten food? How often have you been doing water changes & how much of the water?

Please answer the above ?'s they'll all help to work out what the problem is & don't forget to post pics. Hopefully it will be easy to work out what's gone wrong.




<3 >o_o< <3
 
* I will have to post a pic later tonight as Im currently at work

* He was on rocks however I took them out on the weekend and now he is just on the bottom of the glass tank

* I have never had him on gravel, but im not sure what the shop had him on as he was a gift.

* I did try to feed him live earthworms from the pet shop however he would not take them. And I can only get frozen bloodworms from the pet shop.

* OK so i have had a LOT of trouble with the water Temp. We have currently been having about 40 degree days and although I put frozen bottles of water the temp can range from 19 - 25 (which i have just read is NOT good)

* I dont have a water tester but I did take a sample to my local fish shop and they said that it was all good. i have been removing as much muck at the bottom of the tank as I can and I was told to only change about 20% of the water every 1 or 2 weeks.


THANKS so much for your help.
 
You have to be very careful about using the frozen bottles method as it may cool down your tank too fast and shock your axolotl. You can imagine how much worse that would be if the temperature fluctuated quickly and repeatedly! If you can, put him in the coolest room in your house (usually in basement) and put the tank on the floor (hot air rises). If you have a fan, blowing it at the water surface can cool it off a few degrees. If you use LED lighting vs fluorescent you can also lower the water temp as they don't give off nearly as much heat. I would suggest using a chiller if you cannot keep the water from fluctuating quickly.

I strongly suggest you get your own nitrIte, nitrAte and ammonia drop test kits. 1) local fish shop may be using strip tests, which are usually inaccurate. 2) you can monitor the tank conditions daily without having to go to/fro the shop.

"he was on rocks"... what size rocks? You make it sound like they were too big to be ingested so I just wanted to make sure :) They can swallow rocks the size of their head!

Keep trying with the earthworms. If they're too big, cut them into pieces so its easier for him to take. You can try frozen bloodworms with him, too.
 
OK since I got home things are NOT looking good. He was floating on his back and I thought he was gone but when I touched he he swam away.

Do you think I should try to put him in the fridge??

Also I just tried adding a Photo but I cant work out how to do it.
 
mummanikki-albums-very-sick-axolotl-picture26946-please-help-whenever-i-touch-him-he-turns-up-right-way-swims-away.jpg


mummanikki-albums-very-sick-axolotl-picture26947-he-very-young.jpg
 
MummaNikki said:
mummanikki-albums-very-sick-axolotl-picture26946-please-help-whenever-i-touch-him-he-turns-up-right-way-swims-away.jpg


mummanikki-albums-very-sick-axolotl-picture26947-he-very-young.jpg
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He looks incredibly emaciated- I'm not sure what someone else may say here in the thread who has more experience regarding water condition issues- but if you can get food into him I would ASAP before fridging.
 
Poor thing! He is soooooooo thin :(

I fear this guy has been unwell for a long period of time & it's disgusting that animals in that condition are sold in pet shops... A dog in the same condition would be skeletal & emaciated & have society up in arms! :(

I fear there isn't much you can do for him at this stage. Putting him in the fridge now would only slow him down more... Force feeding would be so stressful as he looks so frail.

I hope others may have more helpful suggestions.



<3 >o_o< <3
 
Nikki71 said:
Poor thing! He is soooooooo thin :(

I fear this guy has been unwell for a long period of time & it's disgusting that animals in that condition are sold in pet shops... A dog in the same condition would be skeletal & emaciated & have society up in arms! :(

I fear there isn't much you can do for him at this stage. Putting him in the fridge now would only slow him down more... Force feeding would be so stressful as he looks so frail.

I hope others may have more helpful suggestions.



<3 >o_o< <3
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Poor baby ...... I can only think to put him in a container with cool dechlorinated water and monitor temperature closely. Maybe some soft, easy swallow foods like finely chopped earthworms, blood worms or black worms offered frequently ?

I think crickets are only OK as a treat now and then, same with liver - best staple food is hands down earthworms.

Oh and MummNikki, rule No. 1 should always be - don't listen to what the pet shop tells you, most are notoriously ill informed on Axolotl care.

Hope he makes it :)
 
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With the mouth open like that, I'd think he's already passed on.
 
He is very thin and if it's still alive, try feeding it something smaller and easier to fit into its mouth. Go to a petstore and buy tubifex or blackworms. Put it in a shallow container of aged cool water. It has to be shallow enough that its face will drag along the bottom. This will minimize any effort to eat the worms. If the worms are constantly writhing around it won't be able to resist them.
 
Thank You everyone. He has been this thin since we first got him / her and it breaks my heart to see any creature link this. :sad:

i have been checking Shim (thats what my 10 year old named the Axolotl) as often as I can. Whenever I think he has passed I touch him and he swims away. :confused:

His mouth has been open for a few weeks now. I just wish I had of found this web site a month ago. the little buggar might of had a better chance.

I would love to try and force feed him and make him better but he is SO small that even holding him still is really hard to do without feeling like im going to squash him.

Once again THANK YOU everyone, and Im praying that Shim pulls through.
 
Poor baby. He's easily the saddest thing I've seen today.

He's obviously starving and probably very stressed. I agree with the suggestion to put him in a shallow container with some easy to eat food. Put just enough water in there that it covers him but not so much that he floats. His feet should touch the ground. If he can't touch the ground on his own that will only stress him more. You'll need to remember to change the water pretty frequently. Keep him somewhere cool and dark and quiet. His gills also look ridiculously curled forward. It's hard to say whether or not its because of stress but often times it caused by bad water quality or too much current. Does he have a filter in his tank? What's the water hardness like?

By the way, crickets are a terrible food source, even as a treat, to such young axies. Their exoskeletons can be hard/impossible to digest and can cause impaction which may or may not explain why he's not eating.

I wish him the best of luck in making a recovery. Keep us updated. :(
 
Can you try & source some live blackworms from a local fish shop.

If you lower the water level so he id not floating & can stand on all four feet while the worms are in with him it may encourage him to eat.

Given the mouth is open you could try cutting up the live worms really small mashed or minced earthworm would do too & maybe mix in some crushed axolotl pellets to make a paste as thick as honey add dechlorinated / tank water to thin if needed (you could mince up the liver you have but worms & axolotl pellets would be best!) & then get a syringe (without needle) to slowly put food into the mouth - then very gently hold the mouth closed.. gently putting a fingertip under the bottom jaw & gently lift the head to a slight angle so the food stays in & hopefully travels down into the gut. Start off with small amounts a few times a day & increase the amount & feed twice a day. The fact that you don't have to pry open the mouth reduces a lot of the stress created by force feeding.

It's worth a try. I'll keep fingers crossed & hopes up that he can pull through.

Good luck - keep us updated
We'll all be thinking of you :)



<3 >o_o< <3
 
Quick off topic @ Nikki71 - have you bought live black worms anywhere in Sydney?

Just ordered some at local pet store but won't come in for 2 weeks :(
 
Jen10s said:
Quick off topic @ Nikki71 - have you bought live black worms anywhere in Sydney?

Just ordered some at local pet store but won't come in for 2 weeks :(
Click to expand...

The only place I know that has decent blackworms is Manly Aquarium World - they've been going through over a kilo a week - they seem to be the only place with stock at the moment. But shhhhh don't tell anyone ;) lol

I'm thinking of ordering a large amount 1/2kg from the suppliers direct - just have to wait for a couple of cooler days so they aren't couriered in a heat wave - so I'll be able to sell them to you if you need some - where in sydney are you?



<3 >o_o< <3
 
You can get live blackworms sent directly to you in 250g, 500g and 1kg packs. $22 freight. From Australian Blackworms. www.blackworms.com.au
They send out orders on Tuesdays, deliveries usually arrive following day, if they are late and not good quality Mal sends you a new box. On a few occasions during Xmas I had to separate the good worms by submerging a net (full of worms) in water in my fridge. A larger net is faster. I never had courier issues other than during the Xmas rush. That company is the only large blackworm supplier in Australia. As I am in a regional area we had more courier related issues. The problem with pet shops is that they don't usually rinse the worms adequately if at all.
 
Kerry M said:
You can get live blackworms sent directly to you in 250g, 500g and 1kg packs. $22 freight. From Australian Blackworms. www.blackworms.com.au
They send out orders on Tuesdays, deliveries usually arrive following day, if they are late and not good quality Mal sends you a new box. On a few occasions during Xmas I had to separate the good worms by submerging a net (full of worms) in water in my fridge. A larger net is faster. I never had courier issues other than during the Xmas rush. That company is the only large blackworm supplier in Australia. As I am in a regional area we had more courier related issues. The problem with pet shops is that they don't usually rinse the worms adequately if at all.
Click to expand...

Geeeeez we're all off topic now ;)

If there's a few of us in Sydney or near that want to share the costs of worms & delivery - we could order & have them delivered to my place & I could keep them in the fridge until others could pick them up... If anyone is interested contact me via pm :)

Maybe we should start a thread on this ;)



<3 >o_o< <3
 
Sorry for getting more off thread

This poor little axie. I have read all the suggestions and agree with all the helpful advice.

Please let us know how your little one goes :) I hope he improves.
 
Kerry M said:
Sorry for getting more off thread

This poor little axie. I have read all the suggestions and agree with all the helpful advice.

Please let us know how your little one goes :) I hope he improves.
Click to expand...

Yes, apologies for hijacking the thread. Hope Shim eats for you soon, we're all hoping for the best for you and him, keep us up to date ..... :happy:
 
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