Illness/Sickness: Impacted???

Hi, I got my 3 Axies last weekend from a very well reputed Aquarium..however they did keep their Axies on gravel as opposed to sand. the small 3 mm gravel. One is doing fabulous! he's the life of the party always swimming and eating . One is a bit sluggish but has eaten 3 times in the week. But my 3rd which is the biggest, approx 1.5 inches bigger than the others ate once last Sunday and hasn't eaten since then. It hardly moves and just hides in his cave. My water tests all say they are in the safe levels. Water 16 degrees centigrade. ph 7.4. Could it be Impacted from the gravel at the aquarium? How do I know? It's a bit hard to tell if it's belly is to big because it's bigger overall in comparison to the others. It just looks solidly built to me. How long until I should panic about it not eating? Confused and concerned

Well first if you are not sure if he has gravel in his stomach you can always gently pick him up(while still in the water of course!) and feel his belly very carefully. Sometimes you are able to feel the gravel in their bellies.

If you are very concerned it may be impaction which it very well may be because they were kept on gravel, fridging him is a viable solution. If there is gravel he should regurgitate it when fridged. Fridging will also slow down his metabolism so the "not eating" wont effect him as much.

I am on my phone and it is hard for me to look for a thread and copy and paste it. There is a thread on fridging axolotls here and im sure somebody else can post it here if you cant find it. If there is gravel impaction this probably is your best bet other then surgery to remove it but that is worst case scenario!

How big/old are they roughly?

Hi, The one that doesn't look to good is approximately 7 inches long and is quite thick in the body. I really have no idea on the age except to say it looks obviously older than the other two. I think it threw up the other day, but I didn't actually see it, but I went away and came back and it had a ball of something the size of a marble sitting in front of it and when I removed it from the tank it was like a smelly sludge. So far all any of them have eaten is fresh, fresh water salmon as they will not eat pellets, bloodworms, earthworms. I have a Chiller for the tank, which will take the temp down to 8 degrees centigrade so I will put the temp down lower for them. Thanks heaps for responding!

7 inchers are usually nearly fully grown - an adult axxie tends to be bigger than 6", and past 6" they don't need to eat every day so he might not need the food as much. To be honest, adult lotls also like to laze around, and there's lots to be said for personality!

I think your axxie actually pooped rather than threw up. Axxies generally 'throw up' their food while eating, and it's more spitting out excess food than actually being sick. Their leavings can differ greatly from one day to the next. It can be tricky with wildtypes or melanoids as you can't see through their tummies - with leucistics and albinos you can usually see their tummy content, which makes it easier to see gravel, especially if it's brightly coloured. Try Alkylhalide's method of gently touching his tummy in the tank and see if you can feel small, hard bumps in his tummy.

If you can, or simply suspect he may be a little impacted, here's the link Alkylhalide suggested: http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...ick-axolotl/85263-axolotl-fridging-guide.html

Hope that helps!

PS Sometimes axxies don't feel like eating some days, just like us or our other pets, especially if they're well fed. I wouldn't start to worry unless he doesn't eat for about three or four days straight, which might indicate a problem. He just sounds like a typical lotl to me though

I have to disagree with some advice.

7"inches is no where near fully grown adult & I personally would still feed every day until they are closer to looking like they are mature.

If there is a risk of impaction keeping the food up is important to coat any gravel that may be in the gut & help it to pass through more easily.

Keeping the temperature super cold will only slow down the metabolism & given you can accurately hold your temp I would set it to 18 & that will give them healthy temperature & keep their metabolism hungry so they grow.

Make sure to test for ammonia / nitrite / nitrate as ph is the least important of all the tests as it isn't toxic.

If you're ever in doubt about the water quality just put them straight into large tubs of clean fresh dechlorinated water to detox while you test your tanks water parameters & make sure the tank is healthy



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