Weird swimming?

Hello again,

Our little Max has started swimming a bit weirdly- his tail is curling down when he is floating at the top of the tank and he can't seem to keep it up like normal. I can't work out what is causing it! He ate a bit of a plant a couple of weeks back and I haven't found much poop since then (although some of it may be all powdery on the bottom of the tank!).

Ph/nitrates/nitrites etc were fine when I checked them on Tuesday (I'm just about to go to bed- will check again in the morning!), the only thing skewiff is temp- we are managing to keep it around 20c with a fan and frequent ice bottle changes- still too hot we know but we don't have many other choices. I can't see any obvious swellings or discolouration that would indicate any blockage which would be making his tail heavy... Other than this he seems quite happy! Hopefully I will be attaching a picture- not a very good one but I got it quickly before bed so I could attach it to here!

Thanks for any help,

Sally and Dom

... I'm afraid the picture is on it's side!

Sally and Dom

It just looks like he is floating to me. Its hard to see the picture is dark but i cant see anything odd about this picture. My axies will sometimes stay in this position for hours without moving.. If it isnt normal then i my axies are abnormal as well i find they can manipulate how they swim or float or walk or none of the above by inhaling air into their lungs, then they can float freely until they exhale. My leucistic loves doing this often. It use to make me think there was something wrong till i figured its just personality. Ive learned that axolotls are the greatest aquatic animal ever! Such personality

Max normally loves swallowing a bit of air, floating around the top, burping and then slowly sinking back down again! That's fine, we were just concerned with the positioning of his tail, he's normally able to keep it in line up to the water level but he doesn't seem to be able to do that at the moment... You're probably right Alkylhalide, it probably is normal, we are very overprotective and panicky axie parents!

Sally and Dom

I am the same way! I panic over everything. But unless they seemed stress or you have reason to suspect something is wrong normally its just them acting like an axolotl. Unpredictable and weird.
99% of problems are water quality anyways so you can normally get an idea if your lotl may be showing signs of stress by testing the water.

Thanks Alkylhalide,

Just thought I would let you know how he was fine! Just likes to panic us every so often! Last night he was having slight trouble (read serious trouble!) keeping his tail on the bottom of the tank, if I wasn't worried about it it would have been hilarious because he looked like he was doing handstands! Turns out he just forgot how to poop He is quite happy now, and you were absolutely right about there being nothing wrong!

We went up to his tank the morning after with panicked looks on our faces, Max turns round all " Hello Mummy and Daddy (sad I know but he is our baby <3), why do you look so worried? I had lots of fun exploring my tank last night!"... I'm pretty sure they do it on purpose to keep us on our toes, and to make sure they get enough attention!

Sally and Dom

*Nodnod* It's weird, but after a while, you see fewer 'axolotl floating - HELP!' type posts on the forum while people get used to their axolotls' habits! Gally always floats because he forgets to go to the loo >.< He's also really active even at cooler temps which I had to learn was just him being him. I remember panicking about everything - a fish TB scare when one of our goldfish (separate tank - they belong to my Dad) had scoliosis, worries about Gally floating, worrying about putting mine together - the whole gamut, when I got mine. After a while of being on here newer members generally become more comfortable and even start giving good advice on the boards too - because they've learnt it themselves after going through whatever the poster needs help with!

Galaxy and Tooth are our babies too. My other half claims he doesn't see them that way but he's always talking to them >.<