Help?

So I've had my axolotl, Knife, for three years now. He's stopped feeding about 2 weeks ago and lot a significant amount of weight. Three days ago I took him to the vet and he was force fed 2 cc of a carnivorous based liquid food for cats because thats all there was at the clinic. He had seemed to been doing better the next day but he really hadn't pooped much. This morning I woke up to find his legs all red and red patches over his body. I figured the best thing to do right now was to fridge him right now, but I know that slows down his metabolism so he won't want to eat for longer.

Knife was also a bit damaged while being handled during the force feed so his coat of slime was rubbed quite a bit and is kind of hanging on in chunks almost? It doesn't look like he had a fungus or anything, but I'm also worried because his tail was torn a bit during the vet visit as well.

His head also seems to have gotten a bit bigger somehow? The bottom part under neath his chin seems a bit swollen and that just happened yesterday. Right now he's just a big mess and I really don't want to loose him.

The thing that also confuses me is that i had him in a tank with his brother, Fork, and he's doing just fine and eating like a pig.

Hi,

Was he originally taken to the vets because he wasn't eating?

I'm really not sure cat based food is ideal for axolotls. He doesn't look too skinny. Axolotls can go for quite a while without eating. Mine stopped eating for 3 weeks and has only just started again after suffering from an infection.

I wouldn't have him in the fridge as that will slow the metabolism and won't encourage him to eat. At the moment tea baths may help with the damaged slime coat. I've also found floating Indian Almond leaves in their water to really help.
Offer as many types of food as you can and be persistent with the food. Earthworms, bloodworms, waxworms, blackworms, pellets etc.

What are your tank parameters like? Ph, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and temp?

I wouldn't fridge him yet. You may also want get some of the water conditner that has aloe in it to help Knife recover some slime coat. Watch the tank parameters closely to make sure you don't stress him further. Not so sure about the cat food either, you probably would do better putting clean earth worms through a pinky pump or food processor but again a few days is no big deal, sometimes their metabolism slows and they can go a week or so.


Here is the tutorial on force feeding.
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...olotl/70199-how-force-feed-adult-axolotl.html

he was a lot skinnier before he was force fed. his body width was about half the width of his head and his skin seemed to almost be hanging off of his legs. the vet said the cat food would be ok because thats what they use for any of the carnivores that come in the clinic that had been rejecting food.
hes currently in the fridge because when i had to set up a quarantine tank in my dorm room at school and take him with me, however the water temperature was way too high and would not go down. I also thought fridging could help him pass any poop because he had a large dose of food and then no poop for a few days. im hoping that it will at least get him too poop. he looks like hes gone septic almost? i have a new photo of him from a few hours ago and hes not looking great.
how would i go about doing the tea baths? this may sound silly but are there any specific types of tea i should use or brand? or will regular lipton black tea do? and where would i get indian almond leaves?
i cant get the parameters of the tank that he is usually in with his brother because thats at home, but its usually perfect, though the temperature can creep up sometimes. it never goes above 70 though. the new quarantine tank water, everything fine, no nirates or nitrites, but the tempurature wont go below 72.

hopefully this version of the photo upload larger so you can see him better. hes gone quite pink

Tea bath for axolotls
Contributed by Daniel Weiner, August 2007.

I mainly use teabaths for minor skin problems. It may also be used with fungal problems but on that account I prefer salt baths. Tea has a slightly antifungal and antibacterial effect (resulting from tannins) and additionally it closes the pores in the skin a little bit (mainly resulting from tannin and caffeine). The skin tightens and gets some kind of protective layer, making it harder for fungi and bacteria to intrude the body. On the other hand it makes it harder for salt or medicine to reach pathogens which are already inside the body - that is the reason I do not use it on fungal infections, although a tea bath is sometimes recommended as a cure for fungal infections by some people.

The medication is as follows: I take one bag of black tea without any additional aroma (it is important to use black tea because this kind of tea is fermented and so it has tannins) for every 10 litres of water (preferably used in a quarantine tank). This tea gets dashed with boiling water in a seperate bowl - I leave it there for at least 10 to 15 minutes so the tannins are resolved into the water. The tea has to cool down and is finally added to the quarantine water. After a week I make a bigger change of water (60% at least), the rest of the tea is removed over time by normal water changes. If you have to make more regular water changes (f.i. in a small bowl or tank) the tea concentration can be refilled. As far as I know there are no negative effects even for long term treatment.

A similar effect (although not as strong) may have the addition of dried oak or beech leafs now and then as a precaution.

Lipton tea is fine.

I bought my Indian Almond Leaves from ebay.

I wouldn't force feed again until it's absolutely necessary. He needs to recover before he's handled again. As stated above, worm mush would probably be more ideal.

i just changed his water after his first 24 hours in the fridge. his skin is better, however he has gotten worse so it seems. He's lifeless and barely moves, he didn't even struggle when I had to handle him to put him in his new container of water. I just put in an antibiotic the vet prescribed, because she thinks he's gone septic. At this point I'm not worried about him eating, I'm more worried whats going on internally. Is there any chance that sand may have been impacted and this is whats causing it? At home his usual substrate is fine black sand. That might be why his cloaca is so irritated looking.

Have you checked with your vet that the antibiotic can be used whilst he is in the fridge? Mine was on antibiotics recently and the vet said some require a faster metabolism to work better, so I kept him out of the fridge.

I think this looks like bloat :-

Caudata Culture Articles: Bloat

i did check with the vet if it was ok with the fridge she said it would be fine, because its was an antibiotic bath so he isn't ingesting it or anything. Though he's not active at all which is worrying, I've taken him out of the fridge so he can absorb the antibiotics better. and if it is bloat are there any treatments for it?

Looks like bloat to me too, his neck and head seem swollen so do his limbs.

Update: he died today. I checked on him in his antibiotic bath and he passed. He's scheduled on friday for an autopsy to determine cause of death and have blood taken. I'm just concerned if it was something I was doing, then I can correct it with his brother

I'm sorry for you loss.

Sorry to hear that

I'm sorry for your loss. His smile in the second picture was really cute.

When you get the results back from the vet, I hope you continue to update us.

Which antibiotic(s) were you prescribed?

I'm very sorry for your loss May your baby swim under the Rainbow Bridge in peace.

Sorry for not updating sooner. There were actually a multitude of issues. He turned out to be a she, with blocked oviducts. This is why she wasn't eating, she couldn't lay her eggs and they actually took up most of her body cavity, and they were in all states of before being ready to be laid, ready to be laid, and eggs that should have been laid but were't and weren't being reabsorbed. She also had an unusual lump on her heart. The kidneys were in really bad shape, however the autopsy was done a few days after death and kidneys are usually the first things to deteriorate after death so we don't know how bad they were at time of death. there was a lump on her GI tract that we had no clue what it was because it was above the stomach. She did become septic in her last days which is what we think was the main cause for her death, she had nothing going in and out of her for weeks and when she was force-fed she really had nothing much to poop out either. The extreme amounts of stress could have added to her troubles because she was never removed from her tank for 3 years and then being transported on 20-40 minute drives at a time could have done no good for her. I really wish I could have done more for her.

You did the best you could, so sorry for your loss. It's actually nice to have some closure, I lost mine and I had to beg the vets to put her down and they were no way capable of an autopsy which would have been nice for me she had all sorts of problems that no one could work out. Just be happy she had a good few years with you

Yea I really am thankful for the closure that the autopsy gave me. Honestly it would have haunted me for a while because I would have blamed her death on myself. Though now I just feel really bad for fork because he's looking all sad and lonely cause his cuddle buddy is gone.

I can understand how you and Fork must be feeling I hope you feel a bit better realising there was not much you could have done - she was just a bit of a poorly lotl.

You can always give another lotl a home and Fork can have another snuggle buddy, but if you don't feel ready to, that's fine too. Wishing you both some comfort and peace.