6 month old - Curled toes, hooked tail, not eating

This little one is under a lot of stress from something. her back legs are curled up with her toes curled also. Her gills are forward and her tail is hooked and she's not eating right now when I tried to feed her and is very floaty.

I started to notice she wasn't well 2 days ago and it looked like she was struggling to pass the worms she'd eaten. She was looking quite full up. I touched her cloaca a little (Very gently) and that helped her to pass a huge lump off waste and also a fully undigested blood worm. I assumed that she might be over eating so I've given less food since then to give her more time to digest and she's not as round as she was then. I'm worried the undigested food might have been in there too long and rotted or something like that?

However today she's in a worse state, fatigued and not eating. I walk into the room and her tank mate darts around yet I could push her around the tank with very minimal reaction. She does however try to swim away but not much and comes up to the top for air so she does at least have the strength to do that.

I'm thinking that it might not be something to do with the water quality as her tank mate is in perfect health, so much so that he comes to see me whenever I put my head over the tank. Pictures of both of them are below.

In terms of environment before anyone panic's they're not in small tubs, they're in a tank big enough for them with somewhere to hide and a bubbler. I use water from the parents tank that has already been de-chlorinated and I was intending to get a filter in the next few days as I think they're getting big enough to not get sucked into one now. The room they're in is very cool, probs 15-17 degrees most of the time.

Any advice would be appreciated as I have no idea if there's anything I can do to help the little one.

Ill Axolotl:


Healthy Tankmate:

How big is she? At 6 months she should be around 5-6 inches, she looks much smaller than that.

How often are you changing water, and how big is their tank? 2 small axies would need 40L as a minimum. And what are your water parameters?

It could also be that the bubbler is causing stress, and adding a filter would make it even worse.

Keep her in a tub for a few days and see how she goes, she may pick up. You can also try feeding her earthworms instead of bloodwroms - better nutrition and more easily digested.

Is the first image the most recent one? If so I'd take her to a vet immediately... this looks really serious.

I agree with Embry, it looks very ill. You might want to see a vet.

Do you test your water regularly? Without a filter/cycled tank, you would have to be changing the water daily to keep the ammonia down.