Illness/Sickness: Please help - very listless axolotl

Hi guys, really hoping someone can offer me some help / advice.

Got home this evening and went to feed my axolotls and my male was on his side and at first I though he might be dead. I gave him a gentle poke and he did move but much more slowly than usual. I tried feeding him and his sister with their favourite giant lob worms and as usual his sister greedily ate hers, but he has shown no interest at all. He is still very listless and very out of sorts.

I have tested the water and the levels are as usual (the tap water here is naturally high in ammonia and nitrates:

Ammonia - 0.25 mg/L
Nitrite - 0 mg/L
Nitrate - 75 mg/L

It is warm here at the moment but it has certainly been warmer, water is 22 C, but as I said my female is certainly showing no signs of heat stress. In summer, I do float a large box of frozen water in the aquarium to aid colling.

Our usual routine is feeding every third day and we alternate live earthworms, cockles and prawns.

I have had my guys since September 2012. Their aquarium has a gravel substrate and has a capacity of 100L. I change 15% of the water once a week. They have a filter with a very weak air flow so as not to be stressed by water flow.

My boy has never looked or acted like this before and I'm really worried that I'm going to lose him which would be devastating. He last ate a giant lob worm on Sunday and was absolutely fine.

Any help or advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks guys

Your nitrates are way too high. They need to be under 40. Also ammonia should be 0 (but some test kits show 0.25 even if it's practically 0). The temperature is also a bit high, a fan or cooler would help with that. Water quality issues most of the time are the cause when there's something wrong with an axie.
Also earthworms or good quality pellets should be used as staple.
Gravel is very bad because it can cause impaction if the axie accidentally swallows it.

Hi there

Yes, I know the nitrates are high, the tap water here is even higher so they are being reduced by the plants I have in the aquarium. Any other tips for reducing those levels? My concern is that the levels I quoted are nothing new and in fact nothing is different this week.

Earthworms are the majority of their diet. They used to like the pellets but now they are so big (they are both twelve inches long) they don't really see the pellets so don't really take any interest in them.

Any other possible causes?

Thanks

It could be impaction...

Some people like to fridge their axies if they suspect impaction. It can help the axie get the gravel out of his system easier.

What kind of water do you have if it has such high nitrates? You could try bringing water from a friend/work/etc in big buckets for water changes. Nitrates are the least harmful product of the cycle, but they're still bad in high concentrations.

Have you noticed any random clouding in his tail? One of my axoloyls just randomly stopped acting normal, his tail got cloudy and started shrinking, he wouldn't eat, he didn't respond to refrigeration, and didn't respond to salt and eventually died. All 4 of his siblings were and still are perfectly fine and nothing changed water-wise.

I's separate him into a small shallower container, or fridge him as stated above. If you do that his water will need changing every 24 hours, or more if you have poor tap water quality. The gravel is really bad for them, alternatively if you want substrate, sand would be more ideal.

Thanks for the responses guys, much appreciated.

Fridging him is not really an option where I live (not sure my flatmate would be that keen!) but have a fan now to cool the temp in the tank.

I think impaction is the most likely option, so I'm going to try to reduce all stress and hope he can pass it.

Does anyone know if the Tetra Aqua NitrateMinus is safe to use with axolotls? It does seem to be a biological solution rather than a chemical one. I might also try shop-bought water for future water changes, although of course they are often no better than tap water . . .