Constipated Bloating Mess of an Axxie?

So, I have an axxie (actually 2, but one particular) that is sick to my knowledge. She is normally a voracious eater who when presented an earth worm... devours it like candy. I normally do water changes every 2 days or untill I see that either her or her mate have pooped and it is due for a cleaning.

About a week ago she started floating in mid water. Not to the top but enough to not be on the sandy floor. I was worried especially since she would take an earth worm just to spit it out. Not to mention she seems slightly bloated. She has not eaten in almost 4-5 days. I'm worried about her because shes my favorite of the two (so full of personality)!

I've put her in the refridgerator for 3 hours a couple days ago... but I honest feel like the fridge is too cold for her :c Her tank is normally at 70 degrees give or take. I dont have a chiller, but I have the tank near an AC.

Recently I looked up that if you desolve half a pinch of fiber powder into worm water and give her a spoonful per 3 gallons that this would help if she was constipated.

I have snails in my tank by the way. The are sorta small... about the size of a pea. Is this a hazard to them?

Please help save my Axxie :c
I will post parameters and pictures shortly if needed!

There is no such thing as an axie laxative as far as I know - I wouldn't bother with the fibre powder.

Have you checked your water parameters and is your tank cycled? How big and how old is your axie? Could she be gravid? She could indeed have a snail shell lodged in her gut.

Putting an axie in the fridge is stressful - the changes in temperature is hard on them - if you decide to do it you should leave the axie in overnight or longer.

Snails are generally not a good idea, but it depends on the species. Small pond snails may be OK, but anything large, trapdoor (apple/mystery) snails and snails with pointy shells should be avoided.

"70 degrees give or take" , your at the top end of the axolotls temp range, a reduction may be beneficial. How old is the axolotl ? Does it have trouble submerging ? Don't believe the snail hype, axolotls eat snails, throw an axolotl in a tank full of them and you get a fat axolotl with no impaction probs, they are a natural part of their diet.

Alrighty. First things first.
Fiber Powder didnt work. No poop yet.
Not sure if she should go into the fridge or not. I put her in a 5 gallon pail last night with 2 inches of water, an airator, an ice pack floating in a tupperwear in there and 3 medium sized earth worms. Awoke this morning with untouched earth worms.
I get my earthworms from out on my lawn, free of pesticides. Been using those for a month which is about how long I've had these guys.
My Mystery snail who died recently left me with all these babies... so they are all mystery (I believe, unless they came from the pet shop when I bought my plants 2 months back?"
The temperature of the tank never gets above 75, and when it does I do a quick 50% water change.
My Axolotls age, I am not sure of but she is a good 5-6 inches.
She can stay submerged without troubles, but Ive found her butt does float higher then her... and she does float but normally within the vicinity of plants and such.

So she hasnt eaten in like a week... yet it looks to me as if she has some black mass in her stomach. Her flooring is white sand so it cant be the sand... Just really freaking out. Just went on my phone and looked through pictures of her when I first got her a month ago and it seems like she has gotten very pale.

Before the sickness (The Leucistic One)


Currently :c

https://plus.google.com/u/0/1175671...6057496240312211074&oid=117567139132931207824

Video of how she acts. :/

In order to have more information for anyone to be able to help, please let us know about the water parameters; ammonia, nitrite, nitrites are the most important. A picture, if you can, of the black mass might be helpful as well.

I didn't see anything wrong in the video. Was there anything that worries you specifically?

The floating may just be a response to the temp, its too high and doing cold water changes on a too warm a tank causes temp fluctuations which can be stressful. Try fridging the axolotl for a few days rather than a few hours to see if the floating and bloating subsides. I asked the age to see if the axolotl was old enough to be gravid, potentially at 6" it could be if the breeder didn't feed it up, age would have been a better indicator of this, females can get gravid from about eight months.

I just did a water change today with cold dechlorinated tap water. It seems like my green one is beginning to start floating.... I am really afraid that if I put them in the fridge it will be too cold and they will die. I have started pointing the fan at my tank to see if that will cool it down.

My Ph was sorta low (6.8). Is that bad for the Axxie? I put in some ph up but wanna know if that could have an effect.

What is really bothering me the most is that my axxie isnt eating... Im afraid she will die..

The fridge is fine for axolotls

xxianxx said:

The fridge is fine for axolotls

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Didn't you know someone who raised babies in the fridge with no Issues other than slower growth?


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Boomsloth said:

Didn't you know someone who raised babies in the fridge with no Issues other than slower growth?


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Yes, oceanblue raised axolotls in a fridge, taking them out to feed , they were fine.

If you still don't feel comfortable, you can just get a thermometer for your fridge so you can know what the temperature is in there, and that way make sure it doesn't drop below their limit. Still, their limit is quite cold and I think it would be rare for a fridge to drop cooler, but the thermometer should be cheap enough.

Okay, I put my axxie in the fridge for two days. She is no longer floating, but serverly skinny. The black thing I saw in her seems to be only in her chest like area which I believe is where her stomach is. She is pretty thin around her back legs. Not sure if she is constipated at this point, but she is still refusing food. I've tried softened shrimp pellets and earth worms but she dont care, even when I jiggle them in her face (My Wild Axxie actually swam right over and grabbed it outta my hand when I was trying to feed it to here ._.; I ended up taking my media out and my filter which I put in a bucket with water. I totally washed all my sand and re-did the water. (I rinsed the tank with boiling water and then rinsed again with very fridged water... then finally added water around 65 degrees to the tank permanently.

Noticed after I just changed the tank water, the green ones ridges of his tail were kinda bloody. This is why I asked about the Ph... because it was pretty low..

All of a sudden, my wild is very active and eating like a pig while my leucistic is still not eating....

Should I just give her time? Can I go get something for her (and please dont suggest blood worms because those are so expensive o-o) that will be irresistable? I dont want her to die. I recently noticed that her hands are turning grey. Does maturity affect her eating? They are both mature I think...