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Illness/Sickness: Please help, very worried about my axie

Pochie

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Hello :)
I really hope you can help me out, I have an Axolotl called Bonnie. She has always loved food and never turned down dinner but lately she has stopped eating :( she is so thin it scares me i've tried frozen Brine shrimp, feeder fish, earthworms, bloodworms.. she wont take any of it. I just lost her tank mate Clyde a few days ago He hadn't eaten for 2 weeks and his mouth was constantly open and he had a lump under his chin he kept puffing it up like there was something there but it was just air, i have no idea what was wrong with him it happened so quick he was gone in 24hours after he started puffing out his chin. Bonnie has been fridged after Clyde died as i was terrified she would follow suit.. what else can i do?? Since she has been in the fridge ive emptied and cleaned her tank thoroughly and set it up all new for when she is ready to go back in...
 

Kaysie

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Being in the fridge may be why she isn't eating. She's too cold to eat. Try setting her up in a temporary tank and warming her up for a bit and trying to feed her.
 

Pochie

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She wasn't eating before i put her in the fridge, she isn't looking very good at all :( i really don't want to lose her too :( any ideas what happened to Clyde? I attached a photo of Bonnie, just took her out of the fridge then, she's adjusting to room temp now in her fridge container..
 

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Pochie

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Ok Bonnie is back in her tank, she seems happy to be there, just before she was transferred she passed something grey and kinda crumbly looking... i tried to take photos but you cant see it very well... i thought it was weird since she hasn't eaten and it got a bit stuck on the way out... poor little baby. :( I took a photo of her back in her tank, you can really see how scarily thin she is, also has now developed a red spot on her front leg.
Please help me help her? :(
 

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charliesmammy10

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could she have been constipated? and the grey thing was poop that had been stuck, i'm sorry i have no idea what happend to your other axie and i hope someone can help more, hope she gets better soon and starts eating properly, she may just be readjusting from being in the fridge x
 

iChris

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your animal's gills are very small, this can mean a water quality issue, when axies get stressed they can just stop eating.

what is your tanks ammonia, nitrate and nitrite levels?

edit:

what is the total volume of water your tank holds?
 

sheena22

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I had a really skinny axie who unfortunately died from being too thin, but he ate some tubiflex and i mean quite a lot of them too, these can be worth a try definitely


And he really liked the chunks of liver I gave him seriously a tiny bit on a syringe, its so bloody and tasty for them and fattening at the right time, so maybe try some pigs liver? I think its definitely worth a try!

Shes very thin so shes not going to eat copious amounts anyway like she would have done, so even a bit of liver in her belly will help a lot, youve got to try and be persistent but not to stress her out xx

Try a tubiflex clump and she can pick off bits if she feels like it :)

The liver is brilliant so id try the tiniest little square possible

and keep an eye on the water conditions too, where they are so tiny and weak it doesnt take a lot to kill them!

You can force feed if worst comes to the absolute worst, i have done this before as my axie kept spitting the food out, she wasnt very stressed and neither was I but sometimes it can be very stressful!

GOOD LUCK! xxxxx
 

sheena22

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I dont know if anyone will agree with me on this but just an idea, maybe try some sand so she doesnt have to expend energy gripping and climbing up to rocks? And the sand is nice and soft too, just a thought :happy:
 

Pochie

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I've tested the water already and it's fine, her gills have been that small since i got her, i hoped they would grow back but they didn't, it was the same with Clyde. The tank holds about 40 litres. i will try some liver :) i've tried meat already and she rejected it but maybe liver will be different? thankyou everyone for your advice :eek:
 

Pochie

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She just ate!!! :D yay! she ate some Brine shrimp which is what she is usually fed on :) a rather big block of it, i'm so happy :)
Now begins the slow journey of recovery :)
 

Pochie

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Now that she's accepting food again, whats the best way to go about building her weight back up? how much should i feed her how often? is there certain types of food that are better at fattening her up? :wacko:
 

Kaysie

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Feed her small meals twice a day until she stops looking like Kate Moss, then you can start feeding bigger meals. The smaller meals take less energy to digest, so she's going to get more nutrition out of that. Feed her anything she will eat for now, especially things like waxworms if you can find them.
 

Pochie

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I just offered her some worms and i have never seen her so eager to eat before! she swam up and grabbed it off me so quick it shocked me a little, I am honestly over the moon to see her like this :D
 
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