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Completely Unexpected Axolotl Death

Krispy

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Can someone help me understand what happened to my beloved black wild-type axolotl, Mudkip? She was very special to me, she also THE FLUFFIEST GILLS as well as a forked gill. I woke up this morning and checked on all the tanks ( I have adult, sub adults, young juveniles) and I saw one male resting next to Mudkip, except her eyes were clouded and gills had shrunk and become dusty looking. She is the first I've had to pass away. I did a test on the water. Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates were all in safe levels. The water is run thru a chiller at 64 degrees. All my adults are fed earthworms and pellets. The other adults in the tank don't show any signs of illness or stress. Mudkip was fine last night before I went to bed, no strange behavior. There is also no way she could have gotten impacted, my tanks are bare-bottomed. My best guess is that she was over-bred, I adopted her from someone who let her and another male breed all the time without separating them and letting her rest. She was about 18 months old and I'm aware how much stress breeding can put on the body. Does anyone else have any idea what happened or does my theory sound probable?
 

Otterwoman

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I am really sorry to hear about this loss. I have seen it myself, animals breed to death (reptiles and amphibians), so I think that can be a possibility.
 

Krispy

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Thank you do much on your input! I was discussing her death with my boyfriend and we also remembered that she bonked her head hard when her previous owner was putting her in the bucket for me to take home. We think it was possibly a combination of over-breeding and undetectable head trauma that killed her.
 
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