Illness/Sickness: Gah! Don't eat the sand!

My little Phantom (about 6cm) was living in a 6.5 liter tank until recently, I got a nice 40L.

She (I'm assuming) loved swimming around and exploring her new place (I bought some plants for it a month ago, so I only got to introduce it to her in the past week). I was very proud of the set up and had done plenty of research to make it perfect. At the latest levels check, the water was perfect. Amonia 0 Nitrates 0, GH 8 KH 6, pH 6.8

I had put Phantom in a very small bucket while the tank was cycling (added a new canister filter and some aquarium sand) Her tail curled while she was in the bucket, and I'm guessing she was upset about having no room after having such a big fun tank to play in.

I put her in the tank and the first thing she did was dig at the sand then eat it.

I hadn't fed her since the day before (her food is made for axolotls to eat 2-3 pellets a day) so I drew her away from the sand with a pellet she swam up to meet it and grabbed it out of my tongs. She enjoyed that, did her little eating thing and drifted back down to the sand. Then greedily gobbled another mouthful! I'm actually saying, "Stop it! Spit it out!" When I remember my net and fish her out and put her back in the bucket.

That was a lot of sand she gulped, so I put her bucket in the fridge with the towel around it. I removed the sand from the tank using the net and the pipette I use to clean her waste and just poured a little more water in. The pipette got clogged with the little bits of fine sand:uhoh:. And now that there's no sand anymore, the water looks cloudy.

My issues in summary:

-Is Phantom gonna be ok? Is there anything I can do for her beyond fridging? Better to feed her or not feed her in the fridge?
-How long should I leave her in there? Her tail is still curled even though she's been in there for a couple hours. I used the water from the tank for the bucket. What else could be stressing her?
-Is she only eating sand because she's too little for it? Would she be able to live with it as an adult and not try to swallow it?
-Will an alternative substrate make my water less dull and cloudy?

Thanks!

As long as your sand is fine sand, she should be able to pass what she ingested with no ill effects. You can fridge her to facilitate passing the sand, but it's probably not necessary.

If you do decide to fridge her, most people fridge for a week. You can offer food, but don't be surprised if she doesn't eat.

Stress is probably from being stuck in a small container. If she's used to having room to move, she's probably annoyed.

I don't usually use substrate for my juveniles. Most people keep their adults on sand, but some axolotls are just sand eaters, and refuse to give it up.

Since you've got her in the fridge, you can do a large water change in the tank to clear up the cloudiness. Alternate substrates include slate tiles or large river rocks (much bigger than the axie's head), although I don't recommend them as they're hard to keep debris from accumulating underneath. You can also have no substrate at all.

thanks! She just gulped so much it made me panic. Maybe I'll try the sand again in a year. I would like to try and find slate though, the bare bottom looks so lonely.