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Question: Too much air or Constipation?

Elusivebard

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Hey guys, first time posting but I've been lurking on the forums for three years now. Im looking for any extra advice on helping to treat my axolotl's floating problem.

My three year old golden albino female, Little Dude, has had an interesting last month and a half. Halfway through September I found her floating at the top of her tank on her side struggling to get down and slightly bloated. On the advice of some more experienced friends I put her in a tub with dechlorinated water just covering her back and after a few days (and some massages) she burped up the air she had stuck in her and stopped floating. So I put her back in her tank and she was fine, no more floating.

Then at the end of September, I got a message from my Mum telling me her butt was floating off the ground (the constipation position, as I learned). I again tubbed her but when she didn't stop floating or start pooping after a week, I tried the fridge method and she spent three days pooping after a day in the fridge. Once again she was fine, no floating so I put her back in her tank.

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And then, a few days into October, we found her in the butt up position again so back in the tub she went. That was a month ago now and she's still floating in her tub.

The thing is I cant figure out if its constipation/impaction or trapped air/gas. I have her in the fridge right now cause its too hot to just leave her in the tub and I thought after a week of no change and very, very tiny poops that it must have been left over constipation from last time but she's still floating. She's also been slightly bloated this whole time too, it goes up and down, one day she'll look like a blimp and the next her stomach will be the same width as her head. I'm not too worried yet because she's calm and still eating her food regularly, I've just lowered the amount she eats cause since she's in the fridge she's not as interested. I've done the massages too and haven't found any hard areas on her stomach, she's still squishy and her cloaca isn't red or straining either. She'll burp up little bubbles when I do massages too.

I have her on sand as you can see above and any stones in the tank are polished river stones the size of my palm, I sat there with a 15kg bag of these stones and measured each of them myself so she wouldn't swallow any small ones. She has two PVC pipes as hides, a mopani log and a bunch of live plants in the tank with her too (Elodea, Hairgrass, Straight and Curly Valisneria, Amazon Sword, Hygrophila, Java Fern, Java moss, Anubias). She eats a diet of well washed earthworms I grow in a farm, the occasional frozen bloodworm/brineshrimp cube as a treat and raw cut up pieces of prawn or salmon if I have any. The tank usually sits between 18C-19C depending on the weather and all the measurements over the last month have been good:

  • PH 7.4-7.5
  • Ammonia 0
  • Nitrites 0
  • Nitrates 10-20ppm

But yeah, I just cant figure out what else to do to help her poop. She spends a lot of her time in pooping positions with her legs either straight against her tail or spread out up in the air. I'm thinking it might be a mix of both problems to be honest, maybe she's constipated and its making her gut fill with gas?

Below are photos of her taken today, her stomach isn't that badly bloated today but some days she looks like she would be tied to a string being marched along in a street parade. She spends most of her time slightly tilted on one side too.

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Hayleyy

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Have you noticed if this happens when you specifically feed prawns/salmon?
I don't know if it could be fluid retention since the bloat is swinging back and forth, but it might be worth seeing a vet if you have one available to you.
 

Elusivebard

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Have you noticed if this happens when you specifically feed prawns/salmon?
I don't know if it could be fluid retention since the bloat is swinging back and forth, but it might be worth seeing a vet if you have one available to you.

She actually hasn't had salmon for a while now but she did have some prawn a few days before this latest case of floating started so it might be the prawn. She's been eating only earthworms for the past month cause they're the only thing she's interested in right now. I would take her to a vet but my local one said they don't deal with axolotls and the only herp vet that could help her is in another state over an hour away and I don't have the means to travel there right now because of car trouble.

She hasn't really ballooned up over the last three days or so either, she's been looking like she does in the photos. I may just have to keep doing what I'm doing while I figure out a way to have someone look at her
 

Elusivebard

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I have an update: She finally pooped.

The bulging side where the impaction was is now gone and she isn't bloated anymore. I guess she just needed some time to use the bathroom
 

Hayleyy

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It could be from difficulty digesting the prawn. Whether it was just that individual prawn or prawns in general it's hard to tell, unless you "test" it by feeding her one again. If you can I would stick to worms to avoid any stress on her (or your) behalf.
Keep an eye on her. If it happens again despite not eating prawns let me know and we'll go from there :)
 
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