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Sickness? Constant Floating

Ef16025

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Jun 9, 2019
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Hello all, I have a concern for my axolotl's health. He is just over a year old, he is in a 10 gallon tank, and I feed him an earthworm every day or every other day. I do not use a filter unless I am cleaning the tank, due to it stressing him out. Therefore the water in his tank is still pretty much all the time.

For the past 5 or so days, he has been floating at the top of the tank. He floats sort of on his side (he is still upright, but he is tilted a little bit). I took out about half of his water after I noticed his constant floating days ago, to hopefully reduce probable stress from floating too much. He has been noticeably lethargic and at first I thought that he was constipated/impacted, but he pooped yesterday and is still stuck at the top. He is unable to do anything but float at the moment, and it is very worrying to me. I'm wondering if putting him in the fridge is the right move to make.
Yesterday I scooped him out into a small container and deep cleaned his whole tank and put all fresh dechlorinated water in his tank. I then put him back into the tank and he is still floating. The tank water is still around half full to try and reduce possible stress from constantly floating.
Please let me know if you have any recommendations as to what I should do to help him!
 

Hayleyy

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Have you tested the water? When you deep cleaned the tank did you clean the decorations and/or filter? You want to avoid cleaning too much unless necessary as it can remove bacteria.
What is the reason you're not using a filter? I would highly recommend one, especially in a smaller tank. As long as you lower the output there wouldn't be a stressful amount of current. How often do you do water changes?
Floating is usually gas or constipation, what temperature is the tank? He is still eating okay? How often does he usually poop?
 
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