Sick axie behaviour

Hey guys,

Some of you may have read a bit of this in my introduction bit. I have spent the past few hours reading all these threads to try and get a grip on why my sick axie is doing what she is doing. some of it is making sense, some of it really is not.

so here is the story. i have two axies, a white male and a black female. about 2 months ago the female was scared by the male and crashed into one of the rocks in the tank cutting her lips. the tank was unfortunatly really badly loaded with fungis as as such she got infected. back then there were more places to hide and i didnt see her for 4 days but after the 4th day of not eating i hunted her out and found this!!



So i started hitting the tank with Melafix and Pimafix but to little avail and she got worse with the infection spreading to her eye and getting bigger than in the pic. after a while of trying to dose the entire 160 ltr tank i decided to move them into their own smaller tank to get them out of the fungus and also so i could hit the tank with bleach.

after she was in the hospital tank she got better much better quickly. the actual infection is now gone and she is now left with this hole in her face and a damaged eye. She has now started eating but she is a bit uncoordinated as i dont think she can see well.

So anyway, that is the story so far. she has been eating now for about a week and is starting to show some interesting behaviour.

He gills are all but gone so she gulps alot but from my reading thats not really too much of an issue. She also has this habbit of resting with her tail and back legs on the bottom and her top half floating. i havent really read too much on this sort of head lifting behaviour...is this normal? she also floats around a bit...like she will swim u and grab a gulp of air then just float/slowly sink but i also gather that this is not uncommon. she seems to swim and move around more than the other one but that could just be a function of the smaller tank with only halve a pipe to hide under.

I really want to move her back into the tank with the other one but im not sure if that will casue this to get worse. the one thing that gives me confidence is that her tail is straight.

sorry for the essay but i figure the more info you have the better.

cheers for reading
Doug

Hi,

I identified several potential problems.

1 - Gravel with stones can trap detritus and foul the water. Best to keep bare bottomed or sand. The size of the gravel if less than 2mm in diameter should still be ok.

2 - Do not dose your axie with primafix of melafix in the main tank. Firstly, these generic medications are weakly broad spectrum. Very often, they are not strong enough to treat infections and they have the additional problem that increased dosing can harm the axie instead.

3 - As axies are fully aquatic, they cannot 'escape' from a tank environment dosed with medication. Even if a medicated bath is indicated, they are best medicated in a separate tub for a specific length of time before being returned to fresh water.

4 - Melafix and primafix can kill the beneficial bacteria in the tank and cause complications to the cycling.

5 - The sore/lesion on the lips are not fungal. They are very likely bacterial and i highly suspect a necrotising strain of a gram negative organism. The 'hole' you see if due to the tissue and cellular death and necrosis. A course of antibiotics is indicated. You need to make a vet appointment.

6 - Do not handle the axie with bare hands and wash your hands with soap thoroughly after handliing.

7 - Her behaviour is likely because of gaseous exchange compromise. The gills are affected, the respiratory oral mucosa is affected. Your axie is trying to augment its oxygen supply.

8 - Do not put this axie with your other healthy one. There might be transmissible diseases.

9 - I recommend you fridge the sick axie while waiting for the vet appointment.

thanks Darkmaverick

The larger stones are still in there but there is a lot less of them and they are mostly burried. my syphon in big enough so it can totally cover one and clean underneath it...tip i picked up of another fourm.

I have stopped dosing the main tank about a month ago as firstly it was using a lot of meds and secondly it was having no effect, in the hospital tank its working wonders! i generally medicate the water and then change it after with cycled, sterilized (UV) water from another tank which is healthy. so she never sits in there for too long. i removed both the axies into their own seperate little tanks for about 3 weeks while i nuked the main one with bleach to kill everything in it. then let it cycle again. I have another UV sterilizer on the way for their tank to try and prevent this ever happening again.

The fact that you dont think its fungal is interesting to hear...and im not sure if thats good news or not. I do have some antibiotics that i got when she first got sick but as i though it was fungus i went with the fungal treatment instead...time to swap.

I would never hold an axie with bare hands without applying that fish slime to them. cant remember what its called but its the stuff that coats your hands so you can hold fish safely.

How will i know that she is recovered? she seems healthy now, swimming and eating etc. just looks like a scar on her face now, more than anything. it doesnt seem to be scabbing over or have any growth from it. I have been keeping her water cooler with ice bottles but since learning that they can go in the fridge she is now living in there. hopefully it will get her gills growing back.

cheers for the reply...anything else i should be doing. It just seems everything i know and thinki is right to do (as in what i would do for the fish) is wrong for these guys...i.e. put a fish in the fridge and prepare a funeral.

hey Doug, I've been keeping track of your story and I would love to see more updated pictures of your female to see the progress of her face now. Would that be possible?

I will try and get some clearer pics tonight

Hey all,

Still trying for the photos. my girlfriend has the good camera so i need to wait for her to get back.

on the plus side i went to the vet last night and got him to have a look. I took along the photos of her like the one i attached above. He aggreed that it was most likely a form of bacteria and gave me some meds. they are tet...something HCL. apparently its a broad scale anti-bacterial that works on gram-negative bacteria.

He said that she looks quite good but there may still be a small amount of bacteria so he gave me enough to dose her for 7 days.

he wasnt sure about keeping her in the fridge for the treatment though. so i thought i would ask you guys. she has been in there for 2 days now and seems to be happy enough but i am worried about her not eating as she is slim from not eating much for the past month. what do you guys recommend?

sorry for all the questions

Here is the best photo i could get. unfortunatly the glass mists up when you open the fridge as its quite humid in here at the moment.


You can see the scar left from the infection. its def not an open wound anymore, just a scar. the stuff on the bottom is the medication i was told to give her. the vet just said to throw the tablet in and let it disolve. I had to break it in half toget the dose right and it just crumbled so that what that mess is. otherwise the water is spotless and was sterilized before it was put in.

It sounds like your vet prescribed a tetracycline. They can be rather effective but be sure to dissolve the medication in the right volume of water to get the correct dosing. Also, i highly recommend you soak the axie in the bath for a defined period (check with your vet) and then transfer it back to fresh water. One of the adverse effects of tetracyclines on amphibians is that in general they are highly irritant to the skin. In addition, tetracyclines can accumulate in cartilage/bone if used for a long time.

Im glad you took your axie to a vet to get the bacterial infection treated. If left on its own, i am certain it would not spontaneously resolve.

It is perfectly fine to fridge your axie during this period. In fact, its highly recommended. I would advise a minimum 3 weeks fridging to get the best benefits.

Offer live blackworms if possible. I found them to be the most readily accepted and nutritionally sound food source for unwell axies.

tetracycline is indeed the stuff! I was told by the vet that 1 tab treats 20ltrs so i am halving them and making sure i put 10ltrs in her tank. but i will change is to i bath her in it, not leave her in there permanently. the vet was a bit hazy on that. Think he was a bit surprised to see an axolotl

Cheers for the tips

Just to check, the temp in her tank is about 7 degrees, should i still offer her food as i thought they wont eat under 10 degrees. Im off to the fish shop now to refill my CO2 bottle and will grab some anyway, sure if she wont have them someone will

Seven degrees is ok. Yes, please continue to offer food during fridging. Again i highly recommend live blackworms.