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Illness/Sickness: Juvie Axolotl not eating

BreeHowland

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Sep 20, 2019
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Hey all.

I have an axolotl that I have raised since he was an egg. He's 7 and a half months old and 9 and a half inches long.
This little guy used to be a voracious eater. At five months old he was eating an entire earthworm everyday. But for the last month he hasn't eaten anything. At all. I've tried shrimp, pellets, night crawlers, red wigglers... I've tried leaving the food in his tank and letting him hunt (pellets for no longer than 30 minutes, live night crawlers and red wigglers for longer.)
Right after he started showing some difficulties eating, we had an incident with his tank. We put an airstone in there, which he loved... but one of the suction cups pulled up and without checking underneath it, I pushed it back down. Well, turns out a bunch of poop ended up underneath the airstone and I essentially trapped it there. So the ammonia/nitrite spiked. I ended up having to drain his tank completely (after trying to clear the water using filter floss)
He's finally back in his tank(he's been tubbed with 100% daily water changes since I noticed his tank was murky) but still refusing to eat.
I feel like the only option is to fridge him. I think he might be impacted. I think this because of a bulge around his cloaca as if he was male but he should still be too young to determine that.
I tried contacting a vet but the only exotic vet in my area had to Google what an axolotl is. So I don't feel confident with them handling him.
Sorry for the novel, its been a long 5 weeks and I'm worried about him. He's my little stubborn lotl and I just want him to get better.
I haven't fridged him yet, I'm waiting for the fridge to adjust to the proper temperature. So while I'm waiting, i wanted to get another opinion.

*In one of the photos, you can see the tip of his tail is gone. This is not from ammonia, this was a physical injury caused by him getting spooked and thrashing. His tail caught the outside lip of the container.

Thanks❤
 

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Hayleyy

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His body condition looks okay so I wouldn't fridge just yet. What temp is your tank? Are you able to lower it at all to encourage passing whatever is in it's belly?
My boy is 7 months old and also has a big male cloaca already. It looks really similar to yours, so to me it's fine. Some do develop earlier than other. My other 7 month old is too young to tell.
 
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