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Illness/Sickness: Axolotl stopped eating, tilts on side and swimms fractic

Caudine

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Hi everyone!
Lately I've been quite worried about my axie. She's around 8-9 months old and up until now everything was fine - she was eating, pooping and swimming happily. Last week she started eating more than usual - 3 blocks of frozen bloodworms every 2 to 3 days instead of 1 block every 2-3 days. Usualy when I tried to give her more than one block she wouldnt touch it or just have a little bite and leave it. Around seven days passed and now her behaviour changed completely from her "normal self"... She wont eat anything (alive or frozen), seems very lethargic and if she eventualy starts moving she goes bonkers and swims very fast smashing her face into glass. What worries me the most is that when not swimming she seems to tilt a bit on one side...

I always try to keep the water in her tank at cooler temperature by adding some cold dechlorinated water while removing poop and uneaten food. When I noticed the odd behaviour I changed the whole water in the tank but nothing happened. I also turned down the filter to minimum so she won't get stressed out by the water movement. She has a thin layer of sand in her tank and a plastic log she can hide in. She always was quite chubby so I'm not sure if her tummy is swollen or not but she hasn't pooped since she stopped eating...

This is the first time she's been acting weird/sick so I'm realy worried about her and don't know what to do ?... I want to take her to the vet but since it's quite far away from my place I'm scared that she'll get super stressed in transportation. (p.s. sorry for my english)
 

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ellenc

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Your axolotl may be eating some of the sand and have an intestinal blockage. I would go to the vet if possible. There are two things to try at home. Soak her in slightly hypertonic saline (see the Caudata Culture section of this site for the salt treatment instructions). Also, with gloves or well-scrubbed bare hands gently massage her left side in front of the hind legs. The saline draws out excess fluid and stimulates pooping. The massage also can stimulate pooping.
 

Caudine

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Thank you for the advice! I've been massaging her belly and giving her salt treatment baths for two days now and she seems to be doing better ☺. She still hasn't pooped but she stopped tillting and started to look more interested in the environment around her.
 
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