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Help i don't know what's wrong with my axolotl!!

Kaleya

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She used to be my best eater, refuses to eat now, I always see her up top gasping for air I caught her yawning today. Her Gil's are a strange brownish white color now, and her eyes look like they're squinting. I had feeder gold fish in the tank (never had any issues before) but I took them all out and replaced 95% of the water. Still not much improvement. The other 2 are fine. Her gills also look like they're starting to shrink a little and she pulsates every 5 seconds. It's been about 2-3 weeks.

I have a before and after picture
 

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Kaleya

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This is what she looks like now.
 

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PNWsawyer

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Water parameters? ...2-3 weeks.. since what? Onset of symptoms? What symptoms? How long were feeder fish with them? How long have they been apart? Did your axies ever eat the fish?

If there are 2 other 'lotl that have been exposed to the exact same conditions for the exact same amount of time, without knowing any of the above my guess would be some sort of parasite. Those are some physically blatant symptoms.
 

qannp

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Yawning isn't unusual, refusing to eat is.

I noticed that you have gravel in your tank - my guess is that she ate stones and can't pass them.

Please separate her from the others and put her in an extra tank. Barebottom and a hiding place to make her feel a little safer is enough.

Is it possible to take her to the vets and do an ultrasound? Since she's been in this condition for weeks, I'm concerned it could be urgent. If I guessed right, she could be suffering right now.

Does she show any symptoms like a curled tail and/or curled gills, or does she press her legs against her body? Is she bloated?

Oh, and please remove the gravel immediately. It may look pretty, but it's really dangerous for axies!
 

Kaleya

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There's no gravel in the tank. It's turtle rock it's much larger than my axies mouths. The picture with the gravel was months ago she was temporarily I there for 5 minutes and was watched the entire time. There were about 2.5 dozen feeder fish when I put them in. When I took the fish out there was about a dozen they didn't eat. There's no way she could have swallowed any of those rocks. She does look kind of bloated her tail does not curl her Gil's aren't curled either. Should I refrigerate?

When i feed her with a feeding stick she'll completely ignore it, swim away, or whip her head at it like she wants to eat it but she won't open her mouth for it.
 

qannp

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Ok, this sounds bad.

Looking at the pictures I have to say she could easily eat one of the stones (the white ones in front are small enough to be eaten), but let's hope she didn't.

Being bloated is really bad. It could be parasites as PNWsawyer mentioned, it could be caused by bacterial infection and many other serious things.

I don't feel comfortable giving further advice…if she was mine, I'd take her to the vet. Since you can't do this right now, yes, second best is putting her in the fridge. Fridging isn't a cure; you need to find out whats wrong with her, she may need medical treatment.

Try to find a vet who's willing to try to help. Every vet should be able to examine a stool sample (if she poops) and/or a pap test or at least find a lab that is qualified to do so.

Monitor her closely. If she get's more bloated, she needs help real fast.

Please keep me updated.
 

Bette

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I don't recommend fridging for these symptoms. Try to get a consulation with a herp vet if possible. If no vet care can be obtained, you should isolate her in a hospital tank and treat her with an antibiotic (i recommend Furan-2). This is no guarantee, but she is very ill and you may want to give it a shot.
If the antibiotic doesn't work, then the issue may be a parasite of some sort. Please see the following article for further treatment info:
Caudata Culture Articles - Illness Part 1
 

Kaleya

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I'm going to try and call more vets tomorrow to see if they'll do anything, in the meantime I'm going to try and find antibiotics and refrigerate her if no help from the antibiotics): I will keep everyone posted on my little Athena):
 
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