Axolotl floating abnormally

Hi,

I came home today to find my youngest Axolotl floating abnormally. I am aware that they float sometimes but I've never seen her float in this way.
She doesn't try to get down, not even when I gently touch her. Her gills are pale as though she's asleep but after all my fussing she can't be. She's unresponsivene to food.

Yesterday she was fine and hungry, and the behaviour of the other two Axolotls hasn't changed. They are still alert and hungry, not lethargic.

They are kept in a 100 L tank, with a devider splitting the tank so that the two females have 2/3rd. There are no injuries or songs of a fight as far as I can see. She's two and a half, the older Axolotls are three and a half.
Room temperature hasn't changed (22 celcius)
The only difference is that I was unable to find waxmoth larva or earthworms the past weeks so I've been supplementing their diet with raw fish such as salmon and cod.

As I'm writing this she just burped and sank, but she's still very lethargic.

Should I do something? I've never had a sick Axolotl before :s

Since the axolotl didn't swim down when you touched her she probably swallowed too much air or is overdue for a poop. Do you notice if it's her whole body or mainly her back end which is floating higher? From the pictures she looks a little tilted so I'd guess she needs to poop! The best solution for this is fridging, I'll attach the guide so you can give that a read
https://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=85263

Hi, thanks for responding.
It's her whole body that's floating.
Last night she did go down eventually and went into one of the caves. But this morning she's floating again and still isn't very responsive. (I'm used to them looking up at me and swimming towards me when I turn on the lights in the room)

It's not her but that's floating though, more her upper body and she's letting her head and tail hang.

Is fridging the best thing in this case?

Give fridging a try, it won't do any harm even if it isn't the solution. I believe the guide covers this but keep a thermometer handy so you can see the water temp, avoid letting it get under 5 degrees celcius, and keep it covered with a cloth so the light doesn't disturb it. The axolotl probably wont eat while in there so don't stress about a loss of appetite. Have the water level an inch or so higher than the axolotl so you can see if it is still floating and is ready to go back in the tank.
Goodluck!

Hi

So I've been fridging Kiekie for 24h now and when I checked on her I got really worried.

There's blood in the box, I assume she defecated that. Her right gill has lost it's color and frills and her right paws (front and back) look being and inflamed.

Does anyone know what's going on?
I'm getting scared for her :s

What are your water parameters (temp, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates)? Is the stuff on the gills fluffy? If it is it is probably fungus, salt baths will help.
Do you notice if there is any blood on the cloaca, or is it swollen? If the cloaca is swollen/red it could be a prolapse and will need vet treatment.
If it's not that then the bleeding could indicate the axolotl is impacted and trying to pass whatever is in there. I'm not experienced with axolotl bleeding so am not 100%, hope someone else can jump in and help out too!
In the meantime I would continue fridging, changing the water 100% every day.

The water parameters are as follows:

Tank
No3 < 0.3 mg/l
21 celcius (summer heat is over)

Sick box
No3 <0.3 mg/l
8 celcius

The gills are kind of crusty?
Her cloaca is nice and smooth, no swelling.
There was no blood today, but still no definition either.
I've upped the water change to twice a day. Am preparing a salt solution to start the baths tomorrow.

Thank you so much for helping. Even if you don't know, it helps a lot that I'm not alone with this, having my youngest be sick is very scary. Especially since the older Axolotls never had anything, grew faster and bigger and were tame a lot quicker.
Kiekie finally stopped being skittish a half year ago so I'm sad to see her doing poorly.

Hold off on the salt baths, if the gills are crusty it may not be the right thing to do. You could try tea baths instead, they help soothe and heal the skin. http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/illness2.shtml Scroll down a bit and you will find the information for tea baths.
Do you have tests for ammonia (NH4) and nitrate (NO3)? Ammonia is often the culprit when it comes to skin issues.
The temperature on the tub is good for healing, make sure when the axolotl does go back into the main tank that you drop the temperature under 19 degrees.
I've had sick axolotls before, and it's a terrible feeling even when you know you're doing everything you can. Very happy to help!

I've only got a nitrate test on hand.
Though currently she's getting a 100% water change twice a day.

I already did a salt bath but I'll switch to tea. I have some almond leaves that I use for my betta, maybe that can help too?

She's not floating anymore, and the weird thing about the crusty gills is that they have a clear edge. Some gills are now bright and frilly, and some are crusty and creamy and have lost the frills. However they are firmly attached I very gently tugged them to test, I was worried a whole gill might come off at the touch, but it didn't. What does worry me is that she didn't seem to feel me touching the affected gills, with her normal gills she reflexively flicks them when I touch them.

Re: Axolotl floating abnormally - it's fungus

Welp,

The verdict is out.
My two other Axolotls started showing a hint of fungus yeasterday, which developed rapidly in the past 24 hours, and one of them is floating now.

So everyone is going into the fridge and getting saltbaths and I am going to empty that tank and decontaminate it.
Anyone got tips on decontamination?

Should I leave an almond leaf with each Axolotl?

Are you able to get to a vet, or call some up and ask for advice? I have tried to find something similar and the only thing is it could be bacterial rather than fungal? Look up bacterial infections in axolotls and see if anything fits.
Use the almond leaves, they're actually pretty good for axolotl skin conditions. I've added one to my tank as well, to fix some slime coat issues. I don't know if the salt baths will do anything, just use the leaves and see how it goes.
As for decontamination you want to find out what it is first. It will also crash your cycle so you will need to start from scratch.

I've read a lot of people use API Furan-2 to treat axolotls, but I have never used it myself. Do some research on it to see if it might help.

Hi Hayley

Thank you so much for following up on this thread.

It may indeed be bacterial, but the salt baths seem to be working for Kiekie (the leucistic) so I'll keep doing it for Axel and Lotte too.

Kiekie is almost free of the crustyness now. She did lose parts of her gills though. But hopefully those will grow back. I'll keep up the salt baths till I see nothing anymore, and then I'll keep her in the fridge a few more days with tea baths. I'm making a tea of organic black tea and almond leaves and adding a small dose to the containers after each water change.

Axel (the silver wild one) had huge damage due to the infection to his left gill, though his right one is fine. But he also has fuzz on the right eye now, so I'm treating him till that's gone too. I hope he doesn't lose an eye.

Lotte (the black wild one) hasn't lost any parts of her gills (yet) but the infection is all over both sides. I feel like she was hit hardest, despite her brother having the eye thing, and I hope won't need to regrow too much though.

After reading up on everything I think the biggest cause was the extreme heat this summer. We had a mobile AC running, but that didn't give a big enough dent in the temperature inside.
For next year I'm investing in a chiller.

Happy to hear it seems to be working! Keep the baths going then, they should regen their gills as long as their tank is in good condition.
Great idea with the chiller, it will make your life easier.