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Illness/Sickness: Petsitter Incident

Arrington

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Jun 30, 2016
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First off, hi! I'm new to the community but I've been visiting for a while. And I'm not gonna lie, even though I've been researching axolotls for almost 3 years, I wasn't prepared for this. I finally got him, Cecil, two days before we left for vacation. I would have gotten my axolotl sooner but the pet shop was having problems and the delivery took much longer. Our petsitter had never seen an axolotl before, but I told her all the basics and what to feed him. I even told her where to go if she ran out of blood worms, which shouldn't have happened because we had plenty and were only gone for 5 days. But I'll cut to it.
I got home yesterday and was greeted by a terrible sight. Pellets were scattered across the tank from obvious attempts to get Cecil to eat, but she never bothered to pick up the pellets he didn't eat. She told us the blood worms had gone bad so she used betta fish pellets, but they do not contain blood worms. We're still waiting for his filter to be fixed, even though it's a bit big and has too strong of a current. So I spent a good 3 hours scooping out the pellets and doing a little water change. Yesterday, Cecil was floating, and he was not enjoying it. He even tried going in the cup, even though he's doesn't like it, but eventually he stopped floating. However, sometimes the floating will kick in again. He used to be so full of energy but now he only moves if he starts floating. I think he may be overfed or constipated. Cecil isn't even a year old yet. Does anyone have any advice? I want to try fridging but I hear that can make things worse if it is constipation. I'm being dragged along on another vacation for a week in about two weeks, and I want to know he'll be okay. Thank you so much!
 

snowbutton

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Jun 17, 2016
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I may be a beginner as well, but even I can guess that his water could be very dirty from the food never being picked out :/ I would do a full water change, and make sure your water is dechlorinated and everything is alright (pH, nitrite, nitrAte and ammonia)
 
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