Bloating??

Hi again.
The new axie that i got about a month ago has been through so much (poor little guy) and i need more help. The story so far...

When i got him he had a bit of white stuff on his gills, i figured salt baths would help. It got worse, so i took him to the aquarium place (not where i got him from) they said he was kept in bad water at the LFS and they gave me some medication for him (tetracycline), he had a gill bacteria. My sister gave him the first treatment when i was at work, i came home to him floating at the top of the tank. He floated for the next couple of days, but i decided that the fridge would be better. The fish place said 2-3 days in this stuff would be enough for him, i took him out after 2 days cos he was floating.

Anyway...it the gill bacteria didnt go away so he basically ended up with only 1 gill stalk left. So i gave him another treatment of tetracycline. The aquarium place said to get a bucket of water and put the required dose of tetracycline and 1 drop of malachite green (i know its bad for them, the aquarium place said that having it really dilute will be ok for him for a short period of time, they dont like it repeated over long periods of time). so i had my supply of water in the bucket and then took water from that as needed to change the water in the container my axie was in (so the water in the bucket aged as required with the meds).

He seemed to be doing great. He lost all but one stalk of his head. I had him in the tetracycline and extremely diluted (1 drop in 10L of water) for 4 days changing the water everyday from the store in the bucket. After that i made another batch of tetracycline and kept him in that for a further 5 days. He was fine.

I then had to change the water to clean fresh water, which was fine. The whole time this process was going on i had him in a container on the tiled floor to keep cool. He started to eat again which i figured meant he was fine.

I had to go to berri for work placement for a week with my uni so i wasnt home to look after him. I gave instructions to my mum on changing the water and feeding etc. She told me that he didnt eat anything all week except a tiny bit of bloodworm. He did a poo in the week that i wasnt there.

I came home and looked at my baby and he was floating. He was fine when i left and he was fine on the thursday, when i saw him it was friday. He seems to be a bit bloated. When i left he was still pretty skinny and really active. I dont know how much weight an axie can put on in a week but it seems a fair bit. I think he is bloated around the shoulders, neck and legs. He still hasnt eaten anything. If he lets go of a air bubble he will sink to the bottom of the container that he is in. He can move but he's very wobbly on his feet. What could this be and how do i fix it. The only thing i can think of doing is put him in the fridge, which is where he has been for 4 days now, he's slightly deflated but not much.
Oh and he has black lips now, just on the rim of his mouth, i'm pretty sure he never had that before. Weird
Photos are attached

cheers

mine is usally active when it is hungry
try feeding it and what type of axie is that? its really really yellow =p

I'm pretty sure it is a golden, it just looks yellow in the photo. I'm not sure if i should take him out the fridge to see how he goes or if it would be better to leave him in the fridge and hope that he sorts himself out. He is still really wobbly on his legs and sort of floats and just touches his toes on the ground.
Thanks
Emily

He is a golden albino, would love to have one of those, but only breeders are far north or south island of NZ and none will ship. As for the black lips, our leucs lips and tips of toes went greyish/slight dark colour while in fridge (to do with low temps, but soon regained colour once they were out). Are you able to lower the water so his toes touch the ground and he doesn't float, but still just covers him? Might help, but not sure about his bloating round neck.

i agree, leave him in the fridge for now and keep the water clean and give him some time to try recover. also, is the tank he will be going into cycled?

and he is a VERY pretty golden, super yellow, you should be most proud of him indeed!

thanks guys. The tank that he will eventually go into is cycled, it has goldfish in there at the moment to keep it going (yes i will take them out before i put him back in there). I took him out the fridge today and he was floating upside down. He was still alive and when i turned him up the right way he seemed ok. My sister was over and had a look at him, she said it looked like he had adema (is that how u spell it?) Kinda like what people get when their legs swell up. I really dont know what to do, he doesnt seem to be getting more fluid all over his body, its just on his legs. I gave him a salt bath thinking maybe the salt concentration would get the fluid to slowly come out of him through osmosis. Any other advise would be very much appreciated, im a little stressed at the moment cos i dont know what else to do for him.
Thanks
Emily

Sorry if I happen to repeat myself at all, but how deep is the water that he is in? Is it low enuf for him NOT to float (or hopefully not flip upside down), but still cover him and keep him grounded (so to speak)- feet on bottom! I really hope your axie comes right, but It doesn't sound too good ...

i dont know anything about liquids building up in axies but if it is fluid could you maybe drain it with a needle or something?

I cant say that crossed my mind How would i go about doing something like that? Do i just poke the poor thing with a needle in the nicest way possible?

im not sure to be honest, it would need to be all sterilised and all that so you dont get any bacteria into the wound etc but id wait for more info on that one!

i just got up this morning and he was floating upside down again. i turned him over and he had trouble staying upright. He's not looking too good. Poor guy

I emailed the axolotl colony of Indiana for info about what they thought my axie had. This was their reply:
The fluid build-up is called ascites (or dropsy in fish) and is a common sign of a bacterial or viral infection.Try some over-the- counter fish medications such as Nitrofura-G, Furan-2 (or Furanase),Maracyn, or Myxazin (1/2 the dose for this last one).

I am unsure if my axie will make it through the day. I am at uni at the moment so i cant check on him. If he does then i'll get the medication, I think it's too late for him though.

I am sorry to say that Elmo died today. If i had known what was wrong with him earlier i may have been able to treat him. On the bright side, if it happens to anybody elses axie then there is a cure out there for them. Thanks everybody for your help.

Emily, Am so sorry to hear about Elmo...

dont beat yourself up, dropsy in fish if often easy to spot with their scales sticking out, axies dont have it so its real hard to diagnose. sorry about your loss