Question: Is Squishy getting sick?

Hello all!

Recently moved Squishy into my college dorm room, all has been well and she has been happy go lucky, eating her big juicy worms and being a generally good axie.

Had a bit of a scare when I noticed some white marks on her head but after posting a thread and taking a closer look I think they are just bones on her head.

Now another problem arises.

Squishy spends a lot of time in her vase hiding, almost as if being outside is aggravating to her but we keep the room very dark. Her tail is beginning to curl around in a sign of stress, but her gills are fine and show no signs of stress at all.

She will sit in her vase for hours at a time and then all of a sudden she will swoop out and swim around the tank at top speed and go leaping out of the water only to plop back in and swim back into her vase and pretend that nothing happened.

Last night when I was feeding her she did the leg scratch thing like a dog does and I know that means the water quality is off so I made sure to do a water change as quickly as possible, she is normally very interested in the water changing process and floats around the bottom of the tank as I empty out and refill the tank with water...This time she stayed in her vase the whole time and no amount of coaxing could bring her out.

The water and the filter have been changed and cleaned etc.

Is she getting sick or stressed or what?

Am I over reacting?

I am in a college dorm and have VERY limited resources for a sick axie

Please help!

Hi AGreenDarkness,

Is Squishy still eating well?

How frequently are you doing water changes and how much water is being changed?

Is the tail still curled or does this happen just occasionally? It doesn't take much to stress an axolotl, they are easily startled and can take a while to destress if scared.

Does Squishy have a choice of hides?

My axolotls spend the majority of their day hiding in rock caves and other hides. Some of the time they will come out with a 'look at me, look at me!' attitude and beg for food - but most of the time they hide.

If Squishy is eating well, I wouldn't worry about him.

Cheers Jacq.

Is there significant water flow in the tank?

Squishy eats like a fiend. I feed her a big earth worm cut into pieces about 4 times a week. She chomps it up and is always ready for a snack.

Her tail is significantly curled and appears to staying that way.

She originally had her choice of two different hides but will only go in one so I eventually just removed the other one. The one that is left in the tank is a big purple vase and she normally spends maybe 3 hours a day in it? She is very active, I am guessing this is because she is still young, and spends a lot of time sitting in the front of the tank staring at the tv or any of my friends that are over, including begging food off of them.

There is a filter in the tank but it is the same filter I have had since I got the tank and although there is water flow it has never bothered her before.

As for water changes, I usually try to replace about 30% of the water once a week and every other week I do an almost complete water change because her tank is only 10 gallons and gets dirty very quick. I also do daily poop scoops so the waste isn't in the tank any longer than it has to be

AGreenDarkness said:

There is a filter in the tank but it is the same filter I have had since I got the tank and although there is water flow it has never bothered her before.

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Sadly it doesn't work that way I'm afraid. Flowing water is a constant stress - with another stress present it can be enough to doom your axolotl. Another stress like moving and different water chemistry.

Also a quick comment - you wrote that you changed the water and cleaned the filter. Since most of the helpful bacteria settle in the filter, cleaning it may have caused an ammonia peak?

I know dorm aquaria have to be small (the infamous 10-gallon tank! ) and I think you are brave for trying it - I am glad you described your cleaning schedule and hope someone comments on it, because it would be a learning experience for me, too.

I agree with what John wrote - a combination of factors combining to make life difficult. Please do keep us posted.

-Eva

AGreenDarkness said:

There is a filter in the tank but it is the same filter I have had since I got the tank and although there is water flow it has never bothered her before.

Click to expand...

Just a couple of ideas for the water flow issue...

You could place an obstruction (the vase, a rock, etc) in front of the flow for both waterfall filters and internal power filters to break the current so it does not disturb Squishy.

Alternatively, if you use an internal filter you could use a 'spray bar'. With a little ingenuity you could make it yourself using a tube or even a plastic soft drink bottle - just punch some holes into the tube/bottle and then afix the device to where the water shoots out of the filter so the current goes into the tube/bottle and is dispersed gently out the holes so it doesn't disturb Squishy.

Do you know anything about your chemical water parameters? As Eva said, by cleaning the filter you cleaned out a lot of bacteria and in a small tank you can have a fast accumulation of ammonia or nitrite. This can also have happened when you moved the tank and cleaned the filter at this occasion.

Another thought: Did you move town for college? Do you get your tap water from another supplier? And did you use any water conditioner? If it is another supplier, try to find out if they add chlorine or chloramin. This would have to be removed by a dechlorinator.

Wow everyone is giving really awesome advice thanks!

I didn't clean the entire filter, I took out the filtration part like the blue fuzzy thing that catches dirt and stuff and washed that to get rid of the debris.

As for the water movement, I tried to put her hidey hole vase right where the water hits so instead of flowing all around the tank it goes it bounces off the vase and goes right back up to the top so pretty much only the water at the top of the tank is moving.

I did move towns for college, but I always make sure to use a dechlorinator and let the water sit over night.

I will attempt to fix the water movement problem further by trying the pop bottle idea. maybe that would help things a bit.

Also about water parameters I have no idea, I have only tested my water like once since I even got Squishy and they were fine, I know I feel terrible that I don't test the water for the quality but I really just don't have the money for it. Right now I don't even have money for a piece of pizza.

haha Welcome to Student Life!

It doesn't matter to the water quality if you can't test it. Just pretend like you tested it and the values were bad - what would you do? Water changes. Daily water changes. Change at least 20% of the water every day and just keep doing it for a month. After that, you could try slowing back to your usual schedule (as described above) and watch for signs of stress.

I know it's a lot of work, but... ten gallon tank... At some point you will hopefully find the time to take a water sample to a pet shop, where they will test it for free.

-Eva

Yea I have been trying to keep the water cleaner and changed and such...Yay for adding extra work to my day ha! I will try this and hopefully she will feel better soon. Thank you everyone!

I'm sure she will. Have fun!

-Eva

Just an update, and a few more questions.

Had to go home this weekend because my cell phone died and I had to abandon Squishy for two days. I worried the entire weekend even though I "knew" she would be fine. I have been keeping the tank clean, rearranged her hide so it breaks up water flow and been feeding her the pellets and worms as always.

I returned back to campus late on Sunday night and immediately rushed to my room to check on her only to find her completely motionless and laying on top of her plant.

I was CONVINCED she was dead I started bawling. I just stood there blubbering at the site of my baby not moving anymore. Finally I decided it was no use crying over spilled milk and I reached in and poked her. Nothing...

Only after grabbing a hold of her and pulling her off the plant was there any movement at all and then she only attempted a small wiggle out of my hands.

I panicked I was crying and shaking and my roommate was trying to calm me down. Now she seems a little better but still is very inactive and only eats when i shove the food in front of her nose and won't take it away until she eats it.

I am beginning to think that maybe I should try to find a new owner for her, I love her to death but I feel like I can't give her the care that she really needs and I am terrified she will die.

Does anyone have any suggestions or is anyone looking for a new addition to their axies? I would probably try to sell her since my mom bought her for me for 70 dollars.

I obviously am not expecting to get that much money out of her, but if someone makes an offer I would try to take it.

She is a beautiful leucistic, can anyone give me some advice? If you think it is best that I sell her to someone just say so, I don't want to harm her in any way.

Thank you

Are you sure. They don't exactly move around that much during the day

That's the whole thing is that I am not sure if she is dying a slow and painful death or whether she is just growing up and getting less active.

If you do decide to get rid of her, I would LOVE to take care of her.

I sent you a PM.

I am going to have to speak to my mom about it, Squishy was my graduation present and my mom paid for her, I hope she will understand that she may think it was a waste of money to buy all this stuff and then have me give Squish away 3 months later, but I am terrified she is going to die

I will let you know what I figure out

I could give you some money for her. Maybe not $70, since I am in college as well, and am poor, lol.

But I mean, I would pay for the shipping and give you some for Squishy as well. I paid $38 including shipping for mine when he was still pretty small. But since yours is not as young as mine was when I bought it, I would definitely be open to negotiations.

Please let me know.

-Jess