help please!

Hello out there, I have an 8 yr old black (mottled) axolotl which I think is a girl (very fat with a wide head). I inherited her 4 years ago and till recently everything was good.

She lives in a 3 foot tank which is aerated with air stones and also has an under gravel filter. She was an air gulper and still is even though the water is airated. The water temperature is around 20 degrees She gets fed 2-3 times a week on a variety of heart, tadpoles (when available), fresh white fish meat & lean steak. A few weeks ago about 3 days after being fed she regurgetated her food in a half digested mass, I hooked it out the water and fed her fresh food again only for this to happen again a couple of days later. She is not interested in food now and even the waggle of my finger at the surface doesn't interest her. I have also noticed on one side of her body a brown patch the size of a small fingernail and don't know if this is a secondary symptom of whatever is wrong or something else.

There is gravel on the bottom of the tank and after reading a few things online I wonder if she may have eaten a piece and has a blockage?? Is this possible?? I don't want her to starve to death but don't know what to try next. I keep her environment the same and my management of her has been the same since getting her so don't know where to start solving this issue. Any one got any ideas??

Hi Jenfox!
I am no expert but it does sound likely that your axie has ingested some gravel. It is recommended that gravel is not used as a substrate for axolotls as they have a tendency to swallow anything that will fit in their mouths, due to the suction motion when feeding. The recommended treatment for impaction is fridging. For this you will need to set your fridge to 5 celsius. Place your axie in a tub with enough declorinated water to cover her body, then put in the fridge with a tea towel over the top so that the fridge light does not disturb your axie. She will need to stay in the fridge for about 2/3 weeks and you will need to replace the water with fresh declorinated water every day. Your axie should pass the ingested gravel.
For more information check out the other posts on the forum,
e.g http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=60051
Here Rayson offered the following advice:
"Monitor for other signs of illness and stress? Curled tail tip, forward facing gills, inappetance, odd behaviour, floating etc?
Fridging your axie will destress it, boost its immune system and render harmful pathogens (both bacterial and fungal) less viable. It also facilitates the passage of impacted material.
- Set your fridge to about 5 degree celsius.
- Put your axie in a container large enough to allow it to stretch its limbs and tail comfortably.
- Fill with fresh dechlorinated water enough to submerge it but not allowing it to float.
- Cover with a lid. You can use a perforated lid or netting to prevent it jumping out.
- Use a tea towel to cover it to keep the environment dark.
- Perform 100% water changes daily with clean dechlorinated water.
- You can pre prepare bottles of water in the fridge.
- Continue to offer a variety of nutritious food daily. Try live wriggly food like blackworms, bloodworms, earthworms. You can also try the usual pellet, offer treats of shrimp and fish etc. Otherwise you can also blend everything in a food processor and then roll the resultant mash into a pea sized ball to try offer your axie. Remove uneaten food within 20 min.
I would try fridging your axolotl for 2 weeks and continually monitor for improvement. Please update on the progress every couple of days."
Good luck, hope this works.
Regards, Sadie.

Hi Jenfox,

Gravel impaction is a possibility. Fridging will be beneficial. You can follow the instructions as in Stiky's post.

There are a few areas i thought i should bring to your attention too.

Firstly, gravel is really unsuitable as a substrate for axies. It is recommended you keep the tank bare bottomed or use sand. Freshwater aquarium sand, pool filter sand or children play sand are suitable.

Because an undergravel filter requires gravel, this itself makes the filter not appropriate for an axie tank. You may like to consider a mini external canister filter or a mounted waterfall type filter. They are much more suitable types of filters that doesn't increase the temperature of the water, does not require gravel and yet still performs effectively. http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/filters.shtml

An axie might 'air gulp' more when water parameters are poor. Do you have a colourimetric solution type test kit? You should test of ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH regularly. You want to aim for 0 ammonia and nitrites, <60 nitrates and ideally a neutral pH of around 7.

Temperature wise, 20 degress is on the high end of 'normal'. Preferably, it would be best if you could lower the temperature to the 16-18 degree celsius mark. Some more susceptible axies are more prone to heat stress and even at 20 degress can demostrate signs of stress and illness like inappetance. http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cooling.shtml

Nutrition wise, the food types you are offering are suitable as occasional treats but not as staples. Staples include live earthworms, blackworms, bloodworms and pellets, all of which are nutritionally balanced for your axie. The treats alone do not fulfil the nutritional requirements.
You can actually tempt your axie to eat by feeding live worms. The wriggliness of the worms stimulate the axies appetite because axies can sense the vibration and interpret them as prey.

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods.shtml
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods2.shtml
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/worms.shtml


Axies tend to regurgitate when the water temperature is too cold (<10 degree C) or when the food offered is not fresh (decomposing). Make sure that the food offered is fresh.

I have to also point out that it really is not good practice to feed tadpoles. Tadpoles can carry harmful amphibian parasites and diseases that can easily transmit to your axies. I would advise you not to feed tadpoles.

Lastly, would you be able to provide a photo of the brown lesion?

Cheers.

Thank you all, after reading all this I really don't know as much as I thought! mind you as she has been ok for the last 4 years I thought I was doing all right. Always more to learn so thaks. I will remove the gravel and put in sand, as well as putting her in the fridge. We live in the sub tropics (outback of western australia) thus the tank water is at around 20 degrees. She has beenaroud this temp most of her life. At the moment we have the airconditioning going (through summer) so this helps keep the water lower than normal room temperature. I had no idea about testing the water for chemicals, but I do let the water sit overnight when she has had a change of tank water. I also usually keep about 25% of the old water. I have a tank filter, it's one of those that hang on the glass would this do? She took a little bit of meat yesterday and hasn't spat it back out. She is floating tail up more than usual and the brown spot seems to be dissapearing but I will try to take a photo of it. I wondered if she had got stuck behind her shelter and bruised herself as the area almost looks like new skin is regenerating and the black pigment is coming back to the area. This may be a stupid question but where do I get the worms described? can you buy them online or a pet shop?? I will source a testing kit as well. many thanks people

Hi Jenfox,

Letting the water stand would allow chlorine to dissipate but alas if there are chloramines or heavy metals present, they would remain in the water. I highly recommend you get a water dechlorinator solution to use during each water change. It would rid chlorine, chloramines and heavy metals.

Also, regular 20% water changes will suffice. A 75% water change is too drastic. Firstly, the purpose of a water change is to remove/dilute out nitrogenous wastes. Nitrates in particular, being the end product of conversion, can only be effectively removed by water changes, especially if you don't have live plants in your tank. Live plants use the nitrogenous wastes (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates). A too drastic water change can cause fluctuations in water temperature and even water parameters. That itself can be stressful to your axie. You also want to avoid scrubbing off the slimy layer on your tank glass and ornaments. Those are the beneficial bacteria that you want to preserve.

The waterfall type mounted filter is a good type to use. Just ensure that the water currents created are not excessive. You can turn the filter flow rate to low, buffer the flow with strategically placed ornaments/rocks or use a spray bar for this purpose.

Meat is suitable as an occasional treat. Some food types can cause constipation or excessive gas production in the belly that can cause an axie to float in that manner. It is best to offer a variety of food types and feed the right type of staple food such as earthworms. Also, im glad you removed the gravel. Gravel impaction can make the axies float in that manner as well.

Most good aquarium shops do stock live earthworms, blackworms etc. You can also try places like bunnings warehouse for compost worms. There are some places that allow you to place orders online and they deliver the worms to your door. You can try google for Pisces live food, kizan worms etc.

Cheers.

What are the pellets I keep reading people talking about? What do I ask for ?

Will common maggots do the trick for feeding as well?? are these what the Americans refer to as 'white worms'? I have no qualms about touching any sort of worm. Didn't realise I could feed her wood slaters as well. I wil put her in the fridge for starters and see if this improves her.

Hi Jenfox,

Aquarium shops may stock axolotl pellets. I know of three brands that are sold locally. You might like to enquire with your local aquarium supply shop.

I would still recommend earthworms and blackworms over any other types of worms if you intend to try out live food. They are nutritious, easily available and readily accepted by axies.

Cheers

Thanks for that Rayson, my daughter has got some pellets and frozen blood worms from Perth. We don't get earthworms so I've could send her to bunnigns to get the compost worms. The axy has actually become more active since going into the fridge. All I had to offer her is some lean steak which she took some of but as she was only ever fed every few days I'll wait for the worms to arrive tomorrow. Our town water supply comes from a dam which relies on monsoon rains to fill so apart from the added chlorine I have no idea what other metals may be in the water.

My axies seems to like the fridge, she is still not interested if feeding. I have live worms now. The marks on her side seem to be getting better, I took a photo but have got to work out how to load them on the site! Looking at earlier photos of her taken not long after I got her she had a lot more feathering on her fills than she does now, does this mean anything? I'm going to move her tank to another room in the house too so when she comes out it hopefully will be cooler than where it stands now. It will be a shame as I feel like I'm putting her away but so it goes. She is in a low lit room at the moment but I will shift it to a spare bedroom.