Illness/Sickness: my poor girl

Hi again,

My girl has been in the bottom of fridge for 12 days now and is covered with cardboard and a tea towel. She hasn't eaten in this time but is moving around. I have noticed though over the last couple of days one of her eyes is now white around the base of her lens which wasn't like that before. She had no whitemarks (fungal) on her except for the pigmentation of her skin when I put her in the fridge. No gravel has been pooped, even though she has passed a couple of poops so it may not have been the original problem of her spitting food out. She has always been an air gulper right from when I got her and I notice she is still doing this in the fridge. I have also managed to get a decent photo (without blinding her with the flash!) of her gills/eye and marks on her side of which I don't know how they came about. The photo isn't true to it's actual colour when veiwing with the naked eye and when I first noticed these prior to fridging her they were almost like a crater as if someone had taken a scab off the top and left the new skin underneath. where the skin had been removed and it is now growing back. I feel guilty that she may have been stressed for a while and I didn't recognise the symptoms so feel this is what the start of these probems were. When away on holidays I have left her for 14 days without food so how much longer can Axolotls survive without food? I thought I'd wait till she was back in her tank to tempt her but this might be too long if she is ailing?

Hi Jenfox,

For some reason, i can't see the photos but i shall see what i can do.

Fridging is good, so you can safely leave her in the fridge for a longer duration to allow her to heal and destress.

Having pooped a few times, you can be assured her digestive tract is patent and she is not impacted. And by having poop, you can also say that she might have been feeding in small quantities here and there, otherwise there would be nothing to poop out.

Occasional surfacing to gulp for air is normal. I was wondering what is the depth of water you put into the container while she is being fridged? If she can still float or 'swim to the surface' to gulp air, perhaps the water level is too high.

The skin wound or ulceration should heal over nicely since you have noticed new healthy skin growing (granulation tissue). Provided you ensure good water quality, there shouldn't be much of a hiccup here.

While in the fridge, the axie's metabolism is reduced, so as the amount of food required. You can safely leave her in the fridge for another week or two. Do continue to offer food throughout but do not fret if she doesn't eat.

Again, try to tempt her with live wriggly worms, especially blackworms which are smaller and easier to consume and digest. You can also try novel treats like bits of shrimp, fish meat, beef etc. Have them diced up in small thin pieces. That would help digestion. You can also try the mash.

Would you be able to email me the photos? I wish to take a look at the eyes in particular.

Cheers.

Can anyone enlighten me about how to get my photos from the album?? Can't seem to get them where you all can see in my message.

Hi Jenfox,

I had a look at the photos in your gallery (i should have checked there first silly me!).

Your water level and temperature management is perfect.

I can see the ulceration wound. It looks to be healing well. When you can see pink tissue (granulation) without any discharge or brown purply tissue (necrotic), you can be assured it would heal well.

The eye looks fine to me. I would say its just pigmentation. The eyes still look clear.

I can't exactly tell for sure, but does your axie always have those light grey patches throughout its body? I can't see clearly to tell if its just natural pigmentation or whether there is some skin shedding.

Cheers.

I can email you the photos Rayson, their in my album titled black betty. Being new to this I had no idea what the url I was looking for but managed to get the pictures into an album under my profile. She is in water as deep as my index finger, just enough to cover her back plus a little bit more. She just lifts her head and gulps. Another thing I'm noticing with mine compared to others photos of axies is mine does not have really smooth skin, she is a bit 'lumpy' can this be due to her age or is it another symptom of something (stress). I have live earthworms and fold them double and hold them with plastic tweesers. When well she loved slithers of fresh fish (trout, snapper etc) and if she were my dog I would worry about her not eating like she used to.

Just gone and had a close look at her it is just pigmentation. I also had a surprise of finding a big green mossy sausagelike poop in the container! Her poop is usually different, can't really describe it. Is it possible that now she is recovering her colour is becoming enhanced? I didn't think she was really blind as the cornea was still clear so was the lens.

Hi Jenfox,

I really think your axie will be fine. She is in a relatively good body condition and her eyes are normal.

Poop colour depends on what is fed. Again, im pretty sure she is feeding, otherwise there really won't be anything to poop out.

The only possible problem is the generalised bumpy/lumpy skin. I interpret you are referring to the texture and not the mottled appearance right? Sometimes bumpy skin can indicate a type of bacterial infection by mycobacteria. This type of infection tends to affect the fat layer under the skin which causes the bumpiness. It can be asymptomatic for years and the axie can be a carrier. Unfortunately, this type of infection is incredibly hard to treat. Do you have other axies? To be safe, i recommend you house them separately.

Cheers

She is the only axi I have, first one ever. Yes I was refering to the lumpiness of her skin, not her mottled color. She has been like this since I got her but have taken more notice now I've had her out of the tank and at close range. I'm thinking she may have been constipated (?) as she has only eaten once since going in the fridge and that poop was huge, the first like that since putting her in there. The others were like dirt/debris in the bottom of the dish, same sort as I would wash out of the bottom of the tank when cleaning it out. This was still in a casing like a sausage. As with other animals and their health I think you can tell a lot of what is going on inside as by what comes out the other end.

thanks for your advice.:happy:

HI Jenfox,

Sounds like you may be right, your axie might just have a case of constipation.

The sausage shaped poop is a good sign. Well formed stools indicate that nutrients have been absorbed properly in the digestive tract.

If there are no other signs of illness or stress, your axie should be on the mend and would soon be able to head back into the main tank.

Cheers.

Ill keep her in the fridge for another week or so then acclimatise her back into the tank. Like children, they are all so different. Will give furthur updates as time goes on :happy:
thanks