Illness/Sickness: I dont want her to die!!!! please help!!!

So, the other day I gave my Axie a worm, one she began eating as normal, but later i then noticed she spit it back up, it was then she began acting weird, she wouldnt eat anything after that, not worms, not blood worms not pellets, nothing. in fact she was even backing away from the food (and anything else) like she was scared, n interaction at all. she was in her cave just hiding, not moving. she stayed there for over 24 hours, not moving at all, this was when i started getting really concerned, she kept opening her mouth though and twitching her gills (which were bright red, shes albino btw) so at first a thought maybe it was the water, i did a pH test which read 7.6 (which i guess is a perfect pH..?) after some research of her symptoms i began thinking maybe it was heat stress as the weather has been warm recently. after coming to this conclusion of heat stress i went ahead and put her in a large bowl with some fresh room temp water and decided to fridge her. i covered the bowl with a lid and a towl and now shes been there for about 2 days. oddly though rather than going into hybernation mode, she seems to be moving a bit more than before and where as usually when shes in colder temps her gills are white they are still bright red! she still refuses food, and wont do anything except occassionally turn, or move slightly. shes getting pretty thin and im really worried, she doesnt seem to be hybernating at all either, yet even after more than a day of not moving her skin in flushed and her gills are bright bright red....i really dont know what to do, and her not eating is scaring me....how do i help her? should i consider force feeding her? what could be causing her to be so flushed yet inactive? please help!

I'll try and help where I can but I'm no expert. Sounds like you done the right thing with fridging but when axolotls are at low temperatures they don't eat as much so don't get too worried about that. If you could post some pictures of the tank that would be helpful.

Pictures will help. Please do not stress over her gills, red gills are just the blood moving through them and it is nothing to worry about. It means she has been active in some way or another.

What kind of substrate do you have? What is the temperature of your tank? What are your water parameters? (Nitrates, ammonia etc) pH isn't very important compared to these.

It sounds like she may have ingested some gravel. Please post some pictures of her and your tank.

the tank only contains large rocks, no pebbles. i cant actually post pictures unfortunately, the only reason im worried about the gills is because she hasnt been active at all, so i dont understand why her gills are so red...as for the other information i dont actually know, but will work on finding out

update: also, while in the fridge she hasnt pooped, but there are a few whispey black things floating around, at first i thought maybe somehow fuzz got in there (from what, i didnt know) but after taking it out i noticed more appearing at a later time (not a lot just a few) and some were bigger so i noticed they didnt look so much like fuzz....maybe a type of fungus/bacteria?

Is there any way you could take pictures of all this and upload them? it would be very helpful.

What do you mean whispy black things? Apologies, clear descriptions are always best. It sounds like she has pooed and that's the stuff there. Also, she will not eat in the fridge as the colder temperatures lower her metabolism. 'twitching' of the gills is normal, to allow oxygen to flow over the gills.

Have you given her a huge feed recently? It is possible that she may just be full.

It is difficult to advise with out pictures, they often show things that we have missed. Are you doing daily water changes while she is in the fridge ?. Are the black whispy things moving...have you a magnifying glass to have a closer look?

Is it out of the ordinary for your axolotl to go without food for a day?

By opening and closing her mouth do you mean in a slow motion or quickly?

Ok, clarifying of things, she has not eaten in probably two weeks, and when she finally did eat, she spit it back out and then became afraid of everything and would not move. Her mouth was opening up in a constant motion, not slow but not what one would call fast either, just constant. her gills twitch at the same constant speed. After that she stopped moving completely. I kept checking on her because I was afraid she was dead. After that I put her in the fridge. In the past 3 or 4 days despite her lack of activity her body has been flushed as if she has been active and her gills bright red, usually blood flow means activity but there has been none. Even while in the fridge (which should put her into a sort of hybernization mode) her body appearance would say she has been active, but she hasn't. The black whispey things are not poop, they are very tiny thin hair like tangles of smoky matter. I can not tell what they are. They are not moving.

Just wondering, was said work and earthworm?.

I would say impactation, but other wise it sounds much like an illness. does she appear stressed? ie bent tail - forward gills. because if she doesn't seem stressed you should get her to a suitable vet, if she does try to find a vet that does house calls.

because we can't see your axie, you can judge her symtomns better.
so I suggest a good read through this arcticle (symtoms of illness)
if you think you may have found something, but are unsure how to go about it next, let us know.

to me that sounds like poo that is blocked from coming out, are you sure those stones are too big for your axolotl to swallow?

Please consider taking her to the vet, I think it is the best option.

My axolotls refuse to eat at all in the fridge, and generally never poo in their either. Sometimes my wildtype just refuses to eat for a long time, but then starts up again randomly. Yet nothing is wrong. It's just weird and temperamental.
Maybe try something like fish? I find my wildtype eats live fish during these stages.
Still, find a vet though, better to be safe than sorry.

So thank you everyone for responding, after taking her out of the fridge and letting her sit for a day the water slowly going back to room temp, she became more active and tonight when i attempted to give her a worm, although at first she backed away scared, after much persistence on my part she finally took it and ate it, and did not spit it back up. shes doing better, a bit more social, and after completely disinfecting her tank and all her decorations i am now cycling the water through the new filter and with any luck she will be back in her home tomorrow. i already tested the pH and ammonia levels, pH is 7.6 or so and ammonia is at 0. (these are perfect levels right?) i also put stress coat in the water. now i just need the water tempt to drop but hey, i have all night, as i said she will hopefully go back tomorrow. anyways thank you everyone! shes gonna make it!

Aww I'm glad she ate

I am glad she is better. Don't hesitate to ask us if something is unusual.

Best of luck.