Illness/Sickness: Urgent help! Really sick axie!

axigeek

axigeek

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Hi, I'm a newbie at all this and I cleaned out my axie's tank last night, washed out all the items in the tank, put her in a large container and then put her back. I left her in her tank over night and now she's blotchy with white specs and on her side floating very near the surface, barely moving! What should I do?
 
What are the parameters? did you clean out filter pads, and substrate as well? If that's the case your going through a cycle. What did you wash/clean the tank and items with?
 
Hi. I put her in the fridge for now. Tests show that ammonia is too high and nitrate is too low. Just been reading other posts and looks like she might have a fungus, bacteria or something like it, but the problem is, it's not just on her gills, she's covered in it! I will attempt to give her salt bath asap and get to the shop for medication. Other then that, I don't know what to do. Any suggestions?
 
any ammonia is bad, but nitrate shouldn't be too low. Do you understand the nitrgen cycle? You shouldn't have ammonia, and nitrate at the same time. What about nitrite? do a large water change on your tank before you put your axolotl back in the tank. Be careful about medication. There are many medications that axolotl's just can't handle, unfortunatly I don't know any good medications. I know a picture will help the more experienced members tell you what kind of fungus it might have. If you are fridging your axolotl make sure to keep enough dechlorinated water in the fridge as well so you can do 100% water changes the next day.
 
Yes, I understand the cycle, and nitrite was 0. I can't find any other posts about an axi being covered in a sort of green slime, to the point where her eyes won't open, she floats and barely moves. I don't want to give up hope, but I'm starting to think she's beyond saving :cry: :(
 
Can you rub the slime off her with your fingers? What's it feel like? Is it stringy? Or gooey?
 
This is probably a really obvious question, but did you dechlorinate everything? Did you use any detergents or bleach when you cleaned her tank? She sounds very stressed by the event, I usually don't remove my axy's when I clean their tank out, and I rinse everything in aquarium water, rather than tap water because I don't want the chlorine in the water to kill everything growing in the plants/logs etc.

What temp is your tank? Did the water change and cleanout alter the temp very much?

I think maybe keeping her in the fridge a little while longer and doing a daily water change on the tank until it all settles down again is maybe a good idea
 
hmm... looks like I have made a few mistakes. I just hope that it doesn't cost Gem her life and I can make amends. I didn't dechlorinate everything, I used tap water for some things and there was a temp change when she was put back in to the tank. She's barely moving atm, but when I touched her to feel the slime on her, she tried to swim away from me. It does come off a little bit, but its like some kind of grime that's stuck on her, you can't just wipe it off with something soft like a cloth.
 
by you didn't dechlorinate everything do you mean the water you cleaned everything with, or do you mean the tank water? If it's the tank water, you should definatly dechlorinate it now
 
It really does not look too good, I think it needs meds asap and clean water with good oxygenation.... I would not touch her as it will only stress her and increase her oxygen demand... I know I have posted this before but I would use antibiotics at this point... I hope you save her.
 
Ok, went to one of my local aquariums, and they said that they'd never heard of putting axi's in a fridge before. So, they gave me some stuff they said that they use on their axi's called 'Fungus Cure'. I will go with the salt bath first and see if anything improves. Thanx to everyone for the help :happy:
 
Just checked the list of safe and unsafe treatments and this 'fungus cure' that I've been given has 0.40mg/ml of malachite green in it, so I will be taking it back to the store 2morrow for a refund. I'm so glad I didn't use it on Gem!
 
Yeah you can't use anything with copper or malachite green in it, very toxic to axy's and further proof that local fish stores know nothing whatsoever about caring for these creatures. I'm not sure she has fungus, usually it looks like white blobs of cotton, rather than a slimy coating. I know from experience with my axy, if she gets really stressed out, she sheds her slime-coat - the protective layer they grow over their skin that helps them keep opportunistic infections out. This could be what's happening to yours, without seeing a picture, it's quite hard to say for sure what's going on.

Putting an axy in the fridge is a good de-stresser, think of it as a little holiday, but they may (probably will) lose their appetite because you're slowing down the metabolism. I have one of my babies in the fridge at the moment, to try and regenerate his slime coat and give him a bit of a calm few days away from the light and movement of the tank. There is good advice on this site about fridging axolotls for treatment.

Axolotl Sanctuary
 
Cool, thanx for the advice. Yeah, she's still alive and sometimes swims around and when i put a thermometer in her container in the fridge, she swam over to it, to see what it was. I changed her water today, got some salt, some dechlorinated water and bottled it up. I'm not sure about the coat of slime, but there is a white cotton looking thing on one of her gills, hence I'm going to attempt the salt bath treatment. I will keep her in the fridge for the next few days at least, because of the hot weather here in Melbourne, but I think she'll be ok :happy:
 
Hey,

Could you post a picture please ?
The white stuff sure is fungus, so do the salt baths with her, once a day, until the stuff is gone and then for another few days.
The slime coat is very odd. What color ?
A picture would really help.
 
If she seems alert, definitely offer her food while in the fridge.
 
Ok, she's just had her first salt bath, which went very well. I'm almost certain now that what Manifest said about shedding her slime-coat is what's been happening. Almost all of it came off in the salt bath, with a bit of help from me very gently getting the rest off, which was very easy to do. The only place that is of concern is her eyes, because they are still covered in skin or whatever it is that she's got and I doubt she can even see her food, let alone eat it. I'm only using dechlorinated water now and putting in some conditioner for my tap water. I will do a full water change for my tank and clean it out thoroughly in the next few days. Pics were asked for, so I did my best and if you're wondering why she's in a pot/deep saucepan, it's because its the biggest container I had that fits in the fridge :eek:
>.<
 

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Axolotls hunt on smell much more than eyesite. Keep offering food if she's willing to eat.

I wouldn't use a metal pan for a container. Food-grade plastic will be much safer.
 
I tried to feed her half a small fish and she took no interest in it. I will try to get a plastic container as soon as I can. Thanks for the advice.
 
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