Illness/Sickness: Sick Axolotl

Hi all,

My Axolotl is 4 years old we did a water change on his tank as usual on Thur and he was fine I noticed last night that his tail in the top looked a little eatten away and that one of his back legs is looking a little limp. I fridged him stright way and put prim fix in the water but now I am not sure as what to do him as I have only delt with fungi growth previously.

Can I have some advise please.

Lids

How big is your tank and what are the water paremeters? This info can help us work out what/if anything is wrong ^^

Lids said:

Hi all,

My Axolotl is 4 years old we did a water change on his tank as usual on Thur and he was fine I noticed last night that his tail in the top looked a little eatten away and that one of his back legs is looking a little limp. I fridged him stright way and put prim fix in the water but now I am not sure as what to do him as I have only delt with fungi growth previously.

Can I have some advise please.

Lids

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Hi Lids,

Sorry to hear about your axie.

Ok first things first, is your axie in a tank on its own or does he have a friend in the tank that could be responsible for the missing tail and legs??

Can you post us a picture of the tank and if possible pictures of the injuries so we can try and access whats wrong please as this would be a great help. If there are no tank mates is there an ornament or something that your axies could have caught itself on and as mandy has asked tank parameters would be helpful aswell!

Fridging him was a good shout but I have no idea on prim fix is that pima fix?? This is a sheet which tells you of axie safe medicines Caudata Culture Articles - Illness Part 1 if yours is not on here I would refridge your axie in some fresh clean dechlorinated water asap.

Good luck!

My tank is 100Lt

Lids said:

My tank is 100Lt

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Can you please answer the rest of the questions as tank size is not the important one at the moment, thanks :happy:

He has a friend in his tank pinky another axolotl and we have a plec. We have sand in the bottom of the tank and a log which the axolotl's like to hide under, he may have caught himseld on the log or may have been nibbled by pinky.
I still have him in the fridge, we think he might have a fungi infection on his tail so I am going to give him a salt bath.
I will take some photos and post later.
Do you know can you feed your axolotl while it's being fridged?

Thanks

Lids

Hi Zoe,

I don't know what the tank parameters are.

Lids said:

He has a friend in his tank pinky another axolotl and we have a plec. We have sand in the bottom of the tank and a log which the axolotl's like to hide under, he may have caught himseld on the log or may have been nibbled by pinky.
I still have him in the fridge, we think he might have a fungi infection on his tail so I am going to give him a salt bath.
I will take some photos and post later.
Do you know can you feed your axolotl while it's being fridged?

Thanks

Lids

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OK before I answer the rest PLEASE GET RID OF YOUR PLEC this is probably what has caused the damage to your axie they attach themselves & suck and eat things including axies, will find link to species mixing disasters for you........

Lids said:

He has a friend in his tank pinky another axolotl and we have a plec. We have sand in the bottom of the tank and a log which the axolotl's like to hide under, he may have caught himseld on the log or may have been nibbled by pinky.
I still have him in the fridge, we think he might have a fungi infection on his tail so I am going to give him a salt bath.
I will take some photos and post later.
Do you know can you feed your axolotl while it's being fridged?

Thanks

Lids

Click to expand...

Ok back again, please read this sad story of damage that was done to this axie because of a plec and sadly this guy did not make it...

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...f58-sick-axolotl/76024-very-very-worried.html

If your axie has a cotton wool like growth on its tail then yes its fungus and yes a salt bath is recommended just please remember to set a timer and keep your axie in the bath for no longer than 15 minutes (see Kaysies sticky on salt baths)

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...axolotl/72698-salt-bath-picture-tutorial.html

It is hard to say without piccies whether it is damage from his tank mate or from the plec but either way the plec has to go! Tank mates do have accidents this can prevented to a point by making sure you feed the axies away from each other but these things happen, I frequently see my axies land on top of each other after a swim and the one underneath snap thinking its food, 9/10 they are lucky but occassionaly mine get tail nips you just have to watch out for fungus, most if the time it heals on its own.

As for feeding whilst in the fridge, each axie to its own! All 3 of mine do eat when they are in the fridge and I personally say it never hurts to pop a wiggly worm in with them whilst they are in the fridge, just check back an hour later and if its still there the worm has had a reprieve lol. If your axie doesn't eat dont stress their metabolism slows right down in the fridge!

Any other questions please shout :happy:

p.s. also check your log for sharp bits, axie skin is very soft, one of my favourite things I have read on here is from "mewsie" she describes their skin as marshmallow like

p.s.s please get some testing kits for your tank as water parameters are so so important for your axies well being if you cant afford any now any local pet shop will test your water for you for free just take a sample in!

Will re house the plec. I will get some testing stips tomorrow as all the shops are currently closed.

Thanks

Lids

Hi I have taken some photos, I'll post them 2morrow as I have not got the card reader here. His back leg is looking better as he is using it and he is a bit more lively, his tail is looking a little sore but the white has gone, :happy: hopefully he's on the mend.

Zoe you said about giving him a worm is that an earth worm? As I am currently feeding him bloodworm.

Hi I have taken some photos, I'll post them 2morrow as I have not got the card reader here. His back leg is looking better as he is using it and he is a bit more lively, his tail is looking a little sore but the white has gone, :happy: hopefully he's on the mend.

Zoe you said about giving him a worm is that an earth worm? As I am currently feeding him bloodworm.

Thank you for your support

Lids

no problem thats all sounding positive! At least you know what your looking for which is great!

Yes earthworms, lovely wiggly worms These should be the staple diet for your axie and he will thank you for it trust me! You can vary your axies diet with bloodworm and axie pellets but worms are by far the most nutricious and a lot more fun for your axie to hunt than dead bloodworm lol!

You can get these from your garden if you done use any chemicals or order them off ebay or worms direct, have fun!

so wot do u do with them from the garden just wash them and put them in?

thats about the size of it yes, then sit back and watch your axies consume them in less than 2 seconds lol!

I am going to have to try this :happy:

invest in a nice long pair of tweezers and soon you will have your axies hand feeding from them they will do anything for a worm :happy:

Lids said:

I am going to have to try this :happy:

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Just you wait! It's brilliant fun (for everyone except maybe the worm), your axie will go nuts, and it's the most well balanced food you can give axolotls. Can't go wrong really!

I can't guarantee our 'garden' hasn't had chemicals put on it, so I either get my local fish shop to order me tubs of worms, or buy from a bait shop on the other side of town. The guy in the bait shop once wished us a good days fishing - when we explained it was for the axolotls, he told us he had axolotls, and didn't know they ate worms... He still thanks us for the advice to this day!

Hi I have checked the water on the main tank. Gh 180, KH 240, PH 9, NO2 0.5 & NO3 40.
I am still keeping him the fridge, I have just been out to check on him and he has fungi growing from his bottom area, I have just given him a salt bath. I have been unable to take a picture of this fungi as i could only just see it coming out from under him.
when i lifted his container up to look at his underneth he has two patches of fungi growing. Do you have any idea why it is growing there?

I think have attached a picture of the tank before i re-homed the plec and of axi and a close up of his tail.

Thanks

Lids

Don't think my pictures attatched so trying again