Illness/Sickness: Why has my Axolotl blown up like a balloon

[nspackman]

My axolottle is about 7 years old and he has not been as active or feeding as usual. We have just come out of winter and the weather has become quite warm so I am trying a frozen water bottle in the water. We have been away for about a week and when we came back he has blown up like a balloon. He is so fat. His back legs are about 1 cm wide, he looks obese. His tail and gills are ok. I cleaned his tank before we left and after we came back. I have always kept it regularly clean. He is swimming to the top and taking large gulps quite regularly which is not normal. The tank has large pebbles in it, too large for him to swallow. I have already been though that problem of him eating fine gravel years ago when I got him. His tank is 60cm x 30cm, He has an artifical log he can crawl into, a filter and plants. Can anyone help?

 

[b00f]

looks very tubby, cute face thou
how much did he eat while the frozen bottles were in there...
he might of slowed down, yet continued to eat,
metabolic rate slows, food increase... its like being a couch potatoe

im thinkin water was too cold, and he ate a lil too much

 

[nspackman]

looks very tubby, cute face thou
how much did he eat while the frozen bottles were in there...
he might of slowed down, yet continued to eat,
metabolic rate slows, food increase... its like being a couch potatoe

im thinkin water was too cold, and he ate a lil too much

He has been puffed up like that for a few weeks now. Have only tried cooling the water in the last few days after doing some reading across the internet. Before he puffed up his food quantity had not changed, and now he is lucky to eat anything.

 

[sherylbobbins]

Hmm.. poor thing. He does look quite bloated. Could it be a massive fluid build up due to something like kidney damage? It's very unusual. If you're having trouble with warm water, stick him in the fridge with a container long enough for him to stretch out and change 100% of the water each day with fresh dechlorinated water. You'd need to keep a bottle of water in the fridge so the water changes don't stress your axolotl. Someone else will probably have a better idea of what is going on though.

 

[nspackman]

Hmm.. poor thing. He does look quite bloated. Could it be a massive fluid build up due to something like kidney damage? It's very unusual. If you're having trouble with warm water, stick him in the fridge with a container long enough for him to stretch out and change 100% of the water each day with fresh dechlorinated water. You'd need to keep a bottle of water in the fridge so the water changes don't stress your axolotl. Someone else will probably have a better idea of what is going on though.

I use tank water not town water in his tank. Hope someone can help soon he is not eating. Can a vet help? He is actually my daughters, I have been looking after him for about 4 years while my daughter travelled Australia and is now in Europe for 2 years.

 

[inkozana]

To be honest this looks more like an allergic reaction or infection to me.
Apart from the temperature, has anything else in his tank been altered? Possibly food or an ornament?

 

[nspackman]

To be honest this looks more like an allergic reaction or infection to me.
Apart from the temperature, has anything else in his tank been altered? Possibly food or an ornament?

No he has had the orament log to crawl in for quite sometime and nothing in his diet has changed.

 

[inkozana]

What are your ammonia/nitrate/nitrite levels?

 

[nspackman]

What are your ammonia/nitrate/nitrite levels?

Sorry I have no idea. Have never checked them in 7 years and he has been doing fine. Clean his tank early today so have no way of checking. I clean the tank regularly.

 

[inkozana]

I advise you to get a kit and test the water, it's hard to tell what's going on in his tank without that info.

 

[Neke]

If you can't afford a test kit right away, most aquariums and pet stores will test the water for you for free (or a small fee). Ask them what the exact numbers of ammonia/nitrite/nitrate are - don't let them just say that it's all good. Testing it probably seems silly after all this time of not bothering and it being ok, but it will help figure out what's wrong.

When you clean the tank do you empty the water and clean everything out?

 

[nspackman]

If you can't afford a test kit right away, most aquariums and pet stores will test the water for you for free (or a small fee). Ask them what the exact numbers of ammonia/nitrite/nitrate are - don't let them just say that it's all good. Testing it probably seems silly after all this time of not bothering and it being ok, but it will help figure out what's wrong.

When you clean the tank do you empty the water and clean everything out?

Clean it out completely, filter, pebbles, ornaments and tank completely and start again. Always have done it this way.

 

[gr33neyes]

I advise you to get a kit and test the water, it's hard to tell what's going on in his tank without that info.

I'm with Steff on this one. You need to know whats going on with the water before you do anything drastic like a complete clean out. That could end up making matters worse.

 

[Neke]

Clean it out completely, filter, pebbles, ornaments and tank completely and start again. Always have done it this way.

Well you'll be happy to know you don't have to do this (or annoyed, considering you've been doing it for so long). If you clean out everything including the filter on a regular basis then your tank is almost certainly not cycled. Have a read of this page - http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml

Basically, the axolotl produces waste which creates ammonia in the water. Over a period of time the ammonia turns into nitrite and the nitrite turns into nitrate - Ammonia and nitrite are very toxic (there should always be 0 of both in a cycled aquarium), but nitrate is only toxic in large quantities (hopefully somebody will correct me if I got any of that wrong). Even without testing I can say you will always have ammonia and maybe nitrite in the water if you clean everything out and leave it for a short period of time on a regular basis.

When the tank is cycling you have to change some of the water every day to remove the ammonia and nitrite, but once it has cycled you only need to do it once a week. You should never change all of the water or clean the ornaments unless you have a good reason to - healthy bacteria live on them. When you need to clean the filter, you should just shake the sponge out in a bucket of tank water.

To make your life easier I would also remove the big stones in your tank and replace them with (washed) sand or nothing - that way food and waste won't get trapped in between the stones and it will be easier to clean - it's a lot easier to see waste on top of sand.

I don't know if this is the source of his illness or even what's wrong with him, but fixing the water quality will definitely work to your advantage.

 

[Neke]

I just noticed that the rocks aren't as big as I thought they were - are there any in there smaller than his head? He could have swallowed one.

 

[AGreenDarkness]

Poor baby! I really hope he gets better soon, I wish I had some advice to give you but I am totally useless here. Just wanted to say I hope you figure out what is wrong with him

 

[nspackman]

My axolottle is about 7 years old and he has not been as active or feeding as usual. We have just come out of winter and the weather has become quite warm so I am trying a frozen water bottle in the water. We have been away for about a week and when we came back he has blown up like a balloon. He is so fat. His back legs are about 1 cm wide, he looks obese. His tail and gills are ok. I cleaned his tank before we left and after we came back. I have always kept it regularly clean. He is swimming to the top and taking large gulps quite regularly which is not normal. The tank has large pebbles in it, too large for him to swallow. I have already been though that problem of him eating fine gravel years ago when I got him. His tank is 60cm x 30cm, He has an artifical log he can crawl into, a filter and plants. Can anyone help?

Ok went out and bought Ph and Nitrate test Kits. Rang Vet he suggested I go to the local Aquarium which he said was quite good. Took axolotte with me to the Aquarium and was told he looks really healthy and nothing wrong with him, no spots or any diseases. But a great BIG BIG healthy axolotte. He said he was great. Had water samples with me for his fresh clean tank to put him back into and they were all fine including the sample of what he is in at the moment. From now on I will do checks of his water and change his diet to earthworms which the aquarium said was good for them. JUST LIKE TO THANK EVERYONE FOR THEIR HELP, REALLY ALL I THOUGHT I HAD TO DO WAS KEEP HIS TANK CLEAN AND FEED HIM. THAT IS ALL I HAVE DONE FOR SEVEN YEARS. THE EXPERIENCE MADE ME LEARN MORE ABOUT AXOLOTTES. --BY THE WAY HE IS A SHE.

 

[gr33neyes]

Don't beat yourself up about your care of her. You have had her for 7 years, so you must be doing something right. A lot of people don't even make it to 7 weeks.

Yes earthworms are an excellent food for an axolotl. Its live and in some cases free. I'm glad you learnt more about them though, it never does any harm to learn.
Keep us posted on her condition though as she does look rather bloated to me.

 

[Dawn]

Woah! Do you have any pictures of what it looked like before the swelling attack? Also it is cos its bloated that its back end looks VERY male to me?
I'm still very new to axie keeping but I would've put good money on that being a boy.

 

[nspackman]

Woah! Do you have any pictures of what it looked like before the swelling attack? Also it is cos its bloated that its back end looks VERY male to me?
I'm still very new to axie keeping but I would've put good money on that being a boy.

Well the Vet recommended these people at the Aquarium to take him/her to and said they were good. The fellow at the Aquarium has some of his own and he was the one that actually told me my he Axolotte was in fact a girl.
When I told him on the phone it was bloated he asked me to bring it down to him but he says she is just a big girl. I will see how she goes anyway. Will have to contact my daughter in London and tell her to rename it with a girls name.