Tank-mate attack

[Cocoapanda10]

Hai.

I have a golden albino axolotl, and a brown black spotted axolotl. One is female, and one is male, respectively. They are also both siblings, and I've raised them since they were eggs.

The female has always been afraid of my hand, while the male will bite at it or swim up to it, and even uses it as a guide to his food.

The female is also the 'dominant' one. She will steal food off her brother, nip at him, etc. Only once before has she attacked him, and she took a small part of his tail back (that fell off twice while healing).

A second attack occurred the other day, and she tore a good amount of skin off his arm, which I could see the bone through. It started repairing immediately, as I thought it would, and he started using it again yesterday. However, less than 20 minutes ago, she attacked the same arm again, and this time I heard the wild thrashing about in the water and ran over to the bucket I have them in (currently in the middle of a move, still taking things over and the tank has nothing to be cleaned with yet), to see the female clinging onto his arm and him turning and thrashing his tail around. I, through instinct, put my fingers between them both and attempted to slide the female off her brother. It worked.

The amount of skin that has been taken off is now much larger, he is absolutely refusing to use the arm (which is a given, obviously ), and the bone is showing through in two places - in one of which, it looks to be broken, although I can't get a clear look.

Would anyone know the reason why there's this been a sudden outburst? Is it just bullying, or does she genuinely want to eat him, or is just due to the cramped space I have them in right now? .-.

And also, are there any steps I should be taking to ensure that the wound doesn't end up infected, heals right, or something? All help is appreciated!

Pictures will be available once I get my phone working.

Thank you in advance.

 

[auntiejude]

If they are in a cramped tank the agression is almost inevitable. You can either separate them or upgrade them to a bigger tank.

As for healing, you can add indian almond leaves or cattappa extract to help prevent infection. It should heal fine on its own, but keep an eye out for fungus and ifection, and keep the water quality perfect.

 

[Cocoapanda10]

If they are in a cramped tank the agression is almost inevitable. You can either separate them or upgrade them to a bigger tank.

As for healing, you can add indian almond leaves or cattappa extract to help prevent infection. It should heal fine on its own, but keep an eye out for fungus and ifection, and keep the water quality perfect.

The tank is fine, their current accommodation (within a small bucket) is only temporary. I'm hoping to take them out within the next 2 days.

On the fungus and infection note: will do. One question, however... what happens if it does get infected? Will I have to amputate his arm? Or do I just need to fridge him for a few days, as I would with fungus?

 

[Cocoapanda10]

As promised, I took pictures. I'm only uploading one, because all of the others were blurry or had reflections in them that made you unable to see him.

I moved the male into the tank, and the female is staying in a larger bucket for now. My male doesn't look at all well, and he won't stop 'flapping' his gills and doing a sort of swallowing kind of thing with his mouth :/

 

[mewsie]

He doesn't look too bad - I had a similar scenario with two of mine and did have to amputate as the lower half of the leg became dinner but the bone still stuck out, preventing healing.

I think he will heal nicely providing you can keep the water cool and clean. He may refuse food for a few days while he is feeling out of sorts.

If the tank is newly set up since you moved (what a drama moving is with tanks huh?) be extra, extra careful that you are cycling the tank in a safe manner for him, you don't want to add nasty water conditions to his list of troubles. (Are you cool with cycling and how it works?)

The advice of catappa/indian almond leaves is great. When Chester lost his leg I used rooibos tea baths and they worked wonders. I don't think this is necessary with your fella, but just keep a really close eye on him. Any fuzzy fungus patches and you may need to take action, but currently salt on that wound would be awful for him, so only do that if you see fungus. However, if you DO see fungus, you need to act fast. Keep us in the loop if you need help with it.

As a thought for the future, keeping bro and sis together probably isn't the best idea...

 

[Cocoapanda10]

Upon further inspection, I have found out she has attacked all four of his limbs. I'm assuming his lack of movement is down to the pain its causing him to walk and swim, and I'm also assuming his lack of desire to eat is due to a slowed metabolism...

 

[charleybambino]

Will he eat earthworms.....more nutritious for him than blood worms at his size?

 

[Cocoapanda10]

Will he eat earthworms.....more nutritious for him than blood worms at his size?

Yeah, he will. Although I have no idea where to find them in this new house's back garden yet :/

 

[charleybambino]

I cut the hessian off of a shopping bag, spread it out on bare soil, weighed it down with stones and water often.....they always seem to be there....just dig down about 6 inches!

 

[Cocoapanda10]

Logged back in here just to browse through some stuff and realised I never gave updates on his condition. If any of you guys care, he completely healed a few weeks after I posted this thread. Most of his had healed after a week afterwards, so I had completely overreacted

I did keep them both together in the same tank as a test to see if any more attacks would be attempted. There have been zero of them since this incident. I have no idea what the aggression was for, they follow eachother constantly in the tank >.>