2 year old male not eating.

[Lotlfalafal]

Hi everyone!

I am new to both this forum and to axolotls and am desperately seeking some guidance/advice.

I adopted 2, two year old male axolotls September 9/22. They had been kept in a 20gallon long and appeared to be in good physical shape when I brought them home.

I spent about 8 weeks cycling a 55 gallon and moved them in last weekend. Since the move - 1 of my boys has completely stopped eating.

Tank specs: 55 gallon, 75 Tidal HOB filter, 2 Eiheim air bubbles running in a 400 pump. Substrate is fine sand. Moderately planted. I’m running a Baoshishan water chiller and it maintains 63f at all times. Both the chiller and the HOB are baffled using sponge. I see no plant movement so I’m assuming this is acceptable in terms of flow for them!
I have 2x 20” nicrew dimmable spectrum LED lighting units installed over glass hoods. I keep low light on as they have 3 hides and plants to retreat to. These are kept on from 8 am to 6pm and then blue spectrum from 6pm to 8pm before lights out.

Water tests: as this tank is newly cycled, I have been testing daily to ensure the cycle “holds”- I use Prime for water changes (and continue to dose Stability until I have consistent robins egg blue nitrite readings)
0 ammonia, 0 nitrite (I have been having to do a 30% water change every 3rd day as just a hint of purple appears) and 10-20ppm nitrates.
pH is 7.6 and high pH is 7.6

Since moving them to their new home, I have seen some really crazy mating dances ( first thought they were fighting until I watched some YouTube videos and confirmed - mating!) I have never seen them behave this way in the other tank. This has gone on for several nights in a row, coinciding with Ray’s apparent anorexia. Could this be the reason??

I have been traditionally feeding night crawlers and red wrigglers, every other day. The male in question has always been my good eater so this is very frustrating. I have tried cutting the worms up, blanching them. I have tried 2 different type of pellets (Hakari and Alot’l Axolotl brands) I have tried thawed bloodworms and mysis shrimp. I feel he IS hungry because he will snap at the food but then spits it right out. He’ll do this a couple times before eventually outright refusing and goes away to hide.

I see no signs of illness to either ‘lotl. Healthy, fluffy gills free of fungus. Lovely body condition (head same size as belly). No missing limbs or toes. Dorsal fin and tail in tact and look free of injury or fungus.
There has been no floating, no tail tip curling, and no real gill curling in either boy. I have found some poop in the tank but have no idea who “dealt” it so I’m assuming impaction is not the issue.

What am I doing wrong here?? I’m desperate to give them the best life possible. I have kept fish and frogs for a few years now and so I’m not a stranger to the nitrogen cycle, or general aquatic diseases.

Any advice or guidance would be so greatly appreciated.

Thank you for reading and I look forward to your replies

(I have attached a photo of their tank, and mostly Ray - the melanistic(so) - who isn’t eating.

 

[Autistic Catholic]

You say you don't know who dealt the poop so that means impaction could still be the problem. Is it possible he swallowed one of the tank decorations and became impacted as a result?

 

[Lotlfalafal]

You say you don't know who dealt the poop so that means impaction could still be the problem. Is it possible he swallowed one of the tank decorations and became impacted as a result?

I have nothing in the tank smaller than their head; I have a handful of large rocks that I glued to crafters mesh and buried in the sand. I made sure to use only rocks larger than a hens egg you’d buy at the grocery store. And I do check them regularly to make sure they’re still glued down. I promise I did my research when building the tank.

 

[Lotlfalafal]

I forgot to add in my original post - I used roughly 40 guppies during my cycling process and they were removed prior to introducing the axolotls. They were my own guppies I bred over the last two years

 

[Autistic Catholic]

What about the moss ball or the plants?

 

[Lotlfalafal]

What about the moss ball or the plants?

Moss ball is still there and in tact and the plants all seem to be as well. I suppose it is possible he could have gotten some Java fern though!

If you were me, would you start with the assumption he’s impacted? And if yes - where do I go from here

 

[Autistic Catholic]

I'd work to rule out as many things as possible. We've ruled out everything related to water conditions. If he is impacted, you may need to see a vet. I'm not sure but I think fridging helps constipation if he is constipated. Another thing it might be is a bacterial infection but since he looks healthy, it may not be that. You might consider quarantining as a pre-caution though.