Illness/Sickness: Advice for air bubbles/bloating in young axolotl

[jkpetey11]

I bought three young axolotls 4 weeks ago. They all seemed to be flourishing in their tank, a 10 gallon about to be moved to a 30 gallon, with fine sand, dechlorinated water, a filter with minimum wake, and water under 68 degrees. I was feeding all three about a block and a half of frozen blood worms everyday, but I noticed two days ago that the smallest of the axolotls was having a hard time staying down. I read it is common for the younger, small ones to float so I wasn't too worried. But yesterday I noticed him wedged in between a couple rocks and when I fed them he came out but shot straight up to the surface and went upside down. I did previous research before getting them and knew about air bubbles and bloating, but don't know how to differentiate between the two. So I put him in a small plastic bowl with dechlorinated water and put him in the fridge covered by a towel. Can you guys give me any more advice as what to do and if they are air bubbles or if he is bloating? He's about 3-4 inches long too. Wasn't sure if I was supposed to feed him while fridging him so if not do tell. Also he threw up immediately some sand when I first put him in and has excreted quite a bit more since last night while in the fridge.

 

[allied123]

Well the common opinion here is not to have babies under 5 inches on sand because they can get impacted when they're that small and especially when they're eating directly off the sand. I suggest feeding jars and even then I'd probably remove the sand because they do tend to just snap at anything and then just inhale a bunch of sand. That being said fridging does induce throwing up and usually they won't eat when being fridged because their metabolism slows down. I'm going to assume since you said you did research that you looked through the fridging guide on here (if not you should go look at it, super useful information!) and you know he should be left for a minimum of three days I think because the temperature changes are very stressful.

Personally I think you should probably just keep him in a small tub so he can easily reach the top until he seems to stop floating (I understand they usually grow out of this?) and maybe put a towel or some floating plants in the tub so its a little darker and he isn't so stressed being in the tub. Also, try searching floating in this sick forum, there's several threads talking about similar problems that might have better advice for you, good luck with your little guys!

Also please look into cycling and regularly check your water parameters (ammonia, nitrite and nitrate as you didn't mention them) if any of those are too high it could very quickly start causing problems in a ten gallon with three axies

 

[jkpetey11]

Thank you for your advice! I did research on substrate for axolotls, but didn't even think that it would be bad for the youngins so I'll take that out immediately! So you do think that it is air bubbles and not bloating? Because I heard bloating requires vet attention while air bubbles will dissipate over time. So it is ok that he will not eat for over 3 days even at such a young age? Because he is already smaller than the others. Again thanks for your help!

 

[charleybambino]

I second the advice given. Personally I would not fridge such a young axolotl.....just give it time .....and cool, shallow water

 

[HitmanSougo13]

I had a little girl with the same problem. When they get bigger they overcome that but you do not need to fridge them. It is not sick just can't balance. You can put the axie in a plastic tub like you are now (only I would get one that has more surface space for the axie to swim around in) into the tank so you don't have to worry about water temperatures and cycled water. It would be good if there is something to rest the tub on while in the tank so it doesn't float around. You will have to have replace the water daily in the little tub but that won't be hard.

 

[jkpetey11]

Thank you for all the advice! I have moved her to a small, shallow tub with cool water and hopefully we will see some results. I'm going to try and get her weight up as well because she was always a little thinner than the others. I think she wasn't able to compete as well with the others for food. But thanks again for your help! I was just pretty worried that she wouldn't make it but I feel better that you say its quite common.