Illness/Sickness: Axolotl flicking gills after bout of constipation...

[kalnight]

New axolotl owner here! I've had two leucistics for about a week and half. Their diet has consisted of bloodworms mainly but I recently bought some Hikari carnivore pellets on Sunday. Fed them Sunday night (2 pellets each, each axolotl is about 4-5 inches long). I feed them every other day. On Monday, one axolotl was constipated and had a little bit of bloat. By the next day most of the compaction had passed (just looked like organic matter). He was swollen (his cloaca) and uncomfortable of course. He refused food during his constipation. He has been flicking his gills or what I call 'pulsing' his gills about every 5-10 seconds fairly regularly since he was constipated and even now after it's all passed. He did eat two bloodworms last night, though not as greedily as I'd like. I hesitated to fridge wanting to see if it would pass on its own, which it did. They are on large river pebbles bigger than them, no gravel or sand in the tank. My question is the flicking of the gills, this doesn't seem normal. His gills were quite pale until he ate yesterday and they have colored back up ever since then. The other one is acting completely normal. Water has tested out fine at 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and less than 5ppm nitrates. He's not very active either, choosing to rest most of the time and flick his gills. Please advise, I love these little ones and want to do what's best by them! I will be getting more variety into their diet this weekend (earthworms, possibly some minnows).

 

[HayleyK]

Axolotls don't need a variety in their diets. Earthworms every day is the staple and you could treat them every now and again but it isn't necessary.

The gill flick is a way they breathe, sometimes they will do it very rapidly and continuously. If he's scratching at them, then I would be concerned but it sounds totally normal to me.

Gills and their bodies will turn pale when they are inactive or resting. Some kind of stimulation such as food or swimming will push circulation through the gills again which is why they turn brighter.

 

[kalnight]

Thank you for the fast response. The only reason it's concerning me is because he did not do it prior to the constipation and I'm a new mom I will keep on with what I'm doing and start their earthworm diet. I come from a land of breeding shrimp where variety is key so if they are fine with just earthworms I can do that

 

[HayleyK]

I'm sure everybody freaked a little with the first axolotl - they're pretty odd creatures!

At 4-5" I would be feeding everyday. Once they reach approximately full size or anything over 7" I would cut back to every second or third day. It helps their digestion.

If their width is the same width as their head - that's a healthy size. If the body is large then cut back the amount of food, if it's thinner then increase amount.

 

[kalnight]

Thank you! They are on the thin side which makes me want to feed them more but I'm so gun shy with the constipation