Question: Axolotl is acting strange; suddenly afraid of food

[oop]

Hello!

Some background information: My axolotl is a little older than a year now. I got her back in March 2017, so I got to know her quite well and can usually recognize abnormal behaviour. I normally feed her Nightcrawlers three or two times a week, which she seems to enjoy. Her water temperature is kept between 16-18°C which is why she doesn't eat too often.
About a week ago I tried to give her an earthworm which was dug out from my backyard. (There's no chemicals used in the soil of my area.) I washed the earthworm with tap water and tried to give it to her. Usually, she responds to food by lunging at it but as soon as she noticed the earthworm she dashed across the tank and tried to avoid it at all costs. She seemed quite stressed by the situation so I took the worm away and let her calm down for a bit. After a few hours she ate her usual meal (nightcrawler) without a problem. She seemed to act normally throughout the rest of the week. However, I noticed that she had a few spots on her tail that were bleeding and a small tear on the top her back (closer to the head). I believe she got them while she was racing around the aquarium. It's gotten a bit better since but I am still really worried about this.

Today she was initially acting normally. She responded to me and followed me around as I walked past her tank. However, when I tried to feed her with her usual food, she reacted the same way she did to the earthworm and constantly dashed as far away from it as possible. Additionally, she was afraid of my hand and the turkey baster that I usually use to clean the tank (which she loves to attack sometimes). I am really worried about her, she's usually eager to eat after a few days. Her gills are not curled forward but she is currently huddled in a corner in a U position.

Is it possible that she's sick? If so, is there any way to confirm it? What should my next steps be? Is it possible that she is afraid of her meal because of the earthworm experience? Should I change her food? And finally, is there anything I can do about the tear on her tail and the blood spots?

I appreciate any advice. Thank you for reading!

 

[mdtaylor]

Hi there!
Can you give us your pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate readings? I imagine everything's stable if you've had your lotl for a year, unless something caused your cycle to crash, but... Any recent water changes?

Mine got spooked once when the pH in the tank changed too fast (it was low and I tried to bring it back to neutral too quickly). I've also seen at least one case where somebody did a water change and didn't properly dechlorinate the water (by accidentally using something in a similar-looking bottle instead).

It's certainly stressful when a critter whose behavior you know perfectly does something unexpected... hopefully by the time you read this, she'll have gotten the skittishness out of her system.

I'm a little new to all of this so other people might have more hunches! Post the water parameters, just in case, and good luck!

 

[mdtaylor]

Oh, and a photo might help too!

 

[Hayleyy]

I second all of the above.
Do you know what kind of earthworm it was? The ones in my area (red wrigglers) emit a nasty smell/taste that some axies don't like (makes your hand smell too). The same thing happened to me but Bucky ate his usual nightcrawler right after spitting out the wriggler lol.
If you don't have any tank mates the injuries are probably from moving around the tank. Double check for sharp objects in the tank. These should heal fine in optimal tank conditions

 

[oop]

Hey! So sorry for taking so long to respond. She ended up eating the nightcrawler a few minutes after I posted this thread.

Here are the readings:
pH - 7.6
High range pH - 7.4
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 0ppm

She's hiding right now so I'll try to provide the pictures later!

 

[oop]

I don't know what kind of earthworm it was but I was thinking the same thing. She had a similar reaction to when I cut a worm (that was not a nightcrawler -- I think it may have been a red wiggler) in half when she was smaller but she ended up eating it anyway.

 

[Hayleyy]

Do you usually have 0 nitrates? Or did you just do a big water change? A healthy tank often has some trace of nitrates.
Great that she ate!!

 

[oop]

Yes, I normally have 0ppm or close to 0ppm. Never anything over 5ppm. I usually do a weekly 25% water change but yesterday I did a 50% change because I was worried something was wrong with the water. Also, thank you very much for the tip! I ended up removing a decoration that had a rough surface which was most likely the cause of the injuries.