Axolotl mouth problem?? :(

[WooperLooper]

Hi, i got an axolotl a while ago and has been fine, eating perfectly etc.Physically, he looks fine.
But when I went to feed him today, he went for the food but for some reason , he did not suck it up, he just came to it and made little movements as if he was trying to eat/suck it up,but nothing happened and after a while he gave up and swam away. I tried later but the same thing happened. Please help someone
I think there is somethign wrong with his mouth becuase he acted as if he was eating it (when they go for the food) but his mouth just could not open I think he was trying hard to eat and and pls help i dont want him to die slowly.

 

[Kaysie]

Strange. What is your setup like? What kind of substrate do you have? How warm is the tank? What are your water parameters?

 

[WooperLooper]

Hi well because its a small juvenile i keep it in a small tank but is big enoughwith no filter ,but change the water every other day e.g change on monday, change on wednesday. sometimes i change it everyday. I feed it on bloodworms, sometimes pellets and bloodowmrs in some weird nutritous jelly. The tank water temperature is about 19-20 degrees, sometimes 16.

 

[Kaysie]

How big is the juvenile? Is there any way the 'bloodworms in goo' could be sticking his mouth shut? By the way, I've used this before, and found it way more annoying than useful. It made a MESS of my tank.

Have you ever tried feeding something live, like earthworms? I would try to offer it something else, live, like an earthworm or a waxworm, and see if that changes things.

 

[WooperLooper]

He's quite young, and about 5-7 cm im not sure............
Yeah you might be right about the bloodworms in goo thing, but i have not used them for a while because i had the same problem as you so i switched back to frozen bloodworm and the pellets he loves

 

[WooperLooper]

I think you may have been right about the bloodworm goo.
Using a pair of tweezers gently as i could, i opened his mouth for him\ and the whole time he stayed completely still i think he knew i was trying to help ;D
after that i help it open a tiny tiny bit for a couple of seconds then put him back in the water (he was in my hand. He had some oxygen bubbles in his mouth an d those came back and he moevd his mouth around a bit. Later im going to feed him and thanks for your help
Hes much more lively now btw

 

[Kaysie]

I hope it all works out well!