Axolotl not eating, sulfa treatment?

[megan]

My axolotl Monty stopped eating a few weeks ago. I have had her for about two years, and she has NEVER refused food before, so this was very alarming. She would snap at the worm, and take it into her mouth, but then "chew" it a few times and spit it back out. I tried some other foods with similar results. Her tank was fine as far as water chemistry and temperature were concerned. I put her in the fridge, hoping that she would get better.

After about two weeks, I let the water warm up to room temperature overnight so that I could try feeding her. She snapped at the worm very unenthusiastically and spit it back out. I asked a friend that works with salamanders if she could recommend anything, and she recommended tri-sulfa tablets, which are unavailable in my area. I did find a product made for aquatic reptiles and amphibians that contains sulfa products - it's a chalky block shaped like a turtle, and the packaging says it will last 45-60 days in a 20 gallon tank. It contains most of the same things as tri-sulfa tablets, as far as I can tell, so I broke off a tiny piece and put it in the fridge tank with Monty. It's only been in there for two days, so I haven't tried feeding again yet.

Can anyone tell me what might have caused my girl to stop eating, and what I should do now? She's normally very healthy, and this is the first time I've had to put her in the fridge. Also, it's probably been about a month since the last time she ate, but she's been in the fridge for most of that - how much longer can she go?

 

[jennifer]

What was her usual feeding schedule before she stopped eating? And for how many days was she refusing food before you fridged her? It is quite normal for an axolotl to "go off food" for a few days, or even weeks.

I don't think it has hurt her to be in the fridge, but it may not have been necessary. Is her weight still good, and no other signs of illness?

I have no idea what the concentration of sulfa is in those turtle blocks. And I'm not convinced that medication is going to help, or even be necessary.

 

[megan]

I went out of town for a week, and I had a friend come over to feed her. She normally got half a large earthworm every other day or so. (I only gave her half because she has a deformed gill on one side, and if the earthworm is whole she seems to lose it through the gill slits on the deformed side.) Sadly, the friend that I got to feed my animals turned out to be kind of a ditz, but that's a whole other story!

When I got home, there were several pieces of live worm in the tank - she had been spitting them out all week. Since she can be kind of picky about feeding time, I thought maybe my friend wasn't doing it right, but I couldn't get her to eat for four or five days after that, so I stuck her in the fridge. At that point, she probably hadn't eaten in about two weeks.

She's been in the fridge probably about 3 or 4 weeks now, and she did poop the other day. She does not look like she's lost any weight, thank goodness. She does look really really red, but I heard (and it makes sense) that this is due to the higher oxygen content in the colder water.

The picture is from several months ago, you can see her pudgy little belly and her short gill!

 

[karrie]

Just a thought , do you think she might of eaten one of the smaller stones in the tank?

 

[megan]

I suppose anything is possible, but I really don't think she did. There are only a few that are even small enough to fit in her mouth. She has never shown the slightest interest in them before, and I palpated her belly just to make sure - no bumps. Also, she seems to be pooping normally, just not eating. Just to be on the safe side, while she has been in the fridge I have cleaned out the tank and I'm going to replace the rocks with sand before I put her back in.

 

[karrie]

Have you given her some thing like ghost shrimp I think they might be called glass shrimp? You can put them in the tank and let them run around her. She might like that or have you given her beef heart, wax or meal worms. The meal worms have jaws you need to cut the heads off first.

 

[jennifer]

I don't want to accuse your newtsitter of anything, but there is a chronic tendency on the part of petsitters to overfeed aquarium animals. Did the sitter also see the axie spit out all food that was offered? And is there any chance that the sitter was offering MORE food than usual?

The possibility that I'm considering is that she overate for a few days, then refused food for a while. Since being in the fridge, her metabolism is down and she still doesn't need to eat yet.

Karrie's suggestion is also possible. If the sitter left some uneaten pieces of worm in the tank, she could have accidentally injested a stone as she was rooting around trying to get at a piece of worm between the rocks. Axies tend to eat by indiscriminate gulps. I think the only way to diagnose this would be an x-ray, but that costs $$.

If she doesn't have other symptoms, and the temperature and parameters in her tank are still good, I'd be inclined to move her back to her regular tank.

 

[megan]

Well, the petsitter told me (once I'd already returned home, of course, and it was too late to do anything about it) that Monty had refused all her food and spit it back out, but that she (the petsitter) had just left it in there. She had strict instructions to feed half a worm every other day, and she didn't seem to like handling the worms, so I don't think she would've overfed the salamander... but this girl was a dink.

Jennifer, I would love to try what you suggested and put her back in the tank, but it has been dismantled for the moment so I can clean it thoroughly and replace the rocks with sand. I will have to put it back together and cycle it before she can go back in it. Also, we're in the middle of a heat wave right now, and my apartment doesn't have the best AC, so I think she's better off in the fridge at the moment than living in her plastic transport container at room temperature. I will work on getting the tank set back up so I can put her back in ASAP, but it will take a while.

Update: she seems inclined to snap at food, but immediately spits it out like it tastes bad or her mouth hurts. Any thoughts on that? Also, one of my original questions that has not been answered: how long can she go without eating in the fridge before I need to get really worried?

Thanks for the help, everybody. I really appreciate it, especially since you guys don't seem to think it's as serious as I was worried about.