Illness/Sickness: Axolotl on back at bottom of tank

[abd6017]

I need some advice and I have been unable to find anything. All that comes up are axolotls floating upside side, which she is not.


History: On November 7th I found my 4 year-old axolotl, Princess Smaug, on her back at the bottom of the tank. I flipped her over, she crawled a few steps and flipped again. I flipped her one last time and she was fine until she swam up the side of the tank and flipped a third time. I put her in a shallow container (over her gills) in the fridge and she has been upright since then.


I've had her since she was a little baby. She's in a 100 gallon tank and her 3 sisters are perfectly fine, water perimeters are in spec. So I am at a loss.


Today (11/17) I figured that since she had been upright for over a week, I would try to put her back into her tank. I put her in a slightly deeper container out of the fridge to start the return to tank process. I took my dogs for a walk and came back to find her... upside down again.



So she's back in her shallow container in the fridge and I need some help. Has anyone seen this before? I know axolotl's don't have a swim bladder, but that's the first thing my husband suggested. She's perfectly fine otherwise, but she can't stay right-side up. I might set up a shallow hospital tank but she seems to be fine in the fridge for now.


I have a vet that I take my other exotics to (chinchillas, rats, reptiles), I don't know if they see axolotls, but I'm going to look into it. My main reason for this post is that I want to know what I'm dealing with if anyone else has seen it before. I worry about her quality of life and that it might be time to put her down, but she was my first axolotl, she's my baby and I'm not quite ready to give up yet.

 

[Hayleyy]

Okay first I have to comment on the name. Probably one of the best names I've ever seen :lol:
Can you attach some pictures of her? Is she bloated at all or normal? You said she's acting perfectly so she is eating and pooping?
I wasn't entirely sure what it could be so I did some googling. One thread I saw on here says it can happen from not eating enough. A picture should tell me if this is right, but how often is she eating?
My first thought was she may have ingested too much air or is having digestion issues. Which I would either lower the tank temperature or fridge the axolotl at around 10 degrees.
Other than fridging for digestion issues I read something a while back where people coat some kind of food in oil. I'm taking a look now to see if I can find exactly what it was.

 

[Hayleyy]

Found it as soon as I replied, ha. If she is constipated some people coat wax worms in olive oil. If she isn't pooping it may be constipation so either this or fridging should help.
If she is pooping normally it could be air. Keeping her in shallow (covering the whole body) cool water should help.