Axolotl Regurgitating Pellets

[Slime]

Hello, recently my axolotl Zero has started regurgitating her sinking carnivore pellets. They're Hikari brand and I was feeding her about 5-6 pellets every other day. I've fed her baby nightcrawlers before, but I haven't done that recently because I ran out of them a couple months ago. She started regurgitating pellets the week before last, but she was only regurgitating a single pellet when she did as far as I could tell. She did this a couple more times over the last week, but it was still only a single pellet. When I checked on her tonight she had regurgitated 3 pellets and they're mostly intact. She looks like she's getting a little fat so last time I fed her I waited an extra day and gave her 4 pellets, thinking she might be overeating, but then this happened. It seems like she hasn't been pooping as frequently, I'm not sure if that's because of the colder temperatures. She did poop last week and it seemed like she pooped a fair amount. I'm not seeing signs of stress as far as I can tell, her girls aren't curled. It does seem like she's been hiding in her cave a lot. I have pictures of her I took today and the pellets she threw up, apologies for the algae on the glass, it's hard to get rid of and only seems to come off if I use something to scrape it off. She also just ate two of the pellets she threw up as I was writing this post before I could remove them, I removed the last one just in case. What's going on with her? Is she sick?

 

[wolfen]

do a full test on your water parameters including kh gh, add 2g/l non-iodised salt to the tank water.
it seems like she is trying to eat but due to the increase in size may be having difficulty doing so, if she continues to increase mass she may need to see a vet, this could be as simply as being gravid but because her legs are also looking slightly swollen may need testing for edema.

 

[michael]

Try feeding less often. The larger axolotls get the less often they should be fed. Hard pellets can swell inside the axolotl if gulped and cause digestive problems. Soft moist pellets might be better. My best guess is the axolotl has to much food in it's digestive system at any given time.

 

[Slime]

do a full test on your water parameters including kh gh, add 2g/l non-iodised salt to the tank water.
it seems like she is trying to eat but due to the increase in size may be having difficulty doing so, if she continues to increase mass she may need to see a vet, this could be as simply as being gravid but because her legs are also looking slightly swollen may need testing for edema.

I got some test strips and they're a bit difficult to read, but this is what they said:
Nitrates: 0 ppm
Nitrites: 0 ppm
pH: Around 7.5 (Might be slightly more basic than this, it's hard to read)
KH: Around 120 ppm
GH: 180 ppm (The test strip doesn't go higher than this)
I remember when I had a freshwater aquarium before the water hardness was very high, so I'm not sure if that's normal or not. I should also mention that she's not regurgitating all the pellets she's eating. Before she regurgitated a single pellet a couple times over the course of the week, it was only last night that I found 3 in there.

Try feeding less often. The larger axolotls get the less often they should be fed. Hard pellets can swell inside the axolotl if gulped and cause digestive problems. Soft moist pellets might be better. My best guess is the axolotl has to much food in it's digestive system at any given time.

Are the pellets I have the right brand? I used to feed her 2 baby nightcrawlers every other night, but I haven't fed her those in a while since I ran out. I did notice she was getting bigger when I fed her 2 worms each feeding. Should I be varying her diet more also?

 

[wolfen]

ideally liquid tests are better to use than sticks due to accuracy (although a test kit does tend to be more expensive but normally includes ammonia test which is quite expensive, kh gh tend to be sold separately), if correct then your ph is good as is your kh and gh.
the hikari carnivore pellets should be fine for axolotls but just like most pellets they aren't as healthy as a balanced meat based carnivore diet ie.. worms, fish, shrimp etc..

 

[Slime]

She seems to be doing better, I've gone down to feeding her 4 pellets every 3 days instead of 4-5 pellets every other day. I also got some baby nightcrawlers for her and I'm planning on feeding her 1 (cut up so it fits in her mouth) each feeding in place of pellets for a bit. She threw up another time last week, but this time she only threw up one pellet again. I am a little concerned because it still looks like she threw up pieces of a pellet today, not the whole pellet though.