Illness/Sickness: Axolotl Sick? She's Not Eating...

[ecshopland]

Hi Everyone, wish I had a more positive first post on this site!

I got my baby axolotl, Goose, around February. She has been healthy for quite some time but dropped off in the last month. Here's the summary:

In June, I noticed that Goose was very pale and that her gills were getting really small and dark. It turned out to be due to water quality. I fridged her until she started to recover, removed the sediment from the tank (it was holding onto all kinds of waste that I couldn't get rid of), got a better filter, completely replaced the water and cycled it, and made sure that the water was the right temperature. Goose is currently in the care of my wonderful boyfriend, and was recovering well and regaining her appetite until this week. Suddenly she is refusing to eat and often spits out the food after trying to eat it.

Here are the current tank conditions:
-Temperature: 67 F
-Tank located away from direct sunlight
-No sediment
-Water parameters are normal and ammonia is 0 or as close to it as possible
-Waste is regularly taken out
-Goose is offered food twice a day
-Current food is frozen bloodworms (because she's still pretty tiny). I feed them to her with large tweezers.

Until she got sick, she was eating really enthusiastically! Now she barely eats one worm, if any. Please help!!!

 

[KumquatSquats]

can you try and do smaller more frequent feedings? after a bout of illness it might be hard to eat much in one go but if they will eat a few each time it might help them get their strength back quicker

 

[Hayleyy]

Are you able to get any live food? Blackworms are great for young axolotls. Live food might tempt her to eat.

 

[GemCityAxolotls]

I second what Hayley mentioned. Frozen foods are hardly beneficial to axolotls. And Blackworms are generally for axies smaller than 3 inches long. If you got yours in February, it should be plenty big enough to be eating regularly on red wigglers or nightcrawlers. You can keep a pair of "worm scissors" next to her tank to cut the nightcrawlers smaller so they are easier for her to eat. But maybe a more nutritious diet wouldn't be a bad place to start. Keep us updated!