Bloated Juvenile (Urgent!!)

[ellarose]

I brought home my second axolotl about 3 months ago. She’s been doing well but is exceptionally floaty. I don’t think I’ve seen her on the ground in the past two or three weeks. Yesterday morning, she was completely normal, but come evening, she was amazingly bloated and floating on her back. We’ve fridged her and offered food which she readily took. She pooped like normal this morning, but has been refusing food all today.

Some info about her (or him):
- about 3-4 inches long
- fed on cut up red worms and frozen bloodworms, mysis shrimp, and brine shrimp. I had lowered her from two feedings a day to one, and gave her a rest day in between earthworm meals since they were particularly large.
- We were keeping her in a tupperware container while she was very small to monitor food intake and bowel movements. I did 100% water changes with dechlorinated water twice daily. She was recently moved into a fully cycled 10 gallon. The day after we moved her, the bloat started, so she’s back in a tupperware hospital.
- I have very large, smooth river rocks as the substrate in the large tank, silk plants, and a smooth reptile hide. Nothing small enough for her to eat, at least I think.
- The water is around 66 F, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 10-20 nitrates. I am now doing daily 100% water changes as she’s in the hospital tank.

I wasn’t too worried as she was eating and pooping normally all yesterday, but the refusal of food today is getting me worried. I don’t think it could be impaction because there’s nothing for her to eat, and there was a normal poop in the tank this morning. I don’t think it’s fluid retention since she is floating so severely. I thought maybe I had decreases the feeding schedule too soon, so I was going to go back to twice daily, but she is refusing to eat now. Any help is appreciated.

 

[losfrijoles]

Could be a bacterial infection or something. The internet also says it could be kidney failure and to find a vet.

 

[mr cyclone]

Does the animal have a visible air bubble in its stomach ? Perhaps the animal has swallowed some air ,or has gas from the food you’ve been feeding ? I can’t tell from the picture but if that is the case I would have her/him in shallow water with plants etc to see if it’s able to remain on its belly until it farts . I’ve had that with larvae of newts. Hope this helps and isn’t a bump steer

 

[ellarose]

Could be a bacterial infection or something. The internet also says it could be kidney failure and to find a vet.

I’ve looked into kidney failure, and I think they fill up with fluid which causes them to sink. I’ll look more into bacterial infections, but she has been doing much better (thank God!). Thank you for the response

 

[ellarose]

Does the animal have a visible air bubble in its stomach ? Perhaps the animal has swallowed some air ,or has gas from the food you’ve been feeding ? I can’t tell from the picture but if that is the case I would have her/him in shallow water with plants etc to see if it’s able to remain on its belly until it farts . I’ve had that with larvae of newts. Hope this helps and isn’t a bump steer

Yes there’s visible air. It has been going down slowly over the past couple days. She’s burped up quite a bit of air and is no longer upside down. I think my main problem was moving her from constant fresh water to cycled water with some nitrates in it. That might have caused her to swallow a lot of air. Thanks for your reply!

 

[Calgarycoppers]

Keep her water on the cooler side if at all possible and feed higher fat easily digestible foods.

Id suggest thawed raw salmon/shrimp and or Repashy bottom scratcher or grub pie