Brand new and sick axie ? :-(

K

k

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Hi Guys

Please could anyone help ?

My axie was bought from a shop that kept him on gravel. I haven't noticed anything before but the first day I got him (about 2 days ago) he seemed fine and ate 2 worms. The next day (yesterday) he was sick. By sick I mean he even brought up food that he must have eaten while he was still in the shop as he brought up what looked like bloodworm (which I hadn't fed him but I know they had). Today his stomach seems a lot thinner but it also appears to bulge in 2 places. Does this just happen sometimes or is he likely to have gravel stuck in there somewhere ? I don't recall my partners axies ever having these bulges ... or being sick like this poor guy was. I have seen them kinda regurgitate stuff before - but this one appeared to be being sick the way humans are (like he had no control over it and I could see right down through his mouth)

Anyway what he had been fed was I redworm (small earthworms), which he wolfed down, and it wasn't until later in the night that he was sick.

He has eaten another worm since he was sick and as far as I can see that one has stayed down.

Attached are some pics. Apologies about the quality.

Any advice would be appreciated. I am just worried about the bulges. Water quality is ok although ammonia is at 0.25 which I am correcting through very regular water changes. The other thing I have is a test strip to check the level of everything is - and the results (according to the manufacturer) say they are fine. I can't actually see anything on this site that says ideal levels of each chemical (apart from pH) - so it would also help if anyone has them handy .. ?

Anyway here are the pics - thanks again ...
57365.jpg
57366.jpg
 
Could be gravel blockage, he may try to regurgitate it out, if that doesn't work it will probably try and work its way out the other end! You could always put him in the fridge, min 5 deg celcius, and see if he poos it out, could take several days, and will also regurgitate anything else left in his stomach. You will need to do complete daily water changes with dechlorinated water of same temp. Keep a bottle of dechlorinated water in fridge so its same temp. Also, wrap container in towel to stop temp spikes and block light when fridge door opens/shuts.
 
Thanks Kapo - have heard the fridge thing mentioned a lot for sick axies - how do lower temps help them regurgitate stuff ? I am a little worried now as that's what he appeared to do yesterday - he brought up everything he had eaten since he was in the shop (I found out yesterday that the shop had sold him to someone who a few days before I got him brought him back). I am guessing that what he brought up was everything he had eaten since he had been in the shop (where the largish gravel was)/ I am also a little worried as I think it would be too big for him to sick up .... :-(. The woman in the shop (who was just helping out) said that she had seen the 2 of them eating gravel but that normally they spit it back out again. Hmmmm !!! Not sure what to do now ? If he casn't get it our either way I guess it's not good news ?? :-(. If it's just too big could I ffed him on something smaller like bloodworm and would he be ok ?
 
The lower fridge temp slows down their metabolism which can help them. When we first put our axies in fridge I didn't realise and fed them just b4hand and within 1/2hr of being in fridge they regurgitated everything plus whatever was half digested! Not too sure why they regurg in the fridge but cud be to stop the food rotting in their stomach. All I know is it happens (sure someone else will be able to explain) and they definitely poo out; may take several days tho. On the other hand we have axies that were on 2cm width gravel over 7mths ago now, that still poo out gravel onto their sand substrate.
 
Poor thing ! well this stuff was about 1-1.5cm. Is that big enough to poo out then ? The poor thing is not that big himself ! Bit worried about putting a pet in the fridge ! Is the gravel he is on now ok do you think ? It's only a little bigger than the sand ...
 
So Kapo - in the fridge do I not feed him anything I guess until it looks like he has stopped bringing food up ? Will his colour change or anything while he is in a colder temp ? Don't want to scare myself ! :) And if I DON'T feed him while in there what's the longest he can go without eating do you think ?
 
I can't decide what to do - if he eats again and isn't sick maybe he is going to manage to poo it out himself without the fridge ?
 
Sorry, been out most of day, hence no reply sooner :D. But anyway, when you do a waterchange, if you keep in the fridge, you can offer food then. On the other hand you could see how he goes just in his current tank. As long as he is eating, and seems ok apart from the lumps. And yes he will eventually poo out that size gravel, tho not necessarily overnight, and you shud spot it on your substrate. (As I mentioned b4 ours still pooing out odd gravel, even found another one today while cleaning their tank, ours are on sand so it sticks out.) How old/big is your axie?
 
Hi Kapo :)

Sorry I don't have net access either so can't get on all the time. I would say he is about 2 inches. I tried him on worms again but he won't go anywhere near them now (possibly to do with being sick and / or possibly to do with realising that if he has a blockage he won't fit a big worm in there too ?).Anyway I knew the shop I got him from had fed him bloodworm and daphnia and being that they are much smaller than earth worms I got some of these today. I put in the bloodworm and he wolfed it down - so I am thinking as long as he is eating he might be ok ? So far (about 3 hours) he hasn't brought it back up ... :)
 
If he starts to regurg just cut back slightly on his feeding, ie the amt you are feeding. With earthworms you can cut them in smaller portions, b4 feeding them.
 
Thanks Kapo - I tried that yesterday - much as I hated cutting the poor thing up ! Anyway I dangled it right in front of him and he grabbed at it then spit it straight back out - lol ! I will get another type of worm this week to see if that goes down any better.I am trying to put both worm and bloodworm in at the minute as worm by itself just got ignored after his first expereince of vomitting it all back up - poor thing !
 
if hes only 2 inches i dont think hed be able to pass gravel that size, those are pretty big bulges but you can try and help him with the fridge. good luck and make sure you let those pet shop people know what they did!!
 
He hasn't eaten for 2 days again - i can no longer see the bulges - but maybe because there is no food pushing them out ? He has no interest in the bloodworm now either - although he still seems pretty active (or at least as active as he always was - lol). Think he's just generally pretty quiet ! I will see if he eats tonight ... no floating probs or anything though ... does anyone know of a really small kind of earthworm ? I hate cutting them up !
 
All my small worms come from our worm farm or compost heap, which is in 3 x 2litre icecream containers (3 because each of my kids wanted to look after and feed their pet worms!) The small worms are the baby worms which our axies love. Once a worm farm is established there is always a ready supply of big / small worms and worm eggs.
 
hopefully hes passed them, have you seen any stray bits lying around? keep us posted!
 
No I haven't and getting a little worried now - going to poat a separate post :-(
 
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