Cause of floating?

[Memjay]

Hello!! I’m MJ and I got my axolotl Gizmo in the beginning of April. Recently, I've been having some problems with him, which can probably be figured out based on the title, lol! Gizmo is housed in a 40 gallon tank, fully cycled, really fine sand bottom, a few good places to hide, no ammonia, water parameters all in check (0 nitrites, 10ppm nitrates), 68° (though I’m still trying to cool it down a little more), and along with a lot of live plants. There are no rocks that he could possibly have eaten that could make him impacted, and there are no big bumps on him whatsoever. I don’t believe he is impacted though, as he poops on a normal basis (I feed him everyday, as he is a juvenile.) I really am trying to figure out what the problem is, as he has been floating from his back side for a few days now, however, it’s off and on. Just when I think he’s okay, he goes back to floating as he struggles to stay on the floor without it disturbing him just in a few hours or so. I’ve tried tubbing him for 2 days with 100% daily water changes, and he went to the bathroom just fine (as I assumed maybe he was constipated), however it didn’t solve the problem. I am a bit nervous about having to do any fridging, but I’m not sure, since i don’t really know what the cause of his floating is. He’s not bloated or anything either. I also did a 20% dechlorinated water change recently to see if that helped with anything. So far, i feel like the internet isn’t really helping me and I feel like I could ask here, as it’s worth a shot!

I was also thinking of the possibility of him swallowing air bubbles, or even air being in the European night crawlers I feed him, as I read a post about earthworms having air in them here. I’m not sure though, so any input will help!

let me know if I’m doing anything wrong or need to fix anything!

 

[Egghead]

I think it might be the temp. One of my lotlt was floating since my temp was slightly to high at around 20 degrees celcius, but when i got a water cooler and the temp dropped 15 degrees celcius he was much more happier . also sometimes ammonia can cause them to float but i dont think that is the case.

 

[Egghead]

Sorry i just read he was floating on his back side is there anything in the tank that can cause impaction? other than that i would recommend you tub your lotl in the fridge. Tubbing really helped mine. There are a lot of good tutorials on tubbing online. Other than that i think some axolotls are more sensitive to temperatures than others

Basically I think your best bet is friging. Also can you upload pics of your lotls, that will help

 

[wolfen]

the cause for floating is trapped air, this can be caused by a few things.. surface gulping (normally done if water oxygen is inadequate or the water parameters are off), from food source (this is normally from feeding hard pellets)
always have an air stone in the water to keep the water oxygenated and deter surface gulping, cooling the water will reduce the floating (the cold will have the effect of shrinking the air in his gut), if the floating is really bad (uncontrollable floating, going belly up, on his side etc.. highly stressed, arched back, hooked tail, gills pulled forward) then tubbing in shallow water may be required until it passes.

 

[Memjay]

the cause for floating is trapped air, this can be caused by a few things.. surface gulping (normally done if water oxygen is inadequate or the water parameters are off), from food source (this is normally from feeding hard pellets)
always have an air stone in the water to keep the water oxygenated and deter surface gulping, cooling the water will reduce the floating (the cold will have the effect of shrinking the air in his gut), if the floating is really bad (uncontrollable floating, going belly up, on his side etc.. highly stressed, arched back, hooked tail, gills pulled forward) then tubbing in shallow water may be required until it passes.

Yes! I do indeed have an air stone. I will try tubbing him tomorrow and waiting till it passes. Thanks so much!

 

[Memjay]

Sorry i just read he was floating on his back side is there anything in the tank that can cause impaction? other than that i would recommend you tub your lotl in the fridge. Tubbing really helped mine. There are a lot of good tutorials on tubbing online. Other than that i think some axolotls are more sensitive to temperatures than others

Basically I think your best bet is friging. Also can you upload pics of your lotls, that will help

Yah for sure! I think I might try fridging him. Keeping him in a shallow tub with his tank water for now until tomorrow.

aggh I feel like I’m messing something up! I’m really trying hard with this little guy Haha! (He is around 4.5 inches by the way, and his food is cut up into cm pieces).

 

[Memjay]

Update!!! Luckily I’m up pretty late, and I checked up on him, and it looks like he pooped! and it was floating to, which is probably why he was floating from the tail end… it had an air bubble in it! Hopefully there will be no more floating anytime soon.

 

[wolfen]

only fridge your axolotl if nothing else works and is dead either way, the reason for this is although fridging slows down the metabolism to allow for healing etc.. it can cause organ shutdown/failure, this means that although there are thousands of successful fridgings it always carry's a risk.

 

[Memjay]

only fridge your axolotl if nothing else works and is dead either way, the reason for this is although fridging slows down the metabolism to allow for healing etc.. it can cause organ shutdown/failure, this means that although there are thousands of successful fridgings it always carry's a risk.

noted! Thanks a ton!!