Diego's not himself

[Julie1002]

Ive had Diego for about 3 months now and about 2 months ago bought another axie Javier. I came home from work 2day and Javier was dead. Her health was declining rapidly (her lips were always scratched and she had jost lost half her gills to wat i think might have been Diego bullying her) and I dont remember the last time she ate. But now I am noticing changes in my boy. I can see his stressed and i think its from the heat (he has a curved tail tip but only recently), hes also not responding to his food (I feed him frozen beef heart and he normally reacts to it when its put in to the tank), at times hes flicking his gills constently for about a minute and one of his gills has developed a white tip.

Ive checked the water and everything is fine and i change about 20% of his water every week. I know about salt baths but dont wont to stress him out anymore.

Here are photos of his gills (which they are curved but not from to much flow in the tank)

Can anybody help, he was a gift and Id hate to see him die.

 

[Julie1002]

Ive just put him in the fridge. He was floating then start swimming like he was trying to get out. Any one have any idea wats happening to him?

 

[gr33neyes]

When you say the water is fine perhaps you could go into a little more detail about this.
what are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings, and temperature of water?
More variety in the diet is better too, earthworms are the best option if you can get them, And slugs and snails can also be given as well as prawn and liver.
Did you have both axolotls in the same tank and if so did you quarantine the newest one before you introduced it to the other axie?

 

[digger]

Sorry but your axie is seriously under weight and stressed.
You need to stop feeding it beef heart, this should only ever be given as a treat, and try earth worms, or maybe even pellets.
His body should be approximately the same width as his head.
As for the stress, this is indicated by the curled gills, the fridge is the best place for him and also you should start salt baths for his fungus.
Ensure you keep a bottle of dechlorinated water in the fridge with him for the baths and water changes, also try to cover his container with some thing dark so as the light does not startle him when the fridge is opened.
Whilst in the fridge he will most likely respond better to live food tham frozen.
Also as Becky says you need to get all the parameters on your water read.
NITRITE and AMONNIA should both read zero anything above can cause problems.Please post them here and people will give you advice on them.
Good luck.

 

[Julie1002]

Thanks for the help. Hes in the fridge with some blood worms and an earthworm. I didnt know about the beefheart, bad advice from a petshop. Im cleaning out his tank and will test it again be fore I put him back in.

 

[digger]

Hi again,
just a thought, when cleaning his tank make sure you rinse any plants pebbles ect with the tank water so as you do not kill off any good bacteria, also never change mare than 20/30% of the water at a time as you will restart the cycling process.
Good luck and dont forget to post water test results so we can give any advice that may be needed.

 

[Julie1002]

thanks again. hes been in the fridge all wkd but not eating. im goingg to put him back in the tank 2moro after a 20% water change. Hopefully he will start eating again. Ill post again with the water test results.

 

[Julie1002]

ok water results nitrate 10ppm
nitrite 0ppm
ammonia 0ppm
pH 7
temp 24 and dropping atm

 

[digger]

Hi,
i would say his tank is still to warm, above 20 for any period of time can be harmful espescially to an axie that is not well.
Your parameters indicate the water quality is good and the good bacteria is starting to increase,keep an eye though, once a week testing will help maintain good health.
if the ammonnia and/or nitrite start to rise do 20% water changes again until they are back to 0.
Good luck and please keep us informed on how things are going.
Just a thought, if you can pop your axie in a room that gets minimal sunlight and try to leave the curtains drawn and a window open this can drop the temperature by a couple of degrees.
Drawn curtains alone will derease the heat in the room.

 

[Julie1002]

Thx for all ur help. Here are some photos of Diego, happy and healthy and putting on weight. He now has a varied diet of earthworms, bloodworms and axolotl pellets.

 

[seedy]

Good job Julie.
He looks much better.

 

[Bellabelloo]

Wow! you've been doing a really good job so well done, its great to see the new improved Diego...hopefully he'll fill out a bit more over the coming weeks. Love his cheeky little face.

 

[digger]

Looking great, keep up the good work