Failure to thrive runt?

[ClockworkParrot]

Hello,
Sadly this morning my tiniest copper axolotl had passed away and now I am worried about my other two. I got them all within one day of each other from different 2 different breeders. My copper was always small and never had near the same appetite as the other two who have always been strong eaters. I've had them all for around 6-ish weeks and the one he was closest to in size was near triple his size and my littlest guy had stopped eating for two days despite my efforts to keep food him. He never got anorexic looking and you could never see his ribs or anything to that extreme and he would swim around fine but just never seemed to catch up to the other two.
I monitor every one of my axolotls poops for signs of stress every day and he had been pooping so I know he got some food in him even if it wasnt as much as the other two. He never had any tail or gill curling, no fungus, no lesions, he was never on sand because I was waiting for him to get bigger, his gills were always huge and fluffy. My water levels this morning were 0 nitrite, 0 ammonia, 7.4 ph, nitrate was looking between 0 and 5 and temp was 63 degrees. I always keep the tank spotless and decholorinate my water every water change. Even last night before I went to bed when I did my tank check he looked fine and wasn't acting like anything was wrong.
I have had members of my family who didnt see him every day tell me he never looked to really grow as well. I am just so scared something will happen to my other two but they are both looking to be very fat and happy and I am wondering if anyone thinks this was just a failure to thrive situation since he was looking to be a runt. I had just thought that I would always have an axolotl that I would have to take special care with since he was looking to be smaller.

 

[Jonjey]

Sometimes they just don't grow well and can't make it.
Jeez, coppers are pretty expensive too. I'd tell the person you got them from that they gave you an unhealthy critter and see if they'll send you another. Make sure to show them that your tank is healthy and show that it's not a fault of your own that it didn't make it. Show the other two healthy ones and point out that the water stays within healthy parameters.

 

[ClockworkParrot]

Sometimes they just don't grow well and can't make it.
Jeez, coppers are pretty expensive too. I'd tell the person you got them from that they gave you an unhealthy critter and see if they'll send you another. Make sure to show them that your tank is healthy and show that it's not a fault of your own that it didn't make it. Show the other two healthy ones and point out that the water stays within healthy parameters.

I contacted them this morning though mostly because I wondering if they kept records on age when shipped so I verify he was just tiny (longshot I know). I thought I was having problems with his behavior when I first got him just because he was acting a bit different from day one then my other two and so they do know that something might have been up. I was thinking maybe it was because he was smaller and no two animals will ever be exactly the same so I assumed he was just younger and thats why, but now I am not so sure since he just never seemed to be able to catch up.

 

[Jonjey]

I contacted them this morning though mostly because I wondering if they kept records on age when shipped so I verify he was just tiny (longshot I know). I thought I was having problems with his behavior when I first got him just because he was acting a bit different from day one then my other two and so they do know that something might have been up. I was thinking maybe it was because he was smaller and no two animals will ever be exactly the same so I assumed he was just younger and thats why, but now I am not so sure since he just never seemed to be able to catch up.

I have a runt who didn't eat well and is generally unhealthy, I got him from a a reputable person on this site and contacted her as soon as I realized he was unhealthy and not eating well (He was my first axolotl so it took me a few days to realize something was off.) she sent me some live black worms for free to help get him to eat. Nowadays he is (finally) eating bloodworms on his own. He's about 3" long and is older than my golden who is almost 7" long lol. For a while I thought he was a dwarf but I think he's just slow and it stunted his growth. He's very friendly with the leucistic he shares a tank with though, they get along fantastically!

 

[ClockworkParrot]

I have a runt who didn't eat well and is generally unhealthy, I got him from a a reputable person on this site and contacted her as soon as I realized he was unhealthy and not eating well (He was my first axolotl so it took me a few days to realize something was off.) she sent me some live black worms for free to help get him to eat. Nowadays he is (finally) eating bloodworms on his own. He's about 3" long and is older than my golden who is almost 7" long lol. For a while I thought he was a dwarf but I think he's just slow and it stunted his growth. He's very friendly with the leucistic he shares a tank with though, they get along fantastically!

Oh my goodness that is quite the size difference. I hope he does well!

I was trying to work on switching him slowly to chopped up worms since he was about 3 3/4" and he would eat a little but I let him stay on bloodworms since it was so hard to get him to eat and I would see him eating them every so often. The only real odd sign that made me contact the breeder in the first place was he liked to float, but I thought maybe it was air at first but it was something he just always liked to do. He never struggled with it though and could always make his way back to the ground when he wanted so I dont know if that was anything or not.