Illness/Sickness: Fairly sick little guy.

[Static89]

My partner and I rescued this little guy from a family. we didn't quite know how bad he would be, and we sure didn't think he would be this bad.

The information we got off the people is they had had him for 4 months, and he wasn't eating.

We didn't see the setup he was in, and that is seriously all the info we have on him.

the set up we have him in at the moment is a 45cmx30cm tank. with a filter and spray bar aimed at the wall. with a fake plant under the spray bar to defuse the current. for a hide we have a smallish plastic pot being held down by 2 rocks, he has enough space to move around if he wish's, we have a fan pointed at him to keep the water cool. ( we have had a pretty bad heat wave here, today was 41C) his behaviour has been a bit erratic, we have found him laying upside down 3 times since we got him ( last night). Fearing the worst we give him a gentle nudge and help him to right himself and he is back on his tummy.

he sometimes decides he needs to try and swim fast, and flails around for about 30 seconds- a minute,

we have offered basic garden worms, and some blood worms aswell now, i have tried to tempt him closer with the garden worms, useing a pair of tweezers to shake the worm and get it to his mouth for him. he bites, but then releases. we have not seem him attempt to eat anything without assistance.


We are a little lost as to how we should begin treating him. he obviously needs help but we are a little unsure the best wat to do this. any ideas would be great.


Pics should be below.

 

[esn]

That is awful. I'm not qualified to help you with this, but I hope someone can.

 

[Minniechild]

Poor little guy !
One thing to try as a first measure(although it has the potential to be expensive) is blackworms. Although you could get a few day's supply from your LFS, Perhaps try this Australian BlackWorms - which should give you a slightly longer-term supply at a much better price.
To feed, get a pipette from the art shop (if you've got a Riot, Teacher's Choice brand are 6 for $6), suck a few mL up and squirt right in front of his nose. You could also smash up some soft pellet mix (there are some good mixes on here, so search the forums) and squirt in front of his mouth- it looks like anything with a fighting spirit's not going to be edible for him at the moment.
Hopefully someone will be able to add some more advice- considering how skinny he is, I'm not sure fridging is going to be a good idea , but keep your head up!

 

[Static89]

Poor little guy !

Hopefully someone will be able to add some more advice- considering how skinny he is, I'm not sure fridging is going to be a good idea , but keep your head up!

i think his main concern is putting on weight, fast. and form what i have read, fridging will slow down his metabolism and lower his hunger.

 

[Minniechild]

Yes, and it's the slowing of the metabolism, and enhancement of his ability to regenerate that may be of benefit in this case, however, I do agree that in this case it's going to be putting on weight that will pull him through. It's just going to be avoiding secondary infections which may be an issue whilst he's in such a bad condition, and as fridging is often a core part of treatment for an axie, it's important that we cover it as it relates to this case.

 

[Static89]

Yes, and it's the slowing of the metabolism, and enhancement of his ability to regenerate that may be of benefit in this case, however, I do agree that in this case it's going to be putting on weight that will pull him through. It's just going to be avoiding secondary infections which may be an issue whilst he's in such a bad condition, and as fridging is often a core part of treatment for an axie, it's important that we cover it as it relates to this case.

so find something that he will eat/force feed him ( preferably not) and then once he has put on some weight then fridge him so he can regenerate and then go back to feeding.?




Edit: thanks for your help guys, but he has given up. im guessing the stress of the drive and me attempting to coax him into feeding got to him. aswell as the new surroundings/ water affected him enough to finally end his suffering.

Mark.

 

[Olivia97]

So sad to hear! I'm glad you tried to help. What gets me is how they thought this was normal

 

[NeekaLovesYou]

This is so, so sad It's devastating when you try everything to help them to have no avail. I had a similar situation with a juvenile I rehomed for someone. She was deathly underweight and in terrible condition generally. Thankfully, I've still got her and she's thrived since she's been with me. As said, I can't believe people see them ill, emaciated, etc.. and think it's the norm. Kudos to you for trying to help him, I'm just sorry things didn't turn out for the better.

 

[Minniechild]

May he swim in the Great Lakes <3. You guys did the right thing in trying to help him- he was very lucky to have someone like you come into his life, even if it was only for a little while.