anonymousaxolol
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Axolotls will do that, they have lungs and gills. It is nothing of concern unless it happens very often(every 5 minutes) in which case means she is not taking on oxygen from her gills. That there is a source of concern. If her girls look burnt, than it is an ammonia issue, I would go to your lfs and get a general test kit. If her gills are long and stingy it is good, if shorter filaments and less, than bad.Okay, I have had my axolotl Lucie just on a week now....
To my astonishment I found two small pebbles in the tank last night! After changing the décor and removing the gravel they were definitely not there before. So she must have passed them. Needless to say I'm grateful for the advice given here.
Lucie has been very active, but has not seemed distressed or frantic.
The best news is that I've got her to eat this morning.
I gave her two very small earthworms. It seemed as if she had never seen a worm before as she approached it and even followed it carefully around the floor of the tank as they wriggled away from her before snapping them up like that.
She has been quieter too today, not moving as much, so perhaps she was in discomfort anyway poor thing. As we are getting to know each other it will be easier to interpret her behaviour I guess.
I know it can be some time for an Axolotl to pass the gravel so I'll be keeping a close eye on further developments and have in the mean time familiarized myself by reading up on fridging as a treatment.
The next issue I need to tackle is getting a water testing kit, to keep an eye on the water quality, now that the most immediate issue seems to be improving and Lucie at least is eating something.
I have another question regarding her behaviour. Every now and then (there is hours in between) Lucie seems to come to the surface of the water to "gulp some air??"
Is this usual or a sign of trouble?
If this is resulting from water quality I am on to sorting that out. (Taking it one step at the time, since she was a rescue and has unexpectedly ended up here, we are learning as fast as we can.) But what exactly in the water would be causing this behaviour if there is anything?
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