Female Axolotl with red toes and floating.

[Firelotlxa]

Hello , I just joined this site and I have no idea how it works ahhh. But I really need to ask everyone about my axolotl’s health. Her name is momo and she’s an albino, recently she’s been floating more often and two days ago some of her toes started turning red. I immediately started searching about it and found that it could be something called red leg. But the redness hadn’t spread at all ever since I saw it so I’m really confused and not sure if it’s red leg or not. She’s my first axolotl and I’ve had her for a year. She’s a year and a few months old. It’s been about 4 days since I last fed her because I didn’t want to feed her while she’s floating, I really don’t know what to do. I prepared containers for fridging and I’ve started fixing my fridge’s temperature for in case I need to fridge her. I’ve never done the fridging before but I read and took notes about it so I think I got it.
the water quality is
25 NO3
0 NO2
16 GH
10KH
6.8 PH
0 Cl2
The tank she’s kept in is an 18 gallon tank and the temperature is about 21 C

 

[Firelotlxa]

I haven’t taken her to a vet or anything because I can’t at all so please keep that in mind as well!
I tried searching for antibiotics for in case it’s red leg in all of the pet stores here but I couldn’t find anything.

 

[Murk]

Do you have a picture of her from above?

 

[Firelotlxa]

Do you have a picture of her from above?

a little update as well: she Just stopped floating but I’m still concerned about the red toes :/

 

[Murk]

I do agree the red toes are a bit strange - but I'm much more worried about how thin she is in general. (Which is why I asked for a picture from above). For a healthy axolotl - especially females - the belly should be about as wide as the head.

Combined with the relatively small gills and the taut skin on the head, she's not looking very healthy.
The floating could very well be a general sign of stress, and stress can cause red splotches on tail and legs as well.

Water parameters look decent (though if you can get us the ammonia value that would help as well).
How much do you feed her, in general?

 

[Firelotlxa]

I do agree the red toes are a bit strange - but I'm much more worried about how thin she is in general. (Which is why I asked for a picture from above). For a healthy axolotl - especially females - the belly should be about as wide as the head.

Combined with the relatively small gills and the taut skin on the head, she's not looking very healthy.
The floating could very well be a general sign of stress, and stress can cause red splotches on tail and legs as well.

Water parameters look decent (though if you can get us the ammonia value that would help as well).
How much do you feed her, in general?

I feed her a frozen bloodworms cube every 2 days as advised by the place I got her from. Should I start feeding her more? I totally thought her shape was normal but I guess I was wrong..
I’ll check the ammonia values now

 

[BenWn]

Feed more than that. She probably needs at least two cubes a serving! Right now, it would probably be difficult to overfeed...
Redness of toes is generally either poor water quality or physical injury. The physiological stress of being underweight could be contributing to the issue.

 

[Firelotlxa]

Feed more than that. She probably needs at least two cubes a serving! Right now, it would probably be difficult to overfeed...
Redness of toes is generally either poor water quality or physical injury. The physiological stress of being underweight could be contributing to the issue.

I’ll work on feeding her more and make sure she gains weight. Would feeding her everyday 2 cubes do the trick ? Or would that be bad considering how much I used to feed her?
I gave her two cubes yesterday and she ate it all.
And an update on the toes, some are no longer red now.
also I’d like to ask if I can feed her frozen shrimps? And how often can I feed her that

 

[Murk]

Until her belly is as wide as her head, I would feed her as much as she can eat!
It's very hard to overfeed an axolotl. If she's full, she'll stop eating.
(It is possible to overfeed an axolotl, but it requires conscious effort. As long as she voluntarily eats, she's not overfeeding).

My experience with the frozen bloodworm isn't great - I feel like they poop out most of it without digesting. Maybe that's why she's relatively thin. See what happens if you keep her on 2 cubes a day; will be interesting.
Great to hear about the red toes, though!

As for frozen shrimp: I feed mine pieces of thawed shrimp sometimes (obviously, remove any shell). They really like it, as they do most "human food" (meat, fish, shrimp). Makes 'em go wild, so it's a nice treat.
Having said that, it's not a good staple food. All of these are very fat and protein-rich, but lack a lot of minerals and other nutrients the axolotls need. In general, creatures that can be eaten "whole" are best staple foods, since they obviously contain the full spectrum of nutrients.

So yes, pieces of shrimp are a nice treat every now and then, but should not be used as a staple food.

 

[Firelotlxa]

Until her belly is as wide as her head, I would feed her as much as she can eat!
It's very hard to overfeed an axolotl. If she's full, she'll stop eating.
(It is possible to overfeed an axolotl, but it requires conscious effort. As long as she voluntarily eats, she's not overfeeding).

My experience with the frozen bloodworm isn't great - I feel like they poop out most of it without digesting. Maybe that's why she's relatively thin. See what happens if you keep her on 2 cubes a day; will be interesting.
Great to hear about the red toes, though!

As for frozen shrimp: I feed mine pieces of thawed shrimp sometimes (obviously, remove any shell). They really like it, as they do most "human food" (meat, fish, shrimp). Makes 'em go wild, so it's a nice treat.
Having said that, it's not a good staple food. All of these are very fat and protein-rich, but lack a lot of minerals and other nutrients the axolotls need. In general, creatures that can be eaten "whole" are best staple foods, since they obviously contain the full spectrum of nutrients.

So yes, pieces of shrimp are a nice treat every now and then, but should not be used as a staple food.

Thank you so much for replying to me Ahh
I’ve been looking more on what I can currently feed her after realizing how thin she actually is. I think I’ll try the shrimps sometimes, right now the only food I can provide her with is frozen blood worms due to what’s been happening with the virus and stuff
I found pellets online that I’ll order from the US and I’ll get earthworms for her as soon as I can as well. I’ll keep monitoring the water quality and do 10% ish water changes everyday to be safe and for it to always be clean !

 

[Firelotlxa]

Until her belly is as wide as her head, I would feed her as much as she can eat!
It's very hard to overfeed an axolotl. If she's full, she'll stop eating.
(It is possible to overfeed an axolotl, but it requires conscious effort. As long as she voluntarily eats, she's not overfeeding).

My experience with the frozen bloodworm isn't great - I feel like they poop out most of it without digesting. Maybe that's why she's relatively thin. See what happens if you keep her on 2 cubes a day; will be interesting.
Great to hear about the red toes, though!

As for frozen shrimp: I feed mine pieces of thawed shrimp sometimes (obviously, remove any shell). They really like it, as they do most "human food" (meat, fish, shrimp). Makes 'em go wild, so it's a nice treat.
Having said that, it's not a good staple food. All of these are very fat and protein-rich, but lack a lot of minerals and other nutrients the axolotls need. In general, creatures that can be eaten "whole" are best staple foods, since they obviously contain the full spectrum of nutrients.

So yes, pieces of shrimp are a nice treat every now and then, but should not be used as a staple food.

hello!!
Just wanted to update you on how much we’ve made progress !
You were right !! The problem was how thin and low on food she was. After feeding her everyday and adding pellets now to her diet, she looks way more healthier !!
No more red toes. No more floating.

 

[Murk]

Ooh, that's great! She does look better. Glad you found a good solution!