Female not eating - could it be temperature related?

[kjnorman]

My normally very gregarious and ravenous female (~2 yrs old) started going off her food about a week ago as the weather here really started to warm up, and hasn't eaten anything the past few days.

Ironically, my normally shy and retiring, finicky male has been ravenous and super active since about the same time.

I use bottles of frozen aquarium water to keep the temperature down, but there was a day last week where it was quite warm and I was out much of the day - since then its been hard to get the temperature down and keep it down, its been hovering around 21.5 C and 22 C since, which I know is high. Today I got it down to under 21 with a partial water change followed by ice bottles, and the weather is cooler now so hopefully it will stay that way.

Nothing else has changed in the tank or with their routine. Substrate is a mix of sand and large river rocks, bigger than head size. I have some guppies in there as well. And like I said, the male in the same tank is doing fine, better than usual even. (Yes, I'm sure I haven't just got them mixed up :happy.

So my question is - would an axolotl react to heat by going off her food?

Otherwise she seems fine. She is still nice and round, no injuries or fungus or anything that I can see, gill colour good. She still moves around, but less than normal. When I offer food (live or blanched worms, she usually loves both) she looks up at the food but makes no attempt to eat it. Has anyone experienced anything like this before?

 

[keiko]

Any sudden temperature changes may cause stress to the axolotl which might lead to her not eating. When using ice bottles or replacing some water with colder water you need to be careful that the temperature doesn't change too much too rapidly because that can be even more stressful than the slightly higher temperature than normal. Axies can tolerate 22 C temperatures for short periods of time just fine (but not much higher than that).

As long as there isn't anything else wrong with her besides loss of apetite, you can just keep an eye on her for now. Axies can go quite a while without eating if they are stressed.

 

[auntiejude]

In a word - yes. Axies often go off their food when they are too warm (or too cold). It can take them a while to regain their appetite, so see if you can cool the tank down, keep offering her foo and she'll take it when she's ready.

 

[Liz Roome]

I would expect that higher temperatures over a longer period of time of if the temperature yoyoing a bit. My Axies are never put off by anything I have a fan cooling gently so it doesn't drop suddenly, but even though it was approaching 22 when I got home, I fed my babies and the big guys were up at the top begging for food too. Insane.

 

[kjnorman]

Thanks for the reassurances

The temperature has not been yo-yo-ing very much - the tank warms from the ambient temperature almost as fast as it cools so it barely changes temp at all. It was cool last night and I left a window open next to the tank. This morning it was at 20 C. I've been slowly adding frozen bottles to gradually cool it a little more - I think if I get it down to 18 or 19 it will be easier to keep it down.

Already she is seeming more herself - coming out to say hi and swimming up the surface to gulp air and blow bubbles like she normally does. Still not eating but perhaps showing more interest - I will keep offering.

We got the AC installed yesterday as well, so hopefully the house will stay cooler now, and now we have a spare fan I can blow over the tank if need be.

Thanks again - nothing like fellow axolotl lovers to calm your nerves