Illness/Sickness: First timer - Axolotl vomiting

[amy88]

Hello Everyone

I baught my first axolotl, Stampie, last Wednesday. I was advised by the pet store owner to feed my axolotl steak, beef heart, worms etc. I started feeding him with steak. He gulped down 2 small peices on Thursday and then on Saturday. He then refused to eat and looked bloated and started floating at the top of the tank all of a sudden. I came home today and his tank water was really murky and he was still flaoting on the top of the water and had a large lump on one side but looks really thin. I put him into a seperate bucket so i could clean his tank and take some photo's to post to find out what was wrong. He started gulping lots of air and about 5 minutes later he vomited up the peice of steak i gave him the other day. Now he is bloated on the other side, still floating and i think he is waiting to vomit up the other peice. I am really worried i have all sorts of pets and i love them all, i don't want to cause my axolotl any harm! Any advice would be appreciated. See pictures in my album - http://www.caudata.org/forum/album.php?albumid=485

Thank you

 

[bradley]

Hi
It seems you have a problem and to be honest I dont know much about it but i must say ive never heard about feeding your axolotl steak if I were you I would avoid steak from now on.

brad

Good luck with stampie as he (apart form the bump) is a awsome axie

 

[tuxar linuxarmy]

wel feeding steak isnt an good idea ,its not healthy your axie wil have an very hardtime digest it and it will cuase bloat and stress. and steak is to fat it wil cuase liver kitny problems even death. best is natural food daphnia earthworms -also know as nightcrawles- tubifex and fish like neon tetras guppys - from 20 days isolation to prefent paracites-black worms blood worms.
other food but not natural but healthy is brin shrimp wel if its so good i wonder becuase an brin shrimp is salter then an gulp sea water.

wel i dont got an link but there is an good foods and nutrians link on caudata.org there you can see whats best and also wat good and bad sides are of foods.

i hope i was helpfull

tuxar

 

[amy88]

Thanks brad, i dont know why i would be told to feed him steak, especially after reading so much on what to feed them. I have only found 1 or 2 sites that mention feeding axies steak.

 

[bradley]

No problem as it sounded pretty serious.What I feed my axolotl is half a cube of frozen beef heart (defrosted of course) and i also feed him the odd guppy earthworm and pellets (not at the same time of course). You may find in some pet shops actual pellets that say axolotl food (there the pellets i have ).


Brad

 

[bradley]

was the steak cooked or raw?

brad

 

[amy88]

raw and is 21-23 degrees to hot for him? i dont know how to cool the tank down, it sometimes gets down to 19.

 

[Jacquie]

Hello Amy,

Loss of appetite can be caused by many factors. The usual culprits are issues with water quality, impaction, and stress (often a combination of these).

Water quality:

Do you test your water for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and pH? (Ammonia and Nitrite are highly toxic).

Water quality is most important to an axolotl's health.

Do you conduct partial water changes? How much water do you change out each time, and how frequently do you do this?

Are you being dilligent in removing left over food and wastes? Axolotls are very messy creatures.

Impaction:

Gravel substrates smaller than two centimeters in diameter should be avoided with axolotls. When swallowed (the axolotl WILL swallow them), these stones can cause a blockage in the gut which is called 'impaction'. While impacted, the axolotl will not be able to eat.

Stress:

What is the tank temperature? (The optimum temp range for axolotls is 14 - 18C, they will 'tolerate' up to 23C (as long as the water parameters are perfect), temps above 23C are deadly to axolotls.

This article provides many helpful tactics on keeping an aquarium cool for your axolotls.

Are there any water currents going on in the tank? (Axolotls prefer still water, and find any water movement to be highly stressful).

Diet:

Earthworm is the most ideal staple as it contains all the nutrition an axolotl needs in one wriggliing package, or if you are reluctant to feed live food, salmon pellets (or pellets for carnivorous fish such as trout pellets) are an acceptable diet.

Fine slivers of steak or beef heart should only ever be fed to an axie as an occasional treat.

For ideas on an acceptable diet for your axolotl, I would recommend you read this article on earthworms, and this one on acceptable food items for your axolotl (if you wish to add a little variety).

For now...

I would suggest you fridge the axolotl. Fridging will help destress the axolotl, assist in the clearing of impaction (gravel), and will also slow the metabolism so the axolotl will not need to eat (the weight loss is also slowed right down). This will buy you time to ascertain the problems and correct them as needed.

A guide to fridging: http://www.caudata.org/axolotl-sanctuary/Fridging.shtml

 

[bradley]

The temperature is higher than normal and could be lowered by mabey using the ice bottle tachnique which is were you fill the bottle to 80% capacity and freeze it overnight then the next day float it in the tank and moniter the temp as you dont want it to cold as this can cause them to become extremly sluggish and will move rarely.The axolotl would be ok in these conditions though and probably dont have to do anything if it close to 17 degrees it should be fine.

brad

 

[ianclick]

Hi Amy,

It sounds like the pieces of steak were to big for your axie to handle. I feed my axolotls thin worm like strips of steak on occaision as a dietry variation and they love it. I have been doing this for a couple of years now without incident.

I agree with Jacq about the fridging.

Good Luck

 

[slimer]

gravel is not a good substrate for you tank if you have axolotls.

 

[Darkmaverick]

Hello Amy,

I would say with 90% certainty that your axie has a problem not directly related to the steak but rather impaction from the gravel substrate you are currently using. The body shape and bulge highly suggest an impaction. I would recommend you remove the gravel and keep the tank bare bottomed or with freshwater sand as the substrate.

Fridging is the way to go for now. http://www.caudata.org/axolotl-sanctuary/Fridging.shtml

Steak itself is fine as a treat and should be trimmed of fat and cut into fine slivers. If possible slice it such that it is about an earthworm in shape and size. Feeding huge portions of untrimmed animal fat is not good. High doses of animal fat can cause a painful inflammation of the pancreas called pancreatitis. This happens in all carnivorous or omnivourous species of animals. You can avoid that by feeding nutritious staples of earthworms, pellets etc. instead of large portions of fatty treats.

Cheers.