Floating baby axie

[sbeleno]

Not sure what to do.. it's just floating
I change the water daily etc

But one of my axies are floating on its belly or upside down

I've tried frigging but no luck...

It's been pooing but not as much as my healthier axie.

Please help!

 

[GalLuvsAxolotls]

Do you have an air stone in your tank? You axolotl may have swallowed air, and you will need to wait for him/her to burb the air out.

Would you be able to add a picture?

 

[sbeleno]

There as you can see in my wild type axolotl it is still floating and quite bloated. His right gill doesnt prop up unless I lower the water level, but the level is already so low. I've noticed some small dots in his abdomen, I can't tell if they are bubbles or not. My leucistic axolotl (its sibling) has done a lot better than the wild type. It's a lot larger in size (they were pretty much the same size when I got them as larvae) but I've seen it float as well with its right gills stuck to its side (before photo). Right now, the leucistic axolotl is doing fine I think... he is not floating anymore, and both gills are propped up. However, after doing a water change this morning he took a few bites and now does not want to eat. Usually he would devour the blood worms I give him. No airstone in the containers that they are in.

Wild type axolotl: Floating, right gill stuck to side when floating, past 2 days did not want to eat. smaller in size compared to his sibling

I have tried: lowering water level, also fridging. I don't really want to fridge again since I've heard it can cause a lot of stress to smaller axolotls...

Only food I provide them is mostly frozen bloodworms, before they were eating frozen spirulina brine shrimp... but I think they like the bloodworms more.


Few questions:

1. How should I go about this?
2. When can I move one of them in my 20 gallon tank (its cycled and ready to go)
3. Any other tips



Thank you!

 

[GalLuvsAxolotls]

Sorry the wild type is not doing well still!

1 - I would just do supportive care at this point like you are doing. Keep the water really clean, offer food regularly, etc.. If you could get your hands on some live black worms, your axolotls would probably love those!
2 - You can move them pretty much any time as long as the flow in the 20g is low enough. However because they are so small, you should target feed them in there (put food very near them in the tank) or they may have trouble finding it.
3 - You could try adding a plant or cave to the container of the one that is having trouble. Maybe that would help him/her be more comfortable?


IME, I have had some that size fail to thrive (one of the reasons I will not sell until the babies are 2-3x that size). I hope this is not the case for you!

 

[sbeleno]

I hope so too! It is my first time having axolotls and I'd love it if both of them grow up their entire life span! I plan on moving at least my leucistic in the 20 gallon in a few weeks or so once I give it a good clean. I do have a few more questions though if you don't mind!

I've attached a few more pictures:

1. What do you think of my leucistic axie? Is he looking good? Just keep feeding him and changing the water?

2. I have 2 kinds of sand in my 20 g tank, the grain of one is slightly larger than the other. The finer grain of sand looks fine, but I'm hesitant about the bigger size one as it may cause impaction? Should I just clear out all sand and maybe just buy a bag of the finer sand?

3. The wild type axie has a huge belly, was wondering what this is? what caused it?

THANK YOU I REALLY WANT THEM TO LIVE AND BECOME BEAUTIFUL