Floating, refusing to eat and pale gills

[Triana]

Hi.. I'm New here and I will exuse my English to start with. I understand better than i write.

My axie is floating. She dosent seem bothered by this really but it makes me nervous since she doent want to eat.

How long can she go without food? its been like, tree days now, normally i feed her a litte every evening and sometimes in the morning. She is about 17 cms long.

The floating really doent seem to bother her, is this good or bad? should she be struggling to get down to the bottom? the aquaria is not very deep but i could lower the water more. Im also worried that her gills are not as red as they usually are. She is albino and used to have really pink gills but now they are almost as white as her.

she keeps taking in air and spitting out bubbles... is that bad? I guess thats how she swallowed the air, she keeps doing it.

the temp rigth now is 20 C if it gets warmer i will move her to the summer aquaria in my study.
She lives alone with three Ampullaria Snails.
the water readings are normal.
The water here is not chemically cleaned but comes from a well. Its no problem with it, i drink it myself every day.

Should i move her to the summer aquaria? The temperature in my study is probably around 10C and i read i should keep her cool until she had passed the air, so she shouldent be stressed, but she dosent seem stressed at all.

 

[blueberlin]

Hello Triana,

I'm a relatively new axolotl owner so you're sure to get more info soon but this is what I know so far:

Floating is often a sign that your girl has swallowed something small enough to fit into her mouth but bigger than the other end, where it has to come out. A common culprit would be pebbles or stones used to cover the bottom of the tank; axolotls suck these in when feeding and don't always spit all of them out. (And have you counted your snails recently? ) To the best of my knowledge, she will have to pass the obstruction herself, which will take time and will cause her stress. Often an axolotl with such an obstruction will not eat.

Adult axolotls can go a good while without food, but you can also put her in a container in the refrigerator. The lower temperature will slow her metabolism so that she doesn't get too hungry while you wait for her to pass the stone (or whatever, but "obstruction" is such a long word to write). You will need to change her water daily while she is in the fridge, and should keep extra water bottles in the fridge, too, so that the water is the same temp as she is. It's good to wrap/cover the container with a towel, too, to minimize disturbance (light and temp changes) when the door is opened.

As to breathing, axolotls can indeed breathe air through their mouths. Their lungs are only rudimentary, though, and so normally they breathe through their gills and their skin. If your girl is gulping air, she might be having trouble breathing "normally". Have you checked the quality of your water regarding nitrate and nitrite? Do you have a filter for the water?

In any case, welcome to the Forum!

-Eva

 

[Triana]

well i got fine sand on the bottom.. no gravel and these snails are almost twice the size of her head.. she can impossibly eat them... actually she dosent even nibble on their antenna like fish do...

Yes that was what i asked.. should i move her to the summertank.. to move her to the study this early in the spring would be the same as keeping her in the fridge.

I got a big external filter and yes the water is perfect. no test is warning and the ph is good.

I think it probably is the temp... checking today its acctually 25 c in here... but i have opened the doors to the rest of the house and the temprature is dropping in here. the room is so small that the heat can build up.

 

[Triana]

Hmm he is eating the snials food.... Ill try to give him some of the mudskippers artemia (brineshrimp) and if he dont whant that ill take in some live shrip from my ponds... (since we drink wellwater there is no pesticides or stuff like that in the ground)

 

[blueberlin]

Hm, then I'm all out of suggestions. Lucky you to have a free supply of food, though, mine are costing me a fortune. I'm going to have to start breeding my own. Was hoping to avoid that, but I have larvae and they are hungry little beasts.

 

[Triana]

Well i think he has both swallowed air and this room is heated of some weird reason.... ill try to get the temp down otherwise ill move him out to the study were its colder.

Btw... he dont want brineshrimp but tryes to eat the snailfood with all his migth.... quite odd behavior. I would give him more snailfood but it sorta sticks to him so he gets more on him trying to eat it of the surface than he seems to get in his mouth.

 

[blueberlin]

I don't know what snail food is - I thought snails are vegetarians?

 

[Triana]

Well these are pretty big.. they need to get fed otherwise they starve. I got a lot of plants but they only eat already dead plants that have started to go soft... I feed them fishfood sometimes for vitamins but mostly they eat what my axie leaves.. sorta the cleaning-crew

Ampullaria:
http://www.triana.nu/akvarium/mellan/amp/5.jpg
http://www.triana.nu/akvarium/mellan/amp/1.jpg

 

[blueberlin]

Wow, they are pretty big. Not much chance of an axie eating them, is there?

 

[Triana]

she has gotten much worse... much much worse.. she dosent want to move anymore.... I think my little brother migth have trown leca-balls in the water... my stepmother have cleaned it out.. she didnt even care to tell me. I just sit crying now... I have put my baby in the fridge and now i acctually are scared for her life, i wasent scared before....

Now all my stepmothers damn plants are going out of this house.. i hate having her stuff around and that it actually migth be the reason my baby is so sick makes me so mad.

 

[blueberlin]

Oh no! That does not sound good at all!! (What are leca-balls?)

Is there a nearby veteranary doctor you can call? One with experience with amphibians?

 

[Triana]

leca balls is like a substrate u have for potted plants.. its balls of burned clay.. its air in them so they float. If they was in the aquaria for a vile im sure the axolotl would try to eat it.... they are round and ca 1 cm in diameter... Its really to tempting for a axolotl.... and i have been scared of giving him big foodpellets.. Do you know if he will be able to get it out in some way?

No... None that i know about but i will check it out in the phonebook.

 

[blueberlin]

Well, round is good, right? How big is your axolotl, anyway?

Just call the vet closest to you and if s/he doesn't know about amphibians, ask him/her to recommmend someone for you.

 

[Triana]

Yes... Round is really good.

She is an adult 17-18 cm, dark tips on her toes.

Yes.. ill call now i have some numbers.

 

[blueberlin]

Ok so 1 cm also doesn't sound too bad, right? Uncomfortable and difficult, yes, but possible 7 passable, right? And clay isn't poisonous, right? I just looked it up, leca balls are also used as substrate for frogs, so it can't be poisonous, right?

 

[blueberlin]

Please don't cry, and please don't hurt your stepmother's plants or your little brother. This will work out, you'll see.

 

[Triana]

no its not poisonus.... im just scared.. some of the balls are a bit bigger... some of them are like... two cms.. not in diametre but in lengt.. like they are one cm on one side and 2 cm on the other. I can't express it better in english. Im just afraid.. does anyone know how big things they can pass?

Im a bit calmer now.. i have eaten a lot of chocolate and stared into my other aquarias...

i have called five veterinarians now.. one answered, he diden't know anyone to recommend. I will keep trying so i at least know somebody from now on...

I just dont get it... i dont have plants in my room and i really didnt think my brother could open this door... it dosent have a handle on the outside, u have to grip it on top to get it open.. well... i guess fiveyearolds can be persistant...

No i wont hurt anyone as long as she is alive... if she dies i will coonsider some kind of adding to that big revenge Im plotting (my life rigth now is like a sinderella story... my step-brother is five and he got the new cabin dad had built for me... im twenty and living in a shoebox, his room is tree times as big as mine... and he isent even my fathers child.)

 

[blueberlin]

I have 5 brothers and sisters. I know what you mean.

I don't know the actual maximum size according to body length, but if it goes in, it must come out, right? It's just going to take him awhile. Since you will be changing the water daily while he is in the fridge, you'll see if he's passed anything. You can try offering him food but often they don't eat much or at all when in the fridge. He'll be ok. So will you, if chocolate helps.

 

[Triana]

I don't think she will make it... im not even sure she is alive anymore... before she was so still i tougth she was dead then she moved... but now im not sure... and i do understand that when you cant really see if a creature is alive thats a losing battle... well we did have a good couple of years... and i loved her so dearly...

 

[blueberlin]

Is she in the fridge? I forgot to mention, put her in just enough water to cover her so she doesn't float. Let her sit and rest, then, if you keep opening the fridge it's going to keep turning that bright light on her.