Help and advice on our pooly little Malibu

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LotlG

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Hi, We are new to this sight and really hope someone can give us a little help and advice. My son ( who is 11 owns two Axylotl’s Malibu ( who is white) and Tequila (who is black) They are his pride and joy. He got them last July for his birthday, and looks after them pretty well. Anyway Malibu has always been a bit sluggish and his little gills have never got very fluffy or been very pink. The two of them have always got on very well and we have never had any problems. A few days ago we noticed that Malibu was under the pump, not one of his usual places to go, the next morning he was minus a front right leg and his front left leg was limp. I called our vet ( we also have cats and chickens ) and he gave me some advice, but he admitted that his knowledge was not great on Axylotl’s and has given me the number to a more specialised vet, only trouble is they cant see us till Monday. L
We are not sure what we need to do in order to keep him as healthy as possible till Monday..:-S I am hopefully going to attatch some pics as we have been keeping a diary to watch his progress. We left him in his tank the first day but during the night I had thought he died, I even got a box to put him in, but he was still alive, phew..J Not sure if it was too difficult for him to get up for air. So after reading some forums we took him out of the tank and he is now having some time out in a sandwich box. Bless him, and that sounds so wrong, but he seems pretty happy, al be it very poorly looking. We have been changing his water every day, and have tried feeding him, ( bloodworms) up until today he has been eating, infact the last two days he has eaten more than he usually does. Today he was not interested. Anyway we noticed that yesterday his left hand/foot had gone totally white, and today it almost looks bruised..L poor little thing is not looking too clever, however he is moving around still. I have checked the PH of the water and its fine and the temp is pretty cool too, unlike his tank which we are in the process of figuring a way too keep cooler for when he returns into it. If anyone can give us advice with what we should be doing if we aren’t doing things right that would be great..I have read so many different things to try and do I'm a little confuzzled what to do for the best...but I guess every situation is different…
Sorry for the very long winded post..but thanks for taking the time to read..J Hope someone can help..:) xox
 
Hi, there

We are pretty new to the forum as well (our boys got some axolotls for Christmas this year and are in love with them as we'll!) and there are people with more experience who can provide further advice/support for Malibu. Generally, it helps to provide some pictures of injuries and information about your water parameters/temp to help the forum give you the best advice. That being said, we've had two biting incidents with our axolotls - one very recently - both resulting in injuries to the legs of one of our guys.

The first time we took the injured one out and put him in the fridge to heal. The fridging probably wasn't necessary in hindsight and he is healing just as well this time being in clean, cool water. If there is any concern that the injury to Malibu is from being bit, I think you are right to separate him from Tequila until he's had a chance to heal. If you will keep him in the separate container until you are able to see the vet, then it's best to continue with daily 100% water changes with dechlorinated water and keep him as cool/consistent temperature as possible. It is also the right thing to keep offering him food, he may eat some/may not but it's good to keep trying.

The thing I've been told to watch for is any sign of fungus. If you see fungus starting to grow on Malibu's injured legs, then you may need to take some further action. There are quite a few threads on here on how to deal with fungus. Here is one with some photos of what fungus looks like. http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...m/f58-sick-axolotl/89331-fungus-question.html

I'll let some of the more experienced people give advice on how to treat the fungus if you find any on Malibu, as I haven't had to do it before.

We have placed a tank divider in our aquarium to keep our guys separated while the injured one heals. It's just a piece of Perspex with holes drilled in, but does the trick. Our little guy is healing well in the tank this time. We've been keeping the temperature down with an aquarium fan, which works well, and could maybe help keep the temperature lower in your tank if you don't already have one. There is a lot of information on keeping tanks cool on the forum and if you have a quick search, you may find some other ideas that work well for you.

Hope Malibu gets better soon!
 
Hi Peatea,
Thanks for your response and advice, sadly we lost Malibu Saturday afternoon, :-( We thought he had gone when we woke up he was very lifeless I have to say, but with a little tlc and patience he seemed to come round..was the wierdest thing, few hours later he was moving about and popping up for air, he actually looked better than he had for days so we popped out for a couple of hours and when we got back he was definately gone..we have one very sad little boy on our hands..I did try to post pics but think I just created an album..I'm really rubbish at forums.
Thanks again :) xox
 
So sorry - for you and your son. I can only imagine how devastated he must be...

Take care
 
Me again! I just had a look at your photos on your profile (yep they are there!). I am by far no expert, but Malibu looks extremely skinny and his gills look concerning. These things may have contributed to his passing and it would be great if someone with a bit more experience could provide some insight so you can make sure Tequila stays in the best of health.

One thing that gets talked about repeatedly on the forum is that gravel the size shown in your photos can be dangerous for axolotls. They can swallow anything that isn't bigger than the size of their head and then become very ill from impaction. If the gravel is currently in Tequila's tank, I think you would get a great deal of advice from the forum to remove it and use sand or a bare bottom in the tank instead - particularly if he eats pellets off of the floor.

Hopefully someone else will have a look at your photos and provide some further advice/support if needed!!
 
 
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I do agree with peatea. Little Malibu was very underweight, maybe having the injury on top of this was just too much for him.
I am wary of using gravel, it may get accidentally eaten and can hide dirt. I would personally remove it and have either a bare bottomed tank, or well washed children's play sand.
What do you feed your axolotl and how often?
 
Wow thanks for the advice. We did ask several pet stores before we got them about what to get etc etc and this is the set up they advised. We were a bit sceptical about the gravel at the time, :-S we will change it asap.
We were also advised to just give them bloodworms every other day. Which is what we have been doing. ( 1 cube each) They also said we could feed them mussels and prawns, but they were never keen on them so we have always stuck to bloodworms. Before his accident he wasnt that skinny, although he has always been the smaller of the two :-( feel really bad. I'm so pleased that I found this site just a shame I didnt find it sooner.
Quick question, we have just noticed this afternoon that Tequilla's rear end is floating. If that makes sense. Not sure if he usually does that :-S we have become very paranoid with him.
Thanks for teh help..:) Its much appreciated..:) xox
 
First off, I want to say I'm so sorry for your loss :(

Second, when their rear end is floating, it usually means they have to poop or they have "gas" :p

Third, I wouldn't constantly feed them bloodworms. Try buying some living earthworms at a fishing supply store, it's much better for them.

Also, I want to press the fact that this isn't your fault. A lot of pet shops are known to give bad advice, unfortunately... But you found your way to this forum. From here on out you can get some decent advice and help :)
 
Sometimes, when an axolotl is due to poop, its bottom end will float :wacko: The best food for adult axolotl is earthworms, if your garden is chemical free, these should be fine. ...maybe you could tempt your son to go worm hunting :D
 
This was posted by someone else on the forum and may be a quick and easy way for you and your son to keep an eye on Tequila's weight....

'A good way to check if your axolotl is a good weight is that their tummy should be as wide as their head (above view)'
 
Thank you all so much for your help, my little man didnt need much convincing to go search for earth worms, and Tequilla loved it, :-D how many should we feed him? his bum is still sticking up..should we be woried yet?
We have emptied the tank of all stones, and have decided to leave it bare bottomed, its looking a bit cloudy, but not too bad, we ended up doing quite a big water change, we did take Tequilla out while we did it as he was freeking out a little bit, poor little thing. I have checked all the levels and I think all seems ok.
pH is 7.6
Ammonia ( i think is 0) its pretty clear in colour. It does say it should be yellow.??
Nitrite is 0
Nitrate is also 0
The temperature is about 15 degrees, which is a lot lower than it was. Is this is a safe temperature to put him in or should we wait for it to warm up a little??
Sorry for so many questions, I am super paranoid about getting it right..
 
Any temperature between 14°C and 20°C should be fine. Just make sure that the temperature difference between his temporary tank and his main tank isn't too large, sudden large temperature changes stress them out.

And the whole bum in the air thing... it should be perfectly fine, as long as you still find poop every now and then, it just means his system is working :)

How many you should feed... That's a bit difficult to say. Most people just go by feeling, and judge how much to give by the way the axolotl looks. A great guideline (as said above): "the axolotl's tummy should be as wide as its head"

If it's much thinner than that, you can definitely feed him plenty of worms every day, no problem. He'll refuse them when he's no longer hungry. It's better to have a slightly fat axolotl with some reserves rather than a skinny one ;)
 
lol..this is one is by no means skinny, he certainly loves his food, always has..:-D I have to say he sure does love these worms...think my little man is loving looking for them too, he is a typical old school 11 year old..:-D
Cool we will warm the tank a little bit more before we pop him back in, thank you so much for your help, you must all hate people like me asking so many silly questions...:-/ Thanks again, its really appreciated..:)
 
Nobody hates these questions :)
It just shows that you care about your pet and want to provide the best possible care :)
 
Thankyou...:)
Is 3 degrees to big a change for him? Just done temp check his big tank is 14 his temp tank is about 17..:-/
 
It'll be fine, gently acclimatise him first. I'm glad your son enjoyed the worm hunting, and that Tequila ate them :lick:
 
Tequilla back in his tank and seems very happy..:-D He sure is loving the worms..and the boy child is loving finding them..:-D
Thank you everyone for you help over the last week..its very much appreciated..:-D Sure I will be back again soon to get advice on adding another lotyl to the tank..:)
xox
 
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