HELP! Axolotl vomiting and having trouble to swim up!

[LeoTheDoctor]

in the past 45 days my axolotl has been having some issues. First, one day he wasn't able to swim up to the top of the tank to get air. He tried and gave up. I helped him get air once and he seemed to be relieved. After a few minutes he pooped and seemed even better. He was able to go up after pooping. I realised that it was due to feeding and decreased his food. I used to feed him every day because Frankie's aquatics did, but I think it was a bad choice. Now I was feeding him once every 3 days. He seemed okay for some time, but last week, after I fed him, he was having troubles swiming up again, except this time, trying very hard he was able to get to the top and get some air. It seems that now every time I feed him he has difficulties to swim up and get air. The worst happened now, I fed him about 11 hours ago and he was trying to swim up right now and couldn't make it. After that, he started to open and close his mouth a lot until he vomited basically all the food I gave him today. I'm very worried about him, please I need all the help I can get.

He is 9 months old. I feed him pellets made specifically for axolotls and he has always loved it.
There was a change in the size of the pellets in the last two weeks. I bought a bigger size, but gave him less of them. I think I didn't get the amount quite right. He has pooped more or less once every 11 days. I think I'm going to lower the amount of food and observe.

-there is no substrate in the tank

What should I do and when should I try feeding him again?

 

[AMurry24537]

in the past 45 days my axolotl has been having some issues. First, one day he wasn't able to swim up to the top of the tank to get air. He tried and gave up. I helped him get air once and he seemed to be relieved. After a few minutes he pooped and seemed even better. He was able to go up after pooping. I realised that it was due to feeding and decreased his food. I used to feed him every day because Frankie's aquatics did, but I think it was a bad choice. Now I was feeding him once every 3 days. He seemed okay for some time, but last week, after I fed him, he was having troubles swiming up again, except this time, trying very hard he was able to get to the top and get some air. It seems that now every time I feed him he has difficulties to swim up and get air. The worst happened now, I fed him about 11 hours ago and he was trying to swim up right now and couldn't make it. After that, he started to open and close his mouth a lot until he vomited basically all the food I gave him today. I'm very worried about him, please I need all the help I can get.

He is 9 months old. I feed him pellets made specifically for axolotls and he has always loved it.
There was a change in the size of the pellets in the last two weeks. I bought a bigger size, but gave him less of them. I think I didn't get the amount quite right. He has pooped more or less once every 11 days. I think I'm going to lower the amount of food and observe.

-there is no substrate in the tank

What should I do and when should I try feeding him again?

It's interesting to me that your axolotl needs to go to the surface so often. I know different axolotls have different quirks, but mine, for example, has only ever tried approaching the surface when the oxygen content of the water was really low due to an improperly functioning filter. May I ask what kind of filter you use in your tank?

Can you give more info on the food (brand, number of pellets typically given, method of feeding, etc.)?

Also potentially helpful information: what are the parameters of your water (temperature, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate)?

Does he show any signs of bloating or skin irritation, especially around the cloaca area? Pictures of him would also be ideal so we can see his size/weight (preferably both top down and side view photos).

For now, I'd recommend tubbing him in a shallow container (just deep enough to have him be fully submerged), do a 100% water change every 12 hours or so, try feeding him in a day or two, and see what happens.

 

[LeoTheDoctor]

It's interesting to me that your axolotl needs to go to the surface so often. I know different axolotls have different quirks, but mine, for example, has only ever tried approaching the surface when the oxygen content of the water was really low due to an improperly functioning filter. May I ask what kind of filter you use in your tank?

Can you give more info on the food (brand, number of pellets typically given, method of feeding, etc.)?

Also potentially helpful information: what are the parameters of your water (temperature, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate)?

Does he show any signs of bloating or skin irritation, especially around the cloaca area? Pictures of him would also be ideal so we can see his size/weight (preferably both top down and side view photos).

For now, I'd recommend tubbing him in a shallow container (just deep enough to have him be fully submerged), do a 100% water change every 12 hours or so, try feeding him in a day or two, and see what happens.

Thank you for answering. The filter is a sarlobetter 160 L/s. I have this small filter because I heard people saying the water flow must not be too strong.

I tested the parameters after what happened. Temperature is always varying from 17-20ºC since I got a chiller. These are the lowest temperatures I'm able to maintain here in Brazil. The ammonia might be high, I tested it and got scared, the test has never been this green before. I think it's somewhere around 0.004. It's too high for an axolotl. I'm already doing water changes. This might actually be one reason why he vomited.

I usually put the pellets in front of him with a feeder and he eats it instantly. At the day he vomited I gave him one pellet after the other, I don't know if that has something to do with it. Also, I usually feed him around 10 pretty small pellets. I use to do that everyday but stopped after the swimming up issue started. Now I ended up buying bigger pellets (from the same brand) and gave him less. I gave him 3 pellets 7 days ago and yesterday I gave him 5 in a row. Then, a few hours later, he vomited. The pellets are from JBL "NovoLotl".

His cloaca seems a bit big, but not too much. Actually, it has been this size since he started to be bigger. His belly doesn't seem very big. But one thing that concerns me is that when these problems start he always acts weird with his belly. Sometimes he curves his body to the left side. It's always to the left. His skin seems normal.

Now he seems better. He is not going to the surface anymore and is walking around and resting normally. He just goes to the surface after being fed. I normally don't see him doing that on days that I don't feed him. So it makes me think the food has something to do with it.

I think I might have overfed him and with the ammonia high plus being incapable of getting air, all this might have led him to vomiting. One thing that caught my attention is that he just vomited after not being able to swim up to the surface. Can the air help if he feels overfed?

I just took some photos, tell me if you need better ones.

 

[AMurry24537]

Based on what you mentioned, I would suggest trying out a different food temporarily. If you can buy/grow earthworms (I wouldn't recommend picking them up off the ground because they may have pesticides or other chemicals inside them), that would be best. Otherwise, maybe try some other pellets. I don't know what's available in your area, so this probably won't be helpful, but I recommend these online retailers: Uncle Jim's Worm Farm (for worms, obviously) and Invert Aquatics (for pellets).

I would also recommend considering a sponge filter of some kind. All you need to set it up is the filter, an air pump, and airline tubing. You can usually get a size up without a problem (for example, I use a filter/air pump combo designed for 20-40 gallons in my 20 gallon rather than one designed for 10-20) because they have very low flow, but still really good filtration. I recommend it because they also oxygenate the water really well.

I also wonder what might happen if you tried feeding your axolotl just a tiny bit at a time, such as 1 or 2 pellets a day? It might be worth the experiment

 

[LeoTheDoctor]

Based on what you mentioned, I would suggest trying out a different food temporarily. If you can buy/grow earthworms (I wouldn't recommend picking them up off the ground because they may have pesticides or other chemicals inside them), that would be best. Otherwise, maybe try some other pellets. I don't know what's available in your area, so this probably won't be helpful, but I recommend these online retailers: Uncle Jim's Worm Farm (for worms, obviously) and Invert Aquatics (for pellets).

I would also recommend considering a sponge filter of some kind. All you need to set it up is the filter, an air pump, and airline tubing. You can usually get a size up without a problem (for example, I use a filter/air pump combo designed for 20-40 gallons in my 20 gallon rather than one designed for 10-20) because they have very low flow, but still really good filtration. I recommend it because they also oxygenate the water really well.

I also wonder what might happen if you tried feeding your axolotl just a tiny bit at a time, such as 1 or 2 pellets a day? It might be worth the experiment

Thanks for the help, dude. So, one day after he vomited, I fed him one pellet and observed his behaviour. He seemed very hungry, but I decided to just give him one this time to test his reaction. He didn't vomit again, which is great. Also, he hasn't been swimming up to get air as frequently as he was. I also fed him one pellet yesterday (48 hours after the last pellet). So far, he seems great. But he is probably still hungry. I didn't give him 2 pellets this time because I wanted to test one more time that he wouldn't puke with only one pellet. Next time I feed him I'll give him 2 pellets and observe (that'll be 48 hours after the last feeding). My main goal is to observe if he'll start swimming up to get air again and if his behaviour will change after the feeding.

I just bought a new food for him and it arrived today. It contains a variety of insects that are good for axolotls. So, I want to start giving him a more varied diet, but still maintaining his usual pellets as well. I'll give him this new food next week after I observe what will happen with his behaviour after I offer him 2 pellets of the usual NovoLotl. I'm doing this for comparisong purposes.

One other important fact that might be contributing to him being better is that I'm doing daily water changes since the day he puked. Before that I only changed it once a week. So that might be part of the reason he isn't swimming up for air or vomiting. I actually read that high ammonia might cause vomiting on axolotls as well (but there are other more obvious factors that are more probable). And if my filter is the problem, than it makes total sense he would be better with more water changes. That might actually help keep the oxygen levels sufficient.

The filter can very well be a problem, I've noticed it's quite dirty. The problem is that it isn't common stuff. Apparently my thermometer wasn't properly made for aquariums. It is just after all this that I noticed it's oxidizing. So I took it out of my sump. I don't know if that affected anything. I hope that didn't hurt my axie. I'll change the filter and hopefully the bomb too. I'll keep updating the thread until I'm sure he is better.