HELP! don't know whats wrong with my axolotl

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Crystal701

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I got a baby axolotl from egg and now he is going to be three weeks old on wednesday, March 16. I feed him twice a day with frozen baby brine shrimp which he eats most of the food. He swims a lot and loves floating after he eats.

Tumbles (my axolotl) has been fine up until last night when my brother noticed his tail was curled. I thought it was because his water was too warm since my dad changed the house temperature to 22.5 without telling us and i turn on a light for my axie. I quickly shut off the lamp and made the temperature back to 21 which tumbles has been fine with since he was in an egg.

This morning i noticed his tail isnt curled anymore but when i fed him he didn't even eat. Usually he would quickly swim to the food and start swallowing the baby brine shrimp. I tried moving the water a bit, Tumbles would usually move with the water and do summersaults then would quickly swim. Today he just swam but in a very weird way. His body was going side to side and i think he also curled as well. He ended up swimming verically, not horizontally to the top but couldn't reach the top of the tank.

I don't know whats wrong with him and i dont want to lose him. HELP!:sad:
 
What are you keeping your axolotl in and how often are you changing the water? Have you got a thermometer for the water and a testing kit and have you tested the parameters? How long is your axolotl?
 
My axolotl is about 3-4 cm? its hard to tell where his tail ends since he is pretty clear. we change the water everyday so its clean for him. He has never had a curled gill or tail up until last night. the water we don't have a thermometer but we dont have a lid on his container so it would be room temperature which is 20-21 degrees. I did a test kit on him and everything is normal. pH is 7.5 around.

i notice that when he swims now he looks very weird. Its like his whole body is vibrating and he moves very slowly...kind of sluggish but his tail is no longer curled nor his gills.
 
I would suggest purchasing a thermometer as the water temperature can vary greatly from room temperature and it is important to get an accurate temperature.

Have you offered some live food options?
 
i can't get my hands on any live food but he has been eating frozen baby brine shrimps since he was born. He eats them like crazy and loves them...some days i may have to move the food a bit closer to him but once it is around him he eats them all. this morning he didnt eat anything so im planning on trying again in about two hours.
 
What kind of water are you keeping him in? Are you using a conditioner?

A fan blowing over the water helps to cool it a lot (unless it is very humid).
 
I don't use anything for the tank. And water is tap but drinkable so no chlorine
 
Chlorine is added to most drinkable tap water. You should use a dechlorinator. Water conditioners/dechlorinators also remove heavy metals as well and some also remove chloramine if your area uses chloramine (you may need to check with your local council of water supply).
 
Nope. My water has zero chloramine and okay I'll start to dechlorinate my water but it shouldn't have much or any since where I live we just drink from tap everyday.
 
It doesn't matter if humans can drink the tap water, the levels of chlorine, chloramine, or metal toxins is not harmful to humans, but it is for Axolotls since they are more sensitive and absorb these toxins through their skin. Purchase 'Tetra AquaSafe' this is a well known brand and will dechlorinate your water aswell as remove metal toxins.

AquaSafe Aquarium Dechlorinator Conditioner | Tetra Aquarium
 
Generally most water supply has been treated with chlorine and sometimes chloramine to make the tap water safe to drink for humans and prevent humans from becoming sick. However the chemicals in tap water are toxic to aquatic life and will kill beneficial bacteria. start using a dechlorinator and get a thermometer so you can more accurately monitor temperature.
 
Okay. Hopefully the dechlorinated water will make him feel better. He's still sluggish today and swimming very weird.

Here is a photo of his underside. When I tried to move the water he wouldn't move but then a few seconds later I noticed his body shakes/vibrates. I have no idea what the red thing is and I was wondering if I should fridge my axie or not since my fridge only goes up to 5 degrees Celsius.

image.jpg
 
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Also my chlorine level is zero and my pH is at 7.6

I'm still trying to get my hands on the other tests
 
The photo is not really clear enough to see. I would not fridge an Axolotl so small. Just use a fan to help cool the water below 20°C (16-18°C is optimum).
 
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