Illness/Sickness: Help!! My Axolotl was out of water!!

[kroezen]

I just went up into my room an found my 5 1/2 inch axolotl Nero just lying on the floor! I have no idea how long he was out of his plastic tub, but to prevent him from jumping out again I put him in the big tank I have with his brother. Crisis averted, right?
But now I'm not so sure! When I put him back into the water he just went right to the corner and won't move! I've been watching him for a while and noticed that he has a slimy substance hanging off the gills on one side of his face. Some of it came off and he keeps flicking his gills to get the rest off--I think... The slime is clear just so you know, so I don't think it's fungus.
Could this be part of his slime coat? I was so worried he was going to die I just scooped him up without thinking! Do you think I could have damaged his slime coat? He was very sticky when I picked him up and the floor where he was is sticky too.
God I'm so worried! Will Nero be okay?

Edit:
I took some pictures

It looks cottony in the picture, but it isn't in real life!



Also, I tried to feed him and earthworm, thinking it might calm him down, but he wouldn't eat it.


Does anyone have any imput to calm me down? I'm so worried!

 

[B3llaax3]

Right now I think he's just stressed from going to one extreme to the next. When you grabbed him you may have irrated his slim coat a bit, I would add a tiny bit of salt into his tank. Also him not eating is normal since he is stressed out from what happened. Turn the light off in his tank so he can calm down and hope in a day or so he'll want to eat and feel better again.

He'll be fine just give him time. Check up on him every so often.

 

[Tephra]

Hmmm... stressed axolotls usually don't eat, so don't worry about that too much. Cold clear water will help him on his way
Also; I wouldn't add salt to his water... that's usually used for fungus. I'd try giving him a slight tea bath, it's less harsh. It will also help restore his slime coat.

You can still keep him in another container if you like, just cover it with a net of some kind, with holes too small for him to get through. That's what I do for the rare occasions when I need to put my axolotls in a container that isn't a tank.

Thank goodness you at least found him in time. Just monitor him for the next few days and see how he copes with it all.

Be sure to update us all on how he's doing
​

 

[FX1C]

Right now I think he's just stressed from going to one extreme to the next. When you grabbed him you may have irrated his slim coat a bit, I would add a tiny bit of salt into his tank. Also him not eating is normal since he is stressed out from what happened. Turn the light off in his tank so he can calm down and hope in a day or so he'll want to eat and feel better again.

He'll be fine just give him time. Check up on him every so often.

Adding salt to axolotls in the tank is not recommended..

To soothe the slime coat & hopefully stave off any fungus that may occur you can add plain black tea (pic below)

Putting Nero in the tank is ok if the axolotls are similar sizes & the tank is cool & healthy water parameters.. why Nero was in a separate container?

Keep a close eye on him to watch for fungus or broken limbs and other injuries. Loss of appetite for a day or two is expected after such a stressful event

Here's the black tea instructions..




<3 >o_o< <3

 

[kroezen]

I'm happy to report that Nero is looking much better and doesn't seem to have any ill effects. I'm going to keep a close eye on him to make sure he doesn't get sick though, I wouldn't want him to die!.

To answer a few of your questions, he and his brother Nell were in plastic tubs because I had just put new sand in the tank and was waiting for the water to clear before putting them back in. They're both the same size and I've only had one case of biting in the past few months I've had them (a worm fell too close to Nero's leg and he got a slight bite from Nell--no serious damage).

Thank you for all of you help

 

[Alkylhalide]

Im glad he is looking better!
I actually had this happen kind of last week with toothless, I added all 5 of my lotls to one tank and as I was transfering toothless he jumped onto the floor. crazy little lotl he is for sure. I immediately steeped some black tea and added it to their tank. Black tea is wonderful and I would recommend it for any axolotl that gets injured, but has no sign of fungus. Doing this early can prevent fungus from growing and it soothes their skin because the fact that he jumped out of the tub and onto the floor probably means they at least injured their slime coat.

Once texas had a freak out in the tank and scratched himself all up and took a chunk out of his tail, I steeped some tea and added it to the tank, removing it by doing small daily water changes and he was all healed up within a week and then Echo got sucked up in the siphon one day and his face was all red so I did the same thing, and no ill effects came from any of my lotls injuries. I would rather do that then deal with salt bathes or vet visits anyday!