HELP! THERE IS SOMETHING REALLY WRONG WITH MY AXIE>>>I SEE BONE!!!

Reduction in gill size is also linked to oxygen levels in the water. If there is a lot of oxygen then the gills can reduce in size.

Is the male eating?

Ed
 
not as much as when i first got him but i dont really know his eating habits...i got him a week or two ago.
 
it seems to be getting worse....what do i do?

he sortta floats now and then...
 
I havent seen him eat in at least 3 days =(

I am really worried cause now he is starting to float at the top....Should i refrigerate him??? How exactly should i go about doing that? Please help me!
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(Message edited by axie_lover16 on May 14, 2006)
 
ya,
It sounds like you might be in a sad situation( you might be to late ) but lets think positive I think that you might need to refrigerate him and Isolate him incase he has a disease or is getting one.....well I hope that I gave you some idea of what to do but if all else fails take him to a vet......
well good luck
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oh and I wouldnt be to suprised if you woke up and he was dead....sorry
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...but I was recently in the same situation and I woke up and he was floating on the water sad sad story but I got through it and you should too...
really sorry ....
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to refridgerate him put him in a container. i advice u put a cover on the container to stop the fridge light from making him freak out. keep bottles of water in the fridge to do daily water changes so the water u change is the same temp. 3 days isnt that long for an axie to go with out food. i feed my axies every 3 days.
 
the temp should be no less than 5C, i have no idea what that is in F. I think it's good if it's at 7C. I always keep a thermometer in the fridge with them. You can wrap the container in a towel stop heat spikes. I hope he's gonna be ok. good luck
 
three days without food isnt a biggie, a month without food is when you start to worry hehe. just offer some tasty garden worms (not compost, alot wont take them cause of their smell), or some bloodworms you have thawed in water in another bowl (the juice is pretty gross and not something you would want in the small bowl with him).

hope things start looking up for you.

oh- and was your tank cycled before you put your axies in?
 
I'd definately increase your water level in the tank too. This could be a major cause of stress. I have about 18 inches of water in my tank.

Keep offering bits of food. If you've only had them a few days, they will still be settling in. After a week, they'll be more used to you and their new surroundings, and should start to eat.

I wouldn't refrigerate unless you think it really has a problem. From the looks of them, they don't look ill. I think they just need time to settle.

Christopher Hernandez, I think your wording of your 'advice' was poor. Your 'advice' was not helpful in the least, and is cause for those who don't know any better to totally freak out. You don't seem to have a lot of experience with axolotls, and I don't think you should be giving out death sentences from just 3 pics and a short description of something that sounds like a simple problem. Axolotls float from time to time, and it is not a death sentence. Mine float practically every time they have to poo. Next time, don't be so callous.
 
ok...I filled the tank to the top about 2 days ago. But he is still in his container....should i put him back? I just dont really know whats wrong with him...I mean his arm looks kinda nasty but he still uses it just fine. It seems like his back end floats up now when hes swimming....its weird
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His gills still look like <font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font> and some are white on the ends....he bearly has any gills at all.



(Message edited by axie_lover16 on May 14, 2006)
 
If his back end is floating, he probably needs a good poo. As for the gills, if they look like they're getting fungus, white fluffy bits, he should be given salt baths. If they just look like they're shrinking, this could be due to lack of need. The more oxygen in the water, the less gill space they need. A close up picture of the gills would be very helpful.

Have you tested the water chemistry? You need to test for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. PH, GH, and KH are less important, but should also be kept at moderate levels. Ammonia can burn axolotl gills, and if you have not cycled your tank, and are not doing frequent water changes, you could be poisoning them with their own waste.

I suggest taking a sample of your water to the pet store and getting it tested. Most will do this for free. Then get a dry-tab test kit, not the strips or the liquids, and use this until your tank has cycled.

Have you read www.axolotl.org yet? This will give you a lot of good information for starting out.
 
his gills are not "fluffy" but the tips are white. I had the water tested a while ago and they said it was really clean but the PH was high so i got some perfect PH and everything is fine. What is cycled exactly? you mean like filtered with a constant water flow and such? then yes it is cycled. It's not the water i dont think because its just the male that is sick, the female who has been in the tank ever since i got them is just fine...thats why im so confused. I put the male in the fridge now so im gonna see if he gets better.
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is it bad if your tank isnt cycled? I really dont understand this "cycling" thing
 
Yes, it can be very stressful and lead to your axie's (and other aquatic creatures') death.

Here's the run down: poop=ammonia. Bacteria eventually build up to break that down into nitr<font color="ff0000">ite</font><font color="000000">s. Unfortunately, nitr</font><font color="ff0000">ite</font><font color="000000">s are still harmful to your axie.

Eventually a second set of bacteria develop to break the nitr</font><font color="ff0000">ite</font><font color="000000">s down to nitr</font><font color="119911">ate</font><font color="000000">. Nitr</font><font color="119911">ate</font><font color="000000">s are less harmful to your axies, but with a weekly water change after your tank is cycled (cycled=0 ppm ammonia detection and 0 ppm nitr</font><font color="ff0000">ite</font><font color="000000"> with some ppm of nitr</font><font color="119911">ate</font><font color="000000">), you can keep the nitr</font><font color="119911">ate</font><font color="000000"> level at or below 20 ppm.

The alternative is to change your water 100% everyday. Not fun.

If your in the midst of cycling (i.e. tests are still showing some detection of ammonia or nitr</font><font color="ff0000">ite</font><font color="000000">s,) do partial water changes to get them under 0.25 ppm. Repeat daily until those two levels are undetectable.
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It's not too bad. But you'll have to do frequent water changes. A test kit is necessary if your tank is not cycled.

I have cycled tanks with axolotls in them before. I kept 3 three inch juveniles in a 30 gallon tank. I changed about 2 gallons of water every day. This gives enough ammonia to build up your bacterial populations, but not so much that it poisons your animals. Again, I can't stress how important test kits are.
 
wow, now im super confused.....I really dont get it. yes i read that article but i still dont get it. ok, so i put prime in it everytime i do complete changes and that is suppose to get rid of nitrates,ammonia,chlorine,chlormines,and everything else. then i put in perfect PH to set the ph to 7. I keep putting in the PH stuff every other day when the PH changes. I have a fluval 3 plus internal filer and an air pump. Can someone please explain "cylcing" to me in idiots terms cause im very new to this, and tell me how i should do it. I guess i shouldnt have got them not really knowing what i was getting into but the lady i bought them from lied to me and told me it was very easy...she just said remove chlrorine and get a filter..haha what a joke
 
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