I'm positive my axolotl is dying - how to stop it!

[rexx]

I've had him for about 3 months or so he was missing a leg when i got him (which didnt phase me as i knew it would grow back). I've noticed a change in his colour and his gill/ feathers have pretty much disappeared .. i have attached a picture so u can see. He has also stopped eating(i also changed food to see if he had just had enough of the same old food) but still not interested .
I have changed the water and had it tested the only thing that was a little off was the amonia , what else could the problem be? the temp is of normal which he has always been ok in.

Any other ideas ? He looks so sick and i dont want him to die!

 

[mewsie]

Re: Im positive my axolotl is dying - how to stop it!

I've had him for about 3 months or so he was missing a leg when i got him (which didnt phase me as i knew it would grow back). I've noticed a change in his colour and his gill/ feathers have pretty much disappeared .. i have attached a picture so u can see. He has also stopped eating(i also changed food to see if he had just had enough of the same old food) but still not interested .
I have changed the water and had it tested the only thing that was a little off was the amonia , what else could the problem be? the temp is of normal which he has always been ok in.

Any other ideas ? He looks so sick and i dont want him to die!

Hey,

Poor little thing, he does look unwell.

When you say the ammonia was a 'little off' - what was the exact reading? Any amount of ammonia needs addressing straight away as it is very bad for your axolotl, and could be symptomatic of poor conditions in the tank.

Can you list the readings you got, and tell us what you class as 'normal' temperature?

What are you feeding him? How big is the tank? Can you provide more pictures of the whole set up?

 

[rexx]

Re: Im positive my axolotl is dying - how to stop it!

I got the water tested at the shop as i have never had a problem , the lady didnt tell me the readings she just said it was higher than normal.

I also asked her about the temps because i thought that may be the problem i have read of temps in between 10-20 and some up to 25. she said whatever the axolotl is happy at. mine is 25 because it has been so hot , so i have been putting ice bottles in to cool it down because i personally think 25 is too high.

I have fed him brine shrimp (im pretty sure thats what i started him on) , then each day i would swap between brine shrimp and beef heart. And then when i realised he had stopped eating, i went and got some blood worm last week , he ate a little of that on saturday and hasnt touched any food since. I even bought a little feeder fish but removed it because he wasnt interested in it.

 

[Erzs]

Re: Im positive my axolotl is dying - how to stop it!

Higher than normal probably isn't good for your axolotl. I'd get a water testing kit asap so you can find out yourself what's going on in your tank.

I would say 25 is too high for him also. And temps changing between 10-25 can't be good. Do you know why they have dropped and then risen again so drastically?

An axolotl of his size should really be eating earthworms. Bloodworms are okay but he needs to get some meat on him! When you get him eating again of course. =]

Do you use dechlorinator in your water?

If Mewsie agrees I'd suggest the fridging process so he can chill and relax whilst your water parameters are fixed, if they need fixing, we need that kit! =P Or possibly just placed in a cooler tank as most axolotls won't be too interested in food when fridged.

 

[DeCypher]

Re: Im positive my axolotl is dying - how to stop it!

Definitely get some food in that belly!

I may be wrong, but it looks like he's morphing. Are the gills getting smaller?

 

[Bellabelloo]

Re: Im positive my axolotl is dying - how to stop it!

The combination of high temperatures and ammonia will be a big reason that your little axolotl looks so bad. He needs to be removed from his current tank and kept somewhere much cooler. This link will describe what you need to do:-

Axolotl Sanctuary

As the other posters have said, his current diet is rather poor, ideally earthworms should be the main part of the diet.Would you be able to try him on these ? I would try him twice a day a small worm.

It seems to you have been rather misled by the information given you by the 'pet shop'. I have my fingers crossed that your little guy will pull through.

 

[rexx]

Re: Im positive my axolotl is dying - how to stop it!

Definitely get some food in that belly!

I may be wrong, but it looks like he's morphing. Are the gills getting smaller?

Yes his gills are smaller than what they use to be and they are alot darker! he is no longer white as you can tell by the picture

 

[rexx]

Re: Im positive my axolotl is dying - how to stop it!

The combination of high temperatures and ammonia will be a big reason that your little axolotl looks so bad. He needs to be removed from his current tank and kept somewhere much cooler. This link will describe what you need to do:-

Axolotl Sanctuary

As the other posters have said, his current diet is rather poor, ideally earthworms should be the main part of the diet.Would you be able to try him on these ? I would try him twice a day a small worm.

It seems to you have been rather misled by the information given you by the 'pet shop'. I have my fingers crossed that your little guy will pull through.

Thank you for that i will have a read through. I went bak today and got the water tested and everything is in perfect range (they had the levels for axolotls and my water levels all fit between the range) so im assuming it is the water temp. I have put bottles in there and put a fly screen net over the top of the tank just to be sure he doesnt get out ... so im waiting for the temp to go down - hoping that is the problem!

I was told that because my water levels are good that i just have to sit it out and wait! i got receommended to put a vitamin B crushed up tablet in the tank as long as it didnt have sugar in it. So i have done that and now the tank has gone a funky green/yellow colour.

i really dont know what else to try ! I will go looking for earth worms and see if he has any interest in that as he doesnt really seem to be interested in brine shrimp, beef heart , bloodworms or the feeder fish.

 

[Bellabelloo]

Re: Im positive my axolotl is dying - how to stop it!

I have absolutely no idea why you where advised to put the vitamin tablet in the water
When the water was tested, what was the ammonia reading ? Your poor little axolotl needs to be kept in cool de-chlorinated water to stand any chance of recovery. I would suggest strongly that you remove all the water and replace it , or better still place your axolotl in a clean container of de-chlorinated water as soon as possible. Do not add vitamin tablets.

 

[Crysta]

Re: Im positive my axolotl is dying - how to stop it!

The axolotl looks as if morphing, probably due to the bad conditions he's being kept in (no offence, you were mis-informed, this is the shop's fault not yours) if this 'shop' is the best source of information available to you locally, don't go to them for advise, come here instead :/ even though this forum is online it is a very reliable source of information, with the collaboration of lots of experienced and well informed 'lotl keepers.

But yes from the picture, he looks as if morphing, and also starving.

> I'd recommend the following course of action
Fresh de-chlorinated water, no vitamin tablets, no fish treatment, no nothing, keep the tank below 20C. Find some local bait (fishing) shops, or even look online to order earthworms. Have nothing further to do with that "pet shop" and remember that this is not your fault, you were mis-informed by people who should be trustworthy.

we're all hoping for your little guy to pull through, please keep up informed.

 

[freya]

Re: Im positive my axolotl is dying - how to stop it!

i agree with the post above! a lot of shops are misleading with their information!
poor thing.
is maybe fridging a good idea atm? i dont know that for morphing axy's tbh so....

 

[Crysta]

Re: Im positive my axolotl is dying - how to stop it!

I'd be a bit skeptical about fridging atm actually, if it is morphing it will need a place to climb out of the water - slowly.

the best thing for him is a suitable environment, and perhaps something like a turtle dock, put shallowly in the water, that way if it's morphing it will not drown, and you'd be abel to tell for sure.

 

[lea]

Re: Im positive my axolotl is dying - how to stop it!

where abouts in australia are you???
I had my axie stop eating, he lost lots of weight very quickly and turn this horrible shade of red(looks like little red dots all over his body ) very much like yours after i did a water change when I got back from holidays. After looking around on the net I found that because of the floods the gov was having to add more chemicals to our water supply(this was on a pet shops home page). Do you live in brisbane??
I put abby in the fridge(he was in there for a week) and added extra dechorlinator to the water just to be sure, with the possibity of doing teabaths to ease the skin.

Im just puting it out there and I may be way off base but......

 

[rexx]

Re: Im positive my axolotl is dying - how to stop it!

thank you for all of the replies above since my last post.

I dont have a spare little fridge i can put him in unfortunately ( because i cant raise the temp on the fridge i have now due to food being in there). All i am doing is the frozen water bottle for the cooling of the tank but dont seem to be having a whole lot of luck.
Im on the search for some earthworms at the moment to see if he has any interest in that - hoping my neighbour has some!

If i quickly set up another fish tank , will i not kill him by putting him in that due to the tank not being cycleD?

I come home today after work and thought i had lost my little rexx as he was just sitting on the bottom of the tank with his mouth open ... and i put my tonges in there (which is what i feed him with) and moved him a little he didnt move at all until he quickly moved. So i was suprised to see he was still alive!

Also, I live in Perth, Australia And i wont be going back to the shop i bought him from! Ill be getting my advice from here as you all have axolotls and know what your talking about !

 

[rexx]

Re: Im positive my axolotl is dying - how to stop it!

Also , fresh de-chlorinated water .... How do i get that ? could i use distilled water? or do i have to add something to fresh water ?

 

[Jacquie]

Re: Im positive my axolotl is dying - how to stop it!

Hi there,

De-chlorinated water is tap water that has been treated with a de-chlorinator (can be purchased from most petstores/aquariums) to remove chlorine (used by most waterboards to make our water safe for human consumption) from the water. Chlorine is very dangerous to the axolotls, and can kill them.

Adding the frozen water bottle to Rexx's water may be changing the water temperature too dramatically for him to handle, this fluctuation in temperature (from warmish, to cold, to warmish, to cold, etc) may be stressing him further; while stressed, he won't eat.

As Julia (Bellabelloo) suggested, it would be best to move Rexx into a container (an icecream tub, tupperware container, bucket, etc) of shallow de-chlorinated water (enough water to cover Rexx's back), and put this tub in a cool place in the house (the lower to the ground, the better, as lower ground is cooler than higher ground). Keeping Rexx in a small tub of water will enable you to keep tabs on him, and monitor his feeding. Is there anywhere cool, dark, and quiet in the house that you can keep Rexx's container?

While being kept in the tub, Rex will need a full water change each day with fresh de-chlorinated water. When changing his water out, just scoop him up in a net, empty the soiled water out, pour fresh dechlorinated water into the now empty tub, and quickly (but gently) put Rexx back into the tub. He'll be a little put out by this, but should recover, if left well alone after the water change, put in a nice dark and cool place, and left with a nice juicy worm to enjoy in the privacy of his tub.

Rexx needs to eat, so I agree that putting him in the fridge will be counterproductive, as although the cold water is a great help when it comes to relaxing and de-stressing an axolotl, it will also slow Rexx's metabolism which causes in-appetance (this is okay if the axolotl is in the prime of health and can go without food for a time...but Rexx really needs to eat - he is very thin).

Keeping him in a consistent environment that is still (no water movement), "cool" (not too cold), with clean water (fresh dechlorinated water each day), will hopefully help Rexx relax, de-stress, and encourage his appetite to return.

Please keep us posted, and if you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask.

 

[rexx]

Re: Im positive my axolotl is dying - how to stop it!

Thanks jacquie , tomorrow i will go buy some de-chlorinator and then put him into a container under the air con so hopefully he will cool down a bit. I managed to get some earth worms, he has no interested in them unfortunately! But the good thing is when i put some frozen beef heart in front of him he ate a little bit.

So you recommend removing all water from his current tank and starting again ? and then placing him back in there when u the tank is perfect with all water levels and temp ?

Hopefully he makes it through the night so i can make it to the pet shop tomorrow afternoon to get some de-chlorinator to put in a container in which i can put him in.

Thanks!

 

[iChris]

Re: Im positive my axolotl is dying - how to stop it!

What pet store did you get your axie from? I'm also in Perth, I would like to go and tell them off, I'm shocked at the amout of pet stores that don't know how to care for there animals.

 

[Crysta]

Re: Im positive my axolotl is dying - how to stop it!

so you've been using chlorinated (normal) water up until now?

*flies to AU and drills employers of said pet shop through the face*

 

[rexx]

I got him from a better pets and gardens store, and that also where ive been getting my info - stupid i know i should have gone to vebas for help!

When i put tap water in the tank i put a ph downer in and also have used that gravel lift thing which sucks up all of the yuk food etc.