NadeZ
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- Dec 13, 2013
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Bit worried about one of my axolotls. She's just over a year old. She grew explosively to 23cm (9") in about 8 months but then just stopped.
I've had trouble getting her to eat for the last 3 months and again she is turning away from all worms and food put near her, I haven't seen her eat in at least 4 days. To be honest I rarely see her eat and don't know how she is surviving on what can't be more than 2 worms a week. So the lack of eating is the first issue as I want her to grow to her full potentially and while her body is still just about as wide as he head, she is beginning to seem a little skinnier than usual.
The second problem I have noticed in the last few weeks is her movement. She rarely moves, even by axolotl standards and when she does it is very odd. When she walks, she doesn't use her front limbs at all, just plows her head through the sand with her back legs. She moves quite erratically, constantly changing direction and seeming to be distressed when she meets an obstacle. She is very easily freaked, particularly by the other axies and any sudden movement will make her quickly turn around or, more often, swim rapidly away. When she swims, she goes upside down easily and doesn't seem to be able to control her direction at all. When she goes up for air, it looks like she is really struggling to make it to the surface. I've seen her move her front arms freely so they don't seem to be broken, but she is just completely neglecting to use them.
She is in a 4ft, 200L tank with 3 juveniles that are fast approaching her in size
The tank is cycled with weekly 50% water changes keeping the nitrates below 30ppm
Temperature is rather high at the moment, struggling to keep it below 23'C (73'F) but is normally a more suitable temperature.
Food (attempted) is worms from a worm farm, and pellets. The other axolotls eat them fine, and she used to too until around the time she stopped growing.
Any thoughts on what could be wrong?
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I've had trouble getting her to eat for the last 3 months and again she is turning away from all worms and food put near her, I haven't seen her eat in at least 4 days. To be honest I rarely see her eat and don't know how she is surviving on what can't be more than 2 worms a week. So the lack of eating is the first issue as I want her to grow to her full potentially and while her body is still just about as wide as he head, she is beginning to seem a little skinnier than usual.
The second problem I have noticed in the last few weeks is her movement. She rarely moves, even by axolotl standards and when she does it is very odd. When she walks, she doesn't use her front limbs at all, just plows her head through the sand with her back legs. She moves quite erratically, constantly changing direction and seeming to be distressed when she meets an obstacle. She is very easily freaked, particularly by the other axies and any sudden movement will make her quickly turn around or, more often, swim rapidly away. When she swims, she goes upside down easily and doesn't seem to be able to control her direction at all. When she goes up for air, it looks like she is really struggling to make it to the surface. I've seen her move her front arms freely so they don't seem to be broken, but she is just completely neglecting to use them.
She is in a 4ft, 200L tank with 3 juveniles that are fast approaching her in size
The tank is cycled with weekly 50% water changes keeping the nitrates below 30ppm
Temperature is rather high at the moment, struggling to keep it below 23'C (73'F) but is normally a more suitable temperature.
Food (attempted) is worms from a worm farm, and pellets. The other axolotls eat them fine, and she used to too until around the time she stopped growing.
Any thoughts on what could be wrong?
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk