Illness/Sickness: Inexperienced owner, axolotl off his food

[mithciriel]

The short story –

My axolotl is off his food. I found him floating vertically with his head pointing downwards and his tail upwards. When I nudged him with the end of the net I use for removing waste food he swam slowly across the tank, settling on the bottom but not supporting himself on his legs. He refused food (dendrobena worms) even when they were wiggled right in front of his face. My flatmate has reported this sort of behaviour a couple of times before when she’s been feeding him for me, but whenever I’ve gone to check it out he’s been his usual perky self. He’s never refused food from me before.


The long story –

When my ex boyfriend and I broke up, he left behind a one year old axolotl. I’m pretty fond of the little guy (the axolotl, definitely not the ex!) so I’m quite happy to carry on with his care, but internet research has revealed that the ex was taking some pretty big shortcuts in his axolotl care. I’ve solved most of my queries but different websites offer conflicting advice so I wanted to check a few things. I tried talking to the shop where the ex bought him, but they didn’t know much about axolotls and were keeping theirs in the tropical fish tank (where they were no doubt feasting on the tiny fish when the shop assistants weren’t looking!)

So, I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong that could be leading to him being ill / off his food.

1) Tank Set up.

He’s in a 3ft by 1ft tank, the water about 9 inches deep (approx as deep as the axolotl is long). The floor is tiles, slightly uneven to give him enough grip and removable so I can clean any waste that gets under them. He has various rocks, plastic leaves and a plant pot for cover. His filter has a tube that siphons the water against the side so his water remains still. There are no small items that could have been swallowed by mistake. It’s been like this as long as he’s lived with me (just over a year).

2) Cleaning out

This is, I suspect, where the problem lies. The ex just used to empty the tank once every time he could be bothered and refill it straight from the tap. I bought a net because I didn’t like seeing waste food on the bottom of the tank (and further research tells me that my common sense impulse on this was right!) I now regularly skim the water to keep it clear of solid waste.

I have no equipment for testing temperature, PH levels or ammonia levels and no real idea of what these levels should be or what equipment I should have. When I clean him out I replace just over half the water, but the water that goes in is untreated and straight from the tap because I don’t know what else I should be putting in. I have been given some drops to make the PH levels safe for tropical fish and some different ones that are supposed to keep the tank clean, but I’m worried about using them because they’re designed for fish and I don’t know if they might contain something that’s harmful to axolotls. Any advice people could offer me regarding this would be very much appreciated!

 

[stenatt]

I have had this problem a few time with my various Axolotls. The first time it happened I to was inexperienced and it was down to oxygen tablets I put in the tank. He ate some when I wasn't there and it was almost as if he was floating like a balloon. The second time unfortunately was due to an infection, my lovely Alex managed to bite some of the large slate off and it stuck in his insides and got infected, sadly he died. Now I have very, very fine large Highland Stones in the tank and have put a terracotta bowl in the tank and feed him from that.

Hope this is of some use.

 

[Kaysie]

I suspect you have a buildup of ammonia. While you are skimming off solid waste, axolotl poop tends to disintegrate very quickly, and turn into 'poo dust', which settles into the tiniest of cracks. I would invest in a couple of (fairly inexpensive) items: Ammonia and nitrite test kits. Try to go with liquid or dry-tab tests, rather than dip-strips. And I would also invest in a turkey baster. These are GREAT for sucking out waste.

If you do have excess ammonia or nitrites (these should be 0, no detectable amount), I would recommend 20% water changes daily or near daily until you get that under control.

As far as chemicals, if your water is chlorinated, you should dechlorinate it. But using pH drops and the like is not a good idea. These can cause wild swings in water quality, which is much more dangerous than having less-than-optimal water quality.

It may be constipated, which is fairly common in axolotls. It usually passes in a few days. It would help to put him in the fridge. But 'butt float' is almost always associated with constipation. You should also try feeding a variety of foods. He may just not be interested in worms at the moment.

 

[mithciriel]

Thanks, I've just had a message from my flatmate saying he's eaten his worms, so crisis averted for the time being. I have a day off tomorrow so I can head out in search of alternative foods and nitrate test kits, thanks for the advice!

 

[Kaysie]

Ammonia and nitrite are more important than nitrate. That is, they're more toxic in lower concentrations than nitrate is. I would get ammonia and nitrite test kits before worrying about nitrate.

 

[mithciriel]

Too paranoid? Or not paranoid enough...

Okay, he has eaten his worms and been to the toilet. Back end floating has stopped, so he was probably constipated.

New problem -
Yesterday while I was at work my flatmate told me that he was rocketing around his tank and crashing into things. This morning he was floating again, head first this time. When I came in he swam down and came to the front of the tank to say hello, but he has his tail curled around and he keeps twitching his back legs and tail. So he's stressed, right?

Is this likely to be nitrate/ammonia again? I haven't had chance to get a testing kit yet because the only petshop within walking distance has closed so I'm going to have to wait until someone can give me a lift. I wondered if it might be water quality, so I did a 30% change. I've left some buckets out to dechlorinate and I'll do another change tomorrow.

Am I doing the right thing or is there a more obvious answer that I'm missing?

Also, I know you shouldn't clean the filters too thoroughly because the bacteria in there is good. I have no idea what kind of filter it is because it doesn't say on it, but its like a rectangle with a sponge in it and a tube so I can direct water flow into the side of the tank. During the big monthly clean out I tend to just scrape the muck off the sponge and give it a rinse. I've had the filter well over a year, should I change the sponge or would that be bad?

 

[Kaysie]

Re: Too paranoid? Or not paranoid enough...

Even if you don't have test kits, you can still do 20% water changes every couple of days, just in case. It's better to be safe. It may or may not be an ammonia problem.

As for the leg/tail twitching, he could have whacked his head on something in his mad sprint around the tank.

Sponges don't go bad. They exist so the bacteria can colonize on them. Take a small bucket of tank water out of the tank, and give the sponge a good rinse in that every couple of weeks/months (depending on your gunk buildup). By using tank water, you preserve a lot of the bacteria on the sponge, while still removing the gunky particles. It could also be that your filter isn't adequate for your tank size. You might want to try adding another one, or upgrading to a bigger one.

 

[mithciriel]

Well he seems fine now, unpredictable beastie that he is. I'll keep up the water changes for a couple of days just to be on the safe side. One of Bear's (the axolotl, just now realised I never bothered to tell you the poor guys name!) favourite hobbies is freaking out my flatmate by appearing to have something wrong with him and then being fine the next minute, or whenever I go to check on him. His best trick was having one end of a worm flick out of his gills when I was on holiday and then sucking it back in again the minute she started to really panic. Apparently this was not fun to watch! I try to take all his quirks seriously though, because I am still learning what's normal behavior and you just know that the minute I don't bother worrying it'll turn out to be a genuine problem!

Thanks for all the advice, its been a real help.