Juvenile with fat belly :(

[Hannahlotl2987]

I hope this wasn't posted before,
My new juvenile always seems stressed (forward gills) but is in the right temperature range and still eats. There is not filter and the tank is bare bottomed. She is still very young 2.5-3 in. I noticed that her belly is fat? There seems to be a lump as well but I can't be sure. Her water parameters are good too. I'm just so worried that she is impacted from the pet store gravel.
Sincerely concerned axolotl mom,
Ariel

 

[keiko]

If she has been kept on gravel then it's definitely possible that she swallowed some. Has she been pooping? Has any gravel come out?
Some pictures would help to see if it seems bad or not. It will also always help to know the exact water parameters when there's a problem with an axie.

 

[Hannahlotl2987]

Well she has been pooping a lot. Her belly doesn't look swollen as much anymore I've been trying to post pics but have been having a hard time :/
She has calmed down a lot since I put a dark colored light weight fabric over a part of her tank during the day (I've heard the younger ones are even less fond of bright lights. I keep her cold with ice bottles. Every few hours monitoring the temperature.
I'm not as worried. As before because it had been a few days and she's still eating and poops few times a day (she's quite young so it's small amounts also sorry for the tmi XD)
I think this is more of a case of me being anxious about having the new baby axi.
I will update. And I'm so sorry I bothered everyone but I just wanted to be safe
Thank you very much,
Ariel