Lost an axie :'(

[Harpii]

My husband just fed our axies but when we were searching for axl I saw him in his hide so we wriggled the worm in front of him but he wasnt moving, my husband then moved the hide and he still wasnt moving and thats when we noticed he didnt look right, we tried moving him but unfortunately he's passed away He was fine yesturday, no signs of illness, my husband said he thought he saw him this morning but I dont think i've seen him out today and his tail and legs had been snapped at obviously by the other two, I think after he died but no way of knowing. I dont understand what killed him I feel so terrible, hes head was a little swollen but I dont know if thats from him passing away, we have some snails in the tank but they are tiny, could they have caused it if he ate one? Is there anything we need to do to the tank? Like change the water or clean it out and recycle? and does anyone know what could have caused such a sudden death? Any advise would be appreciated.

 

[Harpii]

Just wanted to add their live food is bought from a pet shop and all the worms from this pack have been fine, the water parameters are perfect, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, nitrate 5, ph 7.6, on the 18th sept I sprayed some air freshener in the kitchen but it would have had to of travelled into the living room to their tank but they all seemed fine as I kept my eye on them as soon as I realised I left the kitchen door open, the water wasnt affected and they were all their usual selves. I would have thought that any spray would have affected them sooner or at least made them ill but nothing, axl had no fungus, no nothing he was fine and then dead. I feel so awful, i just keep crying I can't believe I let this happen Anyone know what causes sudden death in axies?

 

[KingCam]

If the legs and tail were broken I would say your other axolotls attacked and killed it. When you say snapped at, do you mean broken? Torn? Bleeding?

If you have two of one color and one of another in the same tank it's not uncommon for the two of the same color to gang up on the outsider.

What leads you to believe the damages were caused after the axolotl died?

 

[Harpii]

We've had them since april and they've never ganged up on him before? Or can it just happen as they get older? They are roughly 8/9 months old now. I just thought maybe he'd passed away in the hide and then they might have nipped at him while he was in there? I hope the didnt attack him His tail was missing its end and its looked at though his skin had been removed from part of it as well as his leg? No bleeding, and i dont think it looked broken just white and he was a wild type. The other two are a golden albino and a luestic. Does it seem more like they ganged up on him, we feed them regularily on earth worms and the only time they ever had a scrap before was during feeding times when one got too close to the other when they could smell the food and then mistakenly nipped but thats only happened a couple of times and was the smallest of injuries that healed within a week or two.

 

[KingCam]

We've had them since april and they've never ganged up on him before? Or can it just happen as they get older? They are roughly 8/9 months old now. I just thought maybe he'd passed away in the hide and then they might have nipped at him while he was in there? I hope the didnt attack him His tail was missing its end and its looked at though his skin had been removed from part of it as well as his leg? No bleeding, and i dont think it looked broken just white and he was a wild type. The other two are a golden albino and a luestic. Does it seem more like they ganged up on him, we feed them regularily on earth worms and the only time they ever had a scrap before was during feeding times when one got too close to the other when they could smell the food and then mistakenly nipped but thats only happened a couple of times and was the smallest of injuries that healed within a week or two.

It's hard to say, I would be guessing no matter what I told you. I just know it does happen occasionally. Sounds to me like he got ganged up on, crawled into the hide after the fight, and was unable to survive his injuries.

Either way, I'm very sorry for your loss

Sent from my Epic 4G using Tapatalk 2

 

[Harpii]

Thank you, whatever did happen could only have been late last night, me and my daughter were waving to all three of them yesterday and watching them swim about. Poor Axl I wish he was still here I feel so guilty I didnt notice he was hiding today as its not unusual for them to sleep or chill I'm the hide or behind the log, there might have been a chance for me to have saved him

 

[NeekaLovesYou]

It's very sad loosing an axie but you shouldn't blame yourself as these things do happen unfortunately Did he seem any smaller than the others? Although mine are all the same age there is quite a noticable size difference in one of them. I know from hand feeding, the two bigger ones can get a bit greedy so I have to give him his own separate pallet to ensure he gets enough, I'm assuming you didn't feel this was an issue with your babies though. I'm very sorry for your loss.

 

[Harpii]

He was the same size as our golden, they are all the same age but our leustic is slightly bigger and rounder, the other two have always been thinner than her no matter how much we fed them but I was never concerned as the size difference is tiny and hardly noticable , they always got on, axl has never been attacked in the past, once the very tip of his tail was missing but that was it and grew back within a week. Norbert and lottie has been the more agressive two, norbert has bitten lottie during feeds when he mistook her food a worm but we always try to feed them as far away from eachother as possible to prevent accidents from happening and when we first got them lottie was quite nippy towards the other two but after a couple of days she calmed down and they a;; got along fine. Like i said the only accidents we've had are during feeds when they get a bit over zelous and mistake each other for food. The other two still seeem fine, I thought they were all fine, they all sat on each other and chilled, still cant beleive his gone
Do I have to do any water changes because of his death? It doesnt seem like it he was ill or had an infection, they get locked up in the living room during the night so nothing can get into the tank...

 

[NeekaLovesYou]

I lost one of my girls to bloat and didn't do a water change and my boys fine (this was some time ago) Being as we're uncertain what caused his death you could a 20% water change just so the waters a little fresher. Just keep an eye on the others obviously. Were they all related do you know?

 

[Harpii]

The parameters are all fine so i dont think he had passed long before we found him and it seems it was more to do with his wounds, stress/shock, they were quite nasty The other two are acting as they always do but im keeping a closer eye on them and we'll do a small change as you said to freshen it up, no im not sure, i could ask the pet shop we bought them from but they might not know either, they werent overly looked after in the pet shop and were kept on gravel because it easier to clean(shop keepers reason) so im not sure how much information they even have on the animals they sell.

 

[NeekaLovesYou]

Hm, very sorry situation indeed

 

[moonsandowls]

Hm, very sorry situation indeed

Hmm.. that is strange indeed.. Did you randomly leave feeding for a longer amount of time than you usually do, or change the times? It sounds like it got attacked, by your description, but we can only guess. Maybe they were hungry or something. Anyhow, I'm so sorry for your loss, it's horrible to lose a pet but you must remember it wasn't your fault and you didn't know it was going to happen! Life is unfair sometimes.

 

[moonsandowls]

Woops, I didn't mean to quote that! Sorry i'm still getting used to this lol

 

[Harpii]

We feed them every other day, we did go a day over by accident due to being exhausted from packing and sorting everything for moving, but they've been fed with two days inbetween before and have always been fine. I did say to my husband maybe they were hungry and he said to me about them being fine in the past when its been a couple of days between feeds. I hope it was more a fight than an attempt to eat him, that will just make me feel even more guilty

 

[NeekaLovesYou]

I don't think it was a "hunger" issue but probably more out of aggression unfortunately. I don't know if you've ever noticed this with yours but I find mine are able to tell me when they're hungry (probably sounds mad!) Mine have been hand fed since they were tiny totties and surface feed, amazingly! Whenever they're hungry they will swim in unison at the surface of the water until I give in and feed them. Having said that it'll only be a pellet each to tired them over, they're too greedy for my liking. Anywho, I severely doubt they would have attacked him, mistaking him for food anyway, as he's just not small enough in comparison. Like I said, these things do happen You even hear of people having to seperate their axies completely.

 

[2gsom]

very sorry to hear that. I'm sorry I am not really experienced enough to offer any suggestion. Just sorry you lost your Axie.

 

[Harpii]

Thank you, Lottie and Norbert are the more agressive ones, I only ever saw axl ''snap'' at one of the others when he was trying to catch some shrimp. IM feeling better, still wish it never happened though. Now im worried about Norbert though, he had a freak out and has possibly injured himself from bashing into things too hard as he cant move around properly and seems confused. :/ We're just not having a good week

 

[NeekaLovesYou]

Aww dear One of mine does this quite often, had a major freakout this morning actually! For some reason he scares really easily and usually seems disorientated for a little while afterwards but always ends up back on top form - Hope this is the case for your baby!

 

[Harpii]

Thank you, he was very distressed so he's in some fresh dechlorinated water in the fridge with some food, last time i checked him hes still not moving properly but he did snap at one of the shrimp so fingers crossed hes better in the morning. I did read that it can be normal for them to have freak outs, he did bash himeslf about quite a bit and freaked the other axie, i cant bare losing another one so i hope hes ok. Thank you for all your advice and support, i really appreciate it

 

[NeekaLovesYou]

You're most welcome It's what most of us are here for!