Illness/Sickness: My axolotl doesn't move :P

[Dicranurus]

Dear all,

I'm sorry if I'm asking for something that was already posted but I didn't find an answer that could help in my case.
My axolotl Cassandra doesn't move. It's about 16 hours. She's sitting on the leaves of a plant in vertical position (head close to the water surface) and she's blocked between the plant and the glass. She's slightly moving her gills. I've tried to move an object in front of her and she slightly moved her head but without reacting much. She's 1,5 years old. Nothing has changed in her tank in the last period. I change 20% of water (mixing osmotic and dechlorinated hard water) every week or so, temperature is 20-19 degrees celsius, nitrite and ammonia are 0 and nitrates are 25 ppm. It's 3 days since her last meal. It's some time that she has eggs but since she's alone in the tank I read she should re-absorb them. What should I do? Is she sick? Usually she's pretty active and rather scared if she sees something big moving around her

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[Dicranurus]

A photo of her in the assumed position The gills have always been short since I took her more than 1 year ago

 

[keiko]

It's probably just normal weird axie behavior. The water parameters seem fine and unless there is something physically wrong that you can see then I wouldn't worry too much. It might be that she's reabsorbing some eggs, they don't often eat much during that time.
What do you feed her? You could try dangling some food over her face, if you're worried, to see if that makes a difference.

 

[auntiejude]

Sounds like she's just being lazy. Are you sure she's not going somewhere else when you're not watching? Some axies have the favourite places to hang out, they go for a little wander and then back to their favourite place.

Either way it's not unusual, but if you're worried you can gently move her and see what she does.

 

[Dicranurus]

Thanks a lot for your answers! Maybe I'm just being a super anxious father
I always give her earthworms I will wait another couple of hours and if she doesn't move I will try to put some juicy earthworms on her head :frog:

 

[Dicranurus]

Dear all,

I just moved an object in front of her and she attempted to catch it. Then she left herself sliding to the bottom of the tank and she went down with her body and head to the floor without using her legs like a dead body (her gills were pale). Then she floated a bit and now she's back at the bottom of the tank and she ate an earthworm. I think the strange vertical blocked position was due to bad digestion.... because of the floating she found a weird sleeping position Hopefully she will digest in the next couple of days as usual

Thanks again for your answers and sorry for the romance but when I see her doing weird things I become an anxious parent

 

[blushed]

My little axxie likes to give me scares too!

This is Slender's favorite place.

 

[Dicranurus]

Dear all,

Sorry for bothering again... After 1 couple of days of usual behaviour my axie started again to do weird things. It's about 2 days that she's floating, especially close to the filter and she's apparently unable to reach the bottom. She ate an earthworm 5 days ago and then nothing. When she swims (on the surface) she had a weird barrel like movement. Is it normal? Is again related to her reabsorbing eggs? She had digestion problems previously and she happened to be more inflated than this In attachment a picture of her

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[Dicranurus]

I didn't give her any food in the last 5 days because I saw her floating. Should I try to feed her? At times she's also floating on a side... and her gills and crest are becoming dark red

 

[Dicranurus]

I tried to feed her with an earthworm while she's swimming just under the surface and she ignored it I'm worried because she's swimming like an inflated barrel oscillating from side to side without using legs and using only the tail. Not sure if it's normal...

 

[Boomsloth]

Is there any way you could lower the temp just slightly? Some axolotls are more prone to floating. I have a tank with 4 axolotls and one will float occasionally if the temp goes near 20C


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[Dicranurus]

I have a fan but I am scared I would dry her skin since she's half outside the water. Should I attempt this? Now it's about 30 hours that she's floating... nothing changed... I mean I always fed her in the same way. The only new thing is that she has eggs. But I'm really scared because she doesn't swim normally but just using her tail and move as a barrel oscillating left - right I'm thinking about freezing her but I would like to wait. She doesn't seem slim. She's more than 1 years old and never acted this way... so scared I cannot understand if she's seriously ill and dying

 

[keiko]

Adult axies can go without food for quite a while, so no need to worry about that yet.
You could try putting her in a small plastic container with just enough water to cover her. That would allow her to keep her feet on the bottom so she doesn't get stressed. Make sure that the temperature stays good and change the water once or twice a day to avoid any water quality issues.

 

[Dicranurus]

Thanks a lot keiko. She's now floating just under the filter (photo in attachment). I've tried to put some ice around the tank in order to make the temperature decrease (Hopefully it will reach 18° C. Now it's 20°). If this won't help I will put her in a smaller tank as you suggested. I hope everything will work out fine Should I use the water of the large tank in the smaller one?

 

[tammyaxie]

Just curious.... did she change to a salamander?

 

[Asevernnnn]

Just curious.... did she change to a salamander?

All axolotls are salamanders
Whether or not it morphed, I'm unsure lol