New Axie stressed out?

[Shycloudgirl]

Hi, I just got my first Axie today, she traveled from Illinois to Alaska in 1 day shipping and arrived in cold water.She regurgitated up all her food, I had tried feeding her live earthworms but she threw them up and they were still wriggling, her gills are also curled forward. She seems to be healthy otherwise, so is this just normal new axie stress or something I should be worried about? I've had her for about 5 hours and she seems to have calmed down slightly. Also, if it is simply the moving stress is there something I can do or put in the tank to calm her down?
Thank you!!

 

[LSuzuki]

It is probably just stress.

The best thing would be to keep the conditions healthy and stable (temperature, water quality), make sure the tank is comfortable for her (places to hide, low light), and offer her food again later. (Be careful not to leave food in with her if she doesn't eat it.)

Do you know what she had been fed? And, what kind of worms did you feed her? Many axolotls do not like the smelly ones - red wigglers. And some don't like wiggly food. And some don't like big chunks. And some are just picky.

Are you new to aquatics, or just to axolotls? If you are new to axolotls, hopefully you've had time to read all the useful info on this site on things to be careful of. If you have experience with fish, a big difference is that axolotls are sensitive to treatments and conditions that are safe with fish. In particular, they are more sensitive to nitrates than most fish.

Good luck! :happy:

 

[Cacique]

Good info from LSuzuki,

To get you started, axolotl's don't need a heater, but because I'm from FL I have no idea the coldest temp they can be in. Canadian nightcrawlers are the most liked earthworms, and if you haven't cycled your tank you should test the tank daily for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates to make sure the water parameters are good for your axolotl. You want to do a water change whenever you see any ammonia or nitrites, and it'll be cycled once those stay at 0 and your nitrates will rise. You'll then do water changes every so often to lower the nitrates.

Like LSuzuki said, try to clean out any uneaten or regurgitated food as soon as you can. A turkey baster works great for picking out the poop, and a gravel vac lightly on sand if you use sand to get any scattered poop. Keep the temperature under 68F and keep the tank dark or at least shaded to calm your axolotl down. Some plants and caves are essential for them to hide in, and PVC pipes work great. Watch out for aquarium decoration leeching chemicals, and once your axolotl calms down and settles in, keep only low light plants because axolotls don't like light so much. The less the better, and you can always use floaters like frogbit or watter lettuce to cover the light.

Oh and if you need a water testing kit, the API Freshwater Master test kit is highly recommended.

 

[Shycloudgirl]

Thank you guys for all the input! I have had fish tanks before, and just checked the water parameters, since they were stable I figured it wasn't that and the temperature is about 65F. I'll try new food though, I had red wrigglers so I guess mine is just picky. Thank you! if anyone has any recommendations they are much appreciated!

 

[Shycloudgirl]

She ate some scallop I gave her readily today, so I guess it was just the food, but someone I showed the following pictures to noticed she had a white tip on one of her gills. Does she look healthy to you guys? They thought it might have just been regrowth but I'm not really familiar with axolotls yet so I'm not sure.
Here are the pictures, it's especially apparent in the first one.
p.s. The tank isn't usually that bright, I just had to turn on my overhead light in my room for photo purposes, and she loves to climb up and sit in the floating moss just under the surface. I also just get her Canadian night crawlers as a staple food and the scallop to get her enticed to eat again.
Thanks!

 

[Se]

I'm not sure about her gill, but it almost looks like there's less blood flow to it to me. However, I found an older topic (and another, and another) explaining some possible causes of gills turning white, as it happened to the original poster(s) as well.

It sounds to me (and please someone correct me if I am wrong), that the reason the gills are pink is due to blood flow. If an axolotl is resting/sleeping, their gills may turn white because they don't need as much blood flow to their gills because they don't need as much oxygen.

It seems a bit odd that it's just one spot, but maybe it was in the middle of a color change. Perhaps it got pinched during shipping or nipped by an older housemate? Either way, she looks very healthy to me; good size, very fluffy gills, etc. So even if it is a part that is injured, I'd just try to watch it (and your tank water parameters), wait, and try not to worry too much unless it gets worse. Axies are hardy little things and ofc can (they don't always, but can) regrow gills/limbs/etc if needed.