Question: New owner, pic and question

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philofmars

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My nephew came home with the "class pet" a few weeks ago. He decided it was too much trouble and gave it to me a few days ago. I have been reading up on axys and found that the tank she was in was dangerous to her! There were tiny river rocks in it.

First thing I did was buy a new tank, put sand it in, get the water right and let her go. She loves the new home and is most active at night, swimming all around. During the day, she's quiet.

She spends a lot of the time in a 45 degree angle. as she walks around, her back legs move but they are in the air, poor little girl. I'm hoping she just need a big poop. I noticed right away she had a tummy bulge and am hoping it's not those river rocks in there!!!! She eats like a champ. They had been giving her worms and she jumps on them and sucks them up quick.

She also had a screaming case of white spots, but that is on the mend with a little salt in the water. I am surprised at how quick she is healing.

What do you think about that belly? opinions please.
 
Welcome! While I'm no expert by any means and I want to hear what others say.....her belly does not look good to me. I've never seen an axolotl look like that. Do you know how long her belly has been that way? Do you know if she always was kind of bent at an angle? I'd bet she has rocks in her belly, but I have no idea if that is related to her body being at an angle. Does it look like her tail end is floating or her body is actually curved that way?

Also, are you doing brief salt baths or did you add salt to her tank? I'm pretty sure salt might be damaging if she's exposed to it for more than a short bit at a time.

Sorry I'm not more helpful! Also, have you checked the water parameters--ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, and temp?

Sharon
 
Hi,

I agree her belly doesn't look good. How big were the rocks in her tank?
 
There was an albino axolotl in a pet shop I went to on gravel, and they were at the same angle with the same enlarged chest/belly, but you could see the gravel inside them because they were so light-coloured and the gravel was black.

That's why I suppose those are stones in there. (Especially if she's a greedy-guts. Does she have a feeding bowl/jar, or did they just drop the worms on the stones? If it's the latter she's probably snaffled heaps up!)

As she's happily eating, I think you let her gorge herself on worms, give it a little while to go down and "coat" the rocks, then put her in the fridge. (There's a sticky explaining how to do this properly.) She should hopefully be able to pass/regurgitate the stones, poor thing. If there are any seriously lodged in her digestive tract, a visit to the vet may be in order.
 
I added salt to the tank. The box said to add it at water changes and startup, so I added a tablespoon to the 10 gallons as I just started up the tank a few days ago.

The body is not bent. No idea how long this situation has been as it is. The rocks were well below her head size ALL OF THEM. and they were round so I am sure they went down smooth.

She is a greedy eater. I will try the fridge idea. I am sure they just dropped in the worms, as the nephew is not one to care about such things.

There was a male too, but he died at some point. I am hoping we got to this one in time, she's super cool and my 9yr old son is in love with her. He named her Godzilla and bought a tank pagoda for her.
 
Godzilla, aww! (I used to love that movie reboot. Such a monster girl.)

As I understand it (I don't have my 'Lotls yet), the most important thing with fridging is keeping your water for changes in the fridge as well, to avoid temperature shock. It's all explained in the sticky. Hopefully since the other pebbles are smooth, they won't cut her inside, but it may still be a bit uncomfortable for her. Fingers-crossed. Let us know what happens.
 
philofmars said:
I added salt to the tank. The box said to add it at water changes and startup, so I added a tablespoon to the 10 gallons as I just started up the tank a few days ago.

The body is not bent. No idea how long this situation has been as it is. The rocks were well below her head size ALL OF THEM. and they were round so I am sure they went down smooth.

She is a greedy eater. I will try the fridge idea. I am sure they just dropped in the worms, as the nephew is not one to care about such things.

There was a male too, but he died at some point. I am hoping we got to this one in time, she's super cool and my 9yr old son is in love with her. He named her Godzilla and bought a tank pagoda for her.
Click to expand...


I would definatly change the water if you havent already, you have probably purchased aquarium salt which is beneficial for fish but not for axolotls. My Axolotl also came to me with a belly full of gravel, he ended up passing them and also vomiting some up during one of his feedings. It will look like poo but its actually a piece of gravel covered in a slimey coat.
 
I have her in the fridge, but as I was cleaning the tank, I could find nothing that I considered a poop. There was a lot of "dirt" that came off the worms during feeding. I found that I should be washing them off to keep the tank cleaner. How big is an axy poop? She's been here a week and I've seen nothing.
 
godzilla.jpg
Here is a pic my sister sent me. You can see how small the rocks were!
 
Been watching her for 24hours, she hasn't thrown up anything yet. I noticed she had some spots on her head so I gave her a salt bath this afternoon and then back in the fridge. I notice her tail is curling around to the left. There is a lot of talk on here about tail curling but I hope it's just the way she is sitting. I don't know, things don't seem to be looking good for my new friend... :(
 
Just leave her in the fridge. No salt baths no nothing. Do 100% water changes daily using dechlorinated water that is also sitting in thefridge to avoid temp shocks. Only remove long enough to do water changes and to attempt to feed. Dont be alarmed if your lotl does not eat while in the fridge. You can do this for months because of how much the fridge slows their metabolism. If you are lucky the rocks may come out in a week or two. Keep a close eye. Anything more then this will stress your lotl out more then it already is.

Also what is the temp in your fridge? I put a glass of water with a thermometer in it to keep an eye on the temp of my lotls. Also wrapping the tub on a towel can help keep them warmer. You dont want it any lower then 5 or so Celcius. 8being ideal.
 
I'll get a thermometer and check the fridge temp tomorrow. I threw in a worm but she didn't eat it. She seems to be fine in the fridge chilling, but her tail is getting more curly. I'll give her a week or two, but if she takes a nosedive, I may put her in the stream out back to live out her final days chasing minnows and bugs. No one should die in a plastic container in a fridge... :(
 
When you say her tail is curling, do you mean the whole tail or just the very tip? If it's a stress sign it's just the very tip. Do a search and you should find some photo's to show you exactly what to look out for. Her tail curling could also be a sign of stress due to the salt bath. Salt baths can stress axy as well as fridging.

Also, I would strongly advise against releasing her into the wild. This can cause serious damage to environment you release her into as well as introduce disease etc. Never a good idea.

There really isn't a lot more you can do other than keeping her in the tub in the fridge wrapped in a towel (helps keep them slightly warmer and prevents stress when the fridge light comes on) and feeding her daily but remove all food if she isn't interested. Don't forget the water changes to keep the water healthy. She will hopefully pass the stones soon. Keep positive and good luck!
 
The whole tail.
I figured the wild wasn't a hot idea, I live in a wildlife rich area. Something would get her for sure. opossum, raccoon, snake, coyote, etc. I just hate leaving her in a cell with nothing but 4 walls and water. I suppose she's in a calm stupor tho, so it may be fine.
 
I will check her out closer. here are a few pix I took before changing her water tonight. I had to blow them out in photoshop to see her, but she has a few spots of white on her head and tail. I moved her from tub to tub and was surprised at how cold she was, and how fast she still moved! (my son has been handling her for that except for tonight) I would be frozen if I felt that cold :) I put in a thermometer to see what it is in there... When I picked her up, I felt a grinding noise shift in her guts. I know there are stones in there now.
zilly.jpg
 
You can see something going on with her tail in this one, I didn't blow it out globally this time. Look at how lumpy her middle is, I hope she barfs up those stones soon, she'd feel much better!
z2.jpg
 
What was the temp? Five degrees celcious should be the lowest she is at with 7-8 being the ideal. Those white spots don't look good to me but I'm unsure what could be causing them. They look like heat spots they get when in too hotter temps.

If you are doing 100% water changes daily with declorinated water that is kept in the fridge with her to prevent temp shock I can't see why she would be developing those spots. A more experienced keeper will have to jump in :)
 
I've just noticed she has those spots on her head in your first post. Was she in too warmer conditions? It looks like the spots are same as in the first post as well. Have you noticed they have gotten worse or better?
 
The fridge is 7-8 cel. Just like you said it should be.
The tank is right around 20 which is high. Think that would be stressing her? She's been in a classroom with kids for a year, you'd think she'd be used to room temp air.
The spots were there when I got her. They haven't changed. I gave her the salt bath to try to help them once, but i'm going to hold off now until we get her stones under control. I feel better about the whole thing, we'll just wait now.
 
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