Not so much sick as just failing to thrive.

[kjnorman]

Hi all.

My male leucistic axie, Hadfield, is seeming a bit...off and I don't know what to do. He is about 3 years old, I've had him for almost one. He had extensive gill damage when I got him but recovered from that after a couple months.

For the past couple weeks he's been hiding more than usual, sitting in weird positions, and seeming kind of skinny. Water parameters are all normal, and my female, Sally, who shares a tank with him is doing GREAT, all fat and outgoing.

Hadfield still eats about 50% of the time when I offer him food, he has always been a picky eater. The most worrisome thing is that he seems to spend more time than is usual sitting around upside down. He eventually rights himself and he does swim around and do axolotl things from time to time, but he also spends big chunks of time wedged in a corner looking kind of miserable.
He also seems to have more 'nibble' damage to his toe and tail than either of the axies have had regularly.

Is it possible that Sally is bullying him? Should I separate them and see if that helps?

Thanks.

 

[Bette]

Hi, Can you post a few clear photos of him for us to have a look at?

 

[kjnorman]

I'm having a hard time getting good pictures as he is hiding much of the time and I'm using my phones camera, but here you go. You can see there is a fair bit of redness on his tail. He has the same thing on his toes.

 

[LSuzuki]

The more experience axolotl keepers may have some safe "home" treatments to try, but to my inexperienced eyes, it looks like some sort of infection that requires antibiotics. Is there a vet in your area who treats amphibians?

 

[Boomsloth]

If it's the other axolotl bullying him you'll want to separate him out. For my guy that wouldn't eat being alone for a few days got him eating and he put back on the weight rather quickly over some weeks. If you get a container (I recommend two) and keep him in clean cold water changing it out daily while offering food each day he may gain his weight back.
The other possibility since his toes are red is that the bacterial build up on the bottom of the tank has become too much and is eating away at his toes. With that you will have to clean the bottom a bit but will need to separate him out anyway. Best of luck

 

[Bette]

Yes, it does look like some sort of bacterial infection. Having a vet see him would be the best thing. Otherwise, you can try treating with API Furan-2 antibiotic. This is just a suggestion if you can't get him to a vet. But definitely separate him to a hospital tank of some sort regardless. And as boomsloth said, try to fatten him up also.

 

[kjnorman]

Unfortunately there is no vet in my area that treats amphibians

I have separated him out into his own tank, a tank I previously had set up for cherry shrimp (they failed to breed, I was hoping to feed them to the axies). He ate his worm this morning. I think the female was definitely stealing his food, if nothing else - I saw her do it yesterday before I separated them.

I will keep up with frequent water changes to keep the water quality up and try to get his weight back up. I've got some Indian Almond leaves in there too to prevent a fungal infection.

Would salt baths be any use here?

Thanks so much for your advice so far.

 

[Bette]

I don't advise doing salt bathes. Salt bathes should only be done in cases where fungus is on the axolotl, and it hasn't responded to less harsh treatment.

 

[kjnorman]

Just an update for those who responded: Hadfield is doing much better after being separated.

He is now in a 10 gallon tank by himself with some hides, plants, sand substrate and a few red cherry shrimp that he doesn't seem terribly interested in eating. The redness on his toes and tail is pretty much gone and he is starting to put on weight.

He has always been a picky eater and I found out after a few days that he wasn't eating all his earthworms - they were burrowing into the sand and escaping him. I've been feeding him pieces of salmon and he likes and seems to be doing well on that.

Thanks for the advice everyone.