Please Help My Axie is Ill

[Kerry1968]

Just to add my experience to this thread on cooling. We're having another mini heatwave in the UK this week and my tank was creeping up to 23 degrees. I have no lid on my tank during the hot waether and yesterday I rigged up a desk fan to blow over the top of the tank, it has brought the temperature down by about 6 degrees, which is great!

Hope your axies recuperate well in the fridge.

 

[kCm]

Re: Please Help My Axie is Ill- HELP

***UPDATE***


Today as I was doing my water changes I discovered Jetsam dead. I am quite upset. He seemed to look better, and was always the more active one. I am now very concerned with Flotsam, I noticed blood in her water today. She seems to have developed red spots on her sides, some of which have turned into blisters it seems. One must have burst today. I've been meaning to post about these spots for a few days but work has been keeping me away from the internet. I feel like such a bad mommy, especially now that I've lost Jetsam. I started fridging my axies on 6/23. Some days there is a lot of debris in the bin others there is none. Every day I offer fresh salmon pellets and some days I also add Bloodworms, and everyday I clean out everything I have offered. Flotsams gills are small and practically colorless. She seems less active and still a bit on the large side, as in bloated. If anyone has any suggesions as to what I should do from here please let me know. So far Flotsam has not had any sort of medications and I am totally open to medicating.

 

[Darkmaverick]

Hi KCM,

That sounds like a case of bloat (scepticaemia) brought on by and exacerbated by the heat. Aeromonas is a common bacterial infection that can cause blood blisters forming with subsquent bloat.

You would need to bring the axie to a vet for antibiotic therapy.

Cheers.

 

[kCm]

Hi KCM,

That sounds like a case of bloat (scepticaemia) brought on by and exacerbated by the heat. Aeromonas is a common bacterial infection that can cause blood blisters forming with subsquent bloat.

You would need to bring the axie to a vet for antibiotic therapy.

Cheers.

Thank you for your response but as I expressed before the vets I work for are one of the only exotics vets in the area and they have zero experience with axolotls. So they are very comfortable with treatments and such. Do you have any recommendations for antibiotics, dosages, and administration? We've tried to reach out to other veterinarians through vet forums and such but have had no luck receiving any responses on the matter. PM me as needed. Thanks.

 

[Darkmaverick]

Hi KCM,

Antibiotics are ideally injected into the intraperitoneal space rather than through oral route or baths. Oral route administration is quite a hassle especially if the axie is inappetant and refuse to feed on a 'medicated worm'. Manipulation of the jaw to drench can also result in nasty fractures. Baths are ok but its difficult to titrate to a level effective yet safe to treat a systemic illness (more for minor external sores).

Inject with a tuberculin 25-gauge needle (dog/cat insulin needle is fine) intraperitoneally, just in front of a hind leg, approximately parallel to the body and about midway between the dorsal and ventral surfaces: that is, dorsal to the bladder and ventral to the kidneys and too caudal to hit the liver or spleen. Attached is a link with a picture of where the shot should be given.

http://www.axolotl.org/health.htm

I would recommend use of amikacin + piperacillin. Alternatively, gentamicin or enrofloxacin can also be used but they have more serious side effects.

If your vet intend to use a nephrotoxic drug such as gentamicin, i highly recommend the axie be supported with fluid therapy for a day or so beforehand. The fluid therapy will aid in renal perfusion and minimise the side effects. You can basically soak the axie in amphian ringers solution or Holtrefeter's Solution. These baths aid in osmo-regulation. Although axies are fully aquatic, they can become dehydrated. Dehydration occurs in illnesses whereby the osmo-regulation is compromised, leading to celluluar and interstitial fluids being drawn out and excreted. Attached is a link for recipes for the fluid support baths.

http://www.axolotl.org/requirements.htm

The axie should also be weighed. You can use just the usual scales for small animals. Subtract the reading from water + tub from that of water + tub + axie. That would give you axie weight.

Use a dose of 5mg/kg of body weight of antibiotics. Because you are dealing with a small volume, you can constitute a solution of 5mg/ml in physiological saline and give a volume of 0.1ml.

The animal should get 3 shots of amikacin or gentamicin, each separated by 48 hours or 5-7 shots of enrofloxacin, each separated by 24 hours.

You can continue fridging the axie during the recovery and can still provide fluid support.

Cheers.

 

[kCm]

Hi KCM,

Antibiotics are ideally injected into the intraperitoneal space rather than through oral route or baths. Oral route administration is quite a hassle especially if the axie is inappetant and refuse to feed on a 'medicated worm'. Manipulation of the jaw to drench can also result in nasty fractures. Baths are ok but its difficult to titrate to a level effective yet safe to treat a systemic illness (more for minor external sores).

Inject with a tuberculin 25-gauge needle (dog/cat insulin needle is fine) intraperitoneally, just in front of a hind leg, approximately parallel to the body and about midway between the dorsal and ventral surfaces: that is, dorsal to the bladder and ventral to the kidneys and too caudal to hit the liver or spleen. Attached is a link with a picture of where the shot should be given.

http://www.axolotl.org/health.htm

I would recommend use of amikacin + piperacillin. Alternatively, gentamicin or enrofloxacin can also be used but they have more serious side effects.

If your vet intend to use a nephrotoxic drug such as gentamicin, i highly recommend the axie be supported with fluid therapy for a day or so beforehand. The fluid therapy will aid in renal perfusion and minimise the side effects. You can basically soak the axie in amphian ringers solution or Holtrefeter's Solution. These baths aid in osmo-regulation. Although axies are fully aquatic, they can become dehydrated. Dehydration occurs in illnesses whereby the osmo-regulation is compromised, leading to celluluar and interstitial fluids being drawn out and excreted. Attached is a link for recipes for the fluid support baths.

http://www.axolotl.org/requirements.htm

The axie should also be weighed. You can use just the usual scales for small animals. Subtract the reading from water + tub from that of water + tub + axie. That would give you axie weight.

Use a dose of 5mg/kg of body weight of antibiotics. Because you are dealing with a small volume, you can constitute a solution of 5mg/ml in physiological saline and give a volume of 0.1ml.

The animal should get 3 shots of amikacin or gentamicin, each separated by 48 hours or 5-7 shots of enrofloxacin, each separated by 24 hours.

You can continue fridging the axie during the recovery and can still provide fluid support.

Cheers.

Thank you so much for all the advice and dosages. I am going to spend the weekend doing the baths and begin antibiotic therapy Monday. I wanted to go the Amikacin route, the side effects of the enrofloxacin just seem to great a risk at this juncture. I am quite comfortable administering the injections myself just as soon as I get an appropriate dosage from the vet. Thanks again for alo your help and as always I will keep you updated.

 

[kCm]

UPDATE

Throughout the weekend I did fluid therapy with Flotsam and have continued to do so this week as well, yesterday she received her first amikacin injection. Today she is extremely lethargic. Her color is even worse and I am not sure if she is going to make much longer. At this point I am considering euthanasia. I just don't believe her little body is strong enough to take it any longer and I can't bear to see her suffer any more. Rayson if you wouldn't mind PMing me info on euthanasia so I can present it to the doctors at my work, i would greatly appreciate it.