Possible axie saver!

[whyjune1st]

Point of this post - if your axolotl swallows something it shouldnt, try a salt water bath and it could perhaps spit it out. (This is only in my experience and excesive salt baths could be harmful to your axy if there is no pre-existing condition that requires a salt bath). Now that i got my point accross if you want to know how i realized this keep reading.

A while back my axolotls had a gill fungus that I was treating with regular salt baths. I realized when doing this that if I fed them and then placed them in the salt bath before they completely swallowed their food that they promptly regurgitated it.

Then a few months ago I bought a leucistic juvenile axolotl. I put him in the same tank as my two full grown, one wild type one melanoid, axolotls not knowing that they could perhaps pick on him because of his color. . .what is this 1961? Anyway the next morning I came down and saw a white tail sticking out of my oldest axies mouth. I reverted to the salt bath/regurgitation idea and threw him into a salt bath and he did imediately regurgitate my juvie.

I just thought I would share this information in case anyone needed their axolotl to regurgitate anything it wasnt suppost to swallow. I figured if this saved even one axy its worth posting.

 

[Greg31]

haha wow, that is a great use of pre existing knowledge. Cant say i have heard a better story on here. Congrats on the discovery and saving the axolotl.

 

[Lacey]

Thanks so much! That's good advice And well done on saving the axie

 

[damien]

Very nice information indeed!

 

[Darkmaverick]

Interesting anecdote. I suppose the sudden change in salinity possibly triggered a reflex response to regurgitate. I can see the scientific logic to it. It is indeed something to bear in mind. As salt bath itself is not harmful if for a short period, it can be a useful tool to use in an emergency, like you did. Fantastic post.

Rep points to you.

 

[esoteric]

Great story whyjune1st and I do love a happy ending.

 

[ianclick]

Hi,

Excellent that you got your juvenile out. If the axolotl you added to the tank was small enough to fit into anothers mouth then I would say cannibalism is a greater influence here than colour. It is very common for axolotls to attack/predate smaller ones which is why we advise people to only house axolotls of similar size together. You may need a tank divider until they are closer in size.

 

[whyjune1st]

Yea I realize that tendency but what threw me off was that I once had only one axolotl and i bought my second as a juvenile. They were housed together with no problem at all, one full grown and one juvie. Therefore i thought the oldest would be ok with another juvenile but in fact he did attack it the only difference was the color that is what made me think it was because he was leucistic.