Hello, this is my first time posting here and my first Axolotl ever.
I have a very young Axolotl who seems to have suddenly gotten sick.
He's hardly moving and seems "stiff". I actually found him upside down when I first found him in the tank this afternoon, and though he was dead for real. But after taking him out into the small container he usually is fed blood worms in, I noticed that he had slowly twitched his body and would shift his head occasionally. He's not floating, and his mouth looks like it's open. Nothing else physically seems wrong or different. Yesterday I noticed him swimming more frantically then I've seen before, and gulping air frequently, making his rear end float. I was worried about it at first but upon looking more into it it seemed like he was doing it to have fun? He also eventually stopped and seemed normal.
I've only had him for about two weeks and I got him from someone I met who's Axolotls had too many babies. I don't really know how old he even is though, because I think the person I got it from /may/ have not been accurate, he hardly had his back feet poking out when I first got him, and he was probably just under an inch long. I had gotten most of my info about Axolotls I though was necessary from her though.
He lives in a ten gallon tank with a filter and oxygen bubbler and no substrate. He has three plants and a log to hide in also. There where a few times it seemed like the filter may have pushed him around a bit, but he never seemed to mind much. Prior to his arrival, his tank filtered tap water for about 2-3 weeks. We have well water.
I take him out every day to feed him bloodworms from a frozen cube with tweezers. I feed them to him in a small plastic container, and I also use it to scoop him out of the tank to feed him. He ate about every other day, I believe, and I would let him eat his fill for about 15 minutes. He usually seemed to lose interest before it though.
And now back to the problem. I am absolutely clueless, and I really do not want to lose him. With my research thus far, the only thing I can think of is that maybe he could have some type of poisoning from ammonium or another water chemical. I had not cleaned the tank since I got him, because I have a pretty good filter and I believe I was told that he would only need it every so often, like once every two weeks or so. I would test the water levels, but I don't believe I have any testing kits, and the Coronavirus is going to make it hard to be able to go out and get it. I'll attach a picture I got of him today. Any help would be appreciated greatly. I'll try to answer any questions I can.
I have a very young Axolotl who seems to have suddenly gotten sick.
He's hardly moving and seems "stiff". I actually found him upside down when I first found him in the tank this afternoon, and though he was dead for real. But after taking him out into the small container he usually is fed blood worms in, I noticed that he had slowly twitched his body and would shift his head occasionally. He's not floating, and his mouth looks like it's open. Nothing else physically seems wrong or different. Yesterday I noticed him swimming more frantically then I've seen before, and gulping air frequently, making his rear end float. I was worried about it at first but upon looking more into it it seemed like he was doing it to have fun? He also eventually stopped and seemed normal.
I've only had him for about two weeks and I got him from someone I met who's Axolotls had too many babies. I don't really know how old he even is though, because I think the person I got it from /may/ have not been accurate, he hardly had his back feet poking out when I first got him, and he was probably just under an inch long. I had gotten most of my info about Axolotls I though was necessary from her though.
He lives in a ten gallon tank with a filter and oxygen bubbler and no substrate. He has three plants and a log to hide in also. There where a few times it seemed like the filter may have pushed him around a bit, but he never seemed to mind much. Prior to his arrival, his tank filtered tap water for about 2-3 weeks. We have well water.
I take him out every day to feed him bloodworms from a frozen cube with tweezers. I feed them to him in a small plastic container, and I also use it to scoop him out of the tank to feed him. He ate about every other day, I believe, and I would let him eat his fill for about 15 minutes. He usually seemed to lose interest before it though.
And now back to the problem. I am absolutely clueless, and I really do not want to lose him. With my research thus far, the only thing I can think of is that maybe he could have some type of poisoning from ammonium or another water chemical. I had not cleaned the tank since I got him, because I have a pretty good filter and I believe I was told that he would only need it every so often, like once every two weeks or so. I would test the water levels, but I don't believe I have any testing kits, and the Coronavirus is going to make it hard to be able to go out and get it. I'll attach a picture I got of him today. Any help would be appreciated greatly. I'll try to answer any questions I can.
