Illness/Sickness: Sick?

[dkostetsky]

Hi Everyone,

I could use the advise of some seasoned Axolotl owners over our Lotl, Mochi.

Recently he (we don't actually know Mochi's gender, we just refer to it as a he) lost interest in eating. He's a picky eater, occasionally turns up his nose to his normal food, so I wasn't too concerned. His diet is predominately trout worms and occasionally bloodworms, he will not take nightcrawlers. Only, now he's refusing to eat after doing a couple of weeks of bloodworms (my worms in the worm farm needed to grow a bit more).

Up until now, he's eaten every day. I realize this is unusual for a Lotl but he wasn't too fat and we only feed him when he asks for food. He also won't eat alot in one go.

He's also seemed kind of bloated to me. His energy level has been good, but I'm wondering if he's gotten some type of fungus. He's developed a white spot at the tip of his frill as of this morning and his poop yesterday was kind of 'fuzzy'.

We're not sure of his age, other than he's still a juvenile. He's maybe 8 inches long. His tank is a 20 gallon long and he's a filthy little thing so we end up changing about 75% of his water every week and a half or so. I don't know the water specs at this point, I'll be picking up a kit today to test it. The temp is right where it should be at 64 degrees Fahrenheit (17.5 Celsius).

I've attached photos of him. He was a little more round at the belly a few days ago, I'm assuming he's lost a bit of weight from not eating. Any advise would be welcome. My daughter is beside herself with worry.

 

[Wysper]

Good day, and welcome.

First off, from what I can see, you Mochi is a she, but that isn't important.

She may be holding eggs and hasn't reabsorbed them yet, so isn't eating. You can also try pellets to feed as a staple diet. I order from Lexi Miller from the Facebook Group We Love Axolotls, or search for Lexolotls on facebook. You can't miss it, it's a cure profile picture of an axie. My adults have eaten them since they were about 4-5" long and are fat and sassy from them and night crawlers.

Have you tried red wigglers? Some people feed frozen shrimp, cut up into bite sized pieces after defrosting. Yes, the regular kind we humans would normally enjoy on occasion.

I've also seen chicken liver and beef heart, but I cannot recommend that... I've never seen chickens or cows living under water so that an axolotl could naturally eat them.

She does look rather healthy though, so I wouldn't worry to much about her eating.

And, I can't see any fungus on her gills, but it may be a blurry picture. Try full 100% cold clean dechlorinated water changes. 75% every week to week and a half is less than I would suggest. I would do 100% changes every week in a 20 gallon, but that's me.

 

[Wysper]

Good day, and welcome.

First off, from what I can see, you Mochi is a she, but that isn't important.

She may be holding eggs and hasn't reabsorbed them yet, so isn't eating. You can also try pellets to feed as a staple diet. I order from Lexi Miller from the Facebook Group We Love Axolotls, or search for Lexolotls on facebook. You can't miss it, it's a cure profile picture of an axie. My adults have eaten them since they were about 4-5" long and are fat and sassy from them and night crawlers.

Have you tried red wigglers? Some people feed frozen shrimp, cut up into bite sized pieces after defrosting. Yes, the regular kind we humans would normally enjoy on occasion.

I've also seen chicken liver and beef heart, but I cannot recommend that... I've never seen chickens or cows living under water so that an axolotl could naturally eat them.

She does look rather healthy though, so I wouldn't worry to much about her eating.

And, I can't see any fungus on her gills, but it may be a blurry picture. Try full 100% cold clean dechlorinated water changes. 75% every week to week and a half is less than I would suggest. I would do 100% changes every week in a 20 gallon, but that's me.

 

[dkostetsky]

Thanks Wysper!

What age do Lotls reach sexual maturity? We got Mochi August of 2016, and it's grown from around 4 inches to 8 (I haven't mesured so I'm guessing). Everything I saw says they have to be almost 2 which is almost impossible to figure out when that'll be for Mochi. She won't eat Red Wrigglers, I'm guessing she doesn't like the bad taste. She also, refuses nightcrawlers cause of the slime. The trout worms she was eating are a relative of Wrigglers but don't taste as bad from what I've read about them.

The pics may be too blurry, it's hard to get a good photo she likes to hang out where my camera can't focus. The white spot is at the tip of her frill on the right, but she may have hurt it ping ponging around her tank.

Thanks for the suggestion on the water change, I drain all but enough to cover Mochi, mostly cause I've been hesitant to touch her cause I've heard that it will hurt them, then put fresh dechlorinated water in. But based on your recommendation I'll take her out and do a full water change every time. Any recommendations for cleaning the substrate?

 

[Wysper]

How odd, apparently I double posted! Was not my intention. Ugh.

They do reach sexual maturity between 12-18 months, and sometimes they can surprise you and who you think was female suddenly decides to "display!" their "manhood". I currently have 4 siblings that have been raised together and are between 8-9" and won't be a year old till May, but one is definitely a male already. The other 3 I can't decide one way or the other yet. Based on Mochi's size at 8" I would almost be sure she is female, but.... again... HE may yet surprise you.

Honestly, I have never heard of trout worms, (or tasted them) so I can't say anything about them. If you offer night crawlers she would eventually eat them. You could try chopping them in half (so they excrete the slime defense) then soaking them in tank water for half an hour before offering them to her. That way the slime has dissipated and won't be present when she bites into them.

Per the fungus, the only good suggestion is cold clean water changes. It is definitely not bad enough to warrant a tea bath yet. If it engulfs her entire gill then I would suggest a tea bath, but at this point just water changes.

I'm terrified to pick mine up with my hands.... The one time my hubby tried to move one that way... the little guy flipped out and went sailing to the floor (no axis were harmed in the process and he is perfectly fine!). Now we strictly use a net. lol Some people do move by hand, and some axis are fine with it... but I guess they are like people and some just do not like to be touched.

That substrate looks like what I had before.... kind of like sand sized gravel? Honestly, you should change to bare bottom or a fine sand bottom. I find bare bottom is much much much MUCH easier to clean.

*** Water change day consists of moving axis to a tub, entire tank is drained and décor rinsed off with hot water, filled back up via hose with Prime added and axis are acclimated to the colder temp while in their tub, then scooped back via net to their homes.

Much easier than trying to clean the substrate. But if you really want to clean it.... the only way to completely clean it would be to take it out and rinse it off... Spot clean with a turkey baster to get the bigger stuff off of it, but you will never get it as clean as it was that very first day.

 

[dkostetsky]

Thanks Again Wysper!

The Substrate is indeed fine sand, I've been using a hose/vaccume thing and it seems to do a good job, but being that I never change out the water 100% cause I want to avoid stressing Mochi out I didn't know if that needed special cleaning when doing a full tank change.

It's good timing this weekend, she's outgrown her hide so it's time to pull it out and give her a new one. My daughter is thinking of building one out of legos.

I'll give the nightcrawler soak a try once she starts regularly eating. She's so far shown zero interest in us, which is usually her sign that she's hungry. If I offer her an extra yummy something (like liver I randomly had) she'll eat a bite but not much else. I'll just wait her out unless she gets too skinny.