Trying to save badly eaten axie

[ElHein]

Hello everyone. This will be my first post, so I guess that I will start off with a short intro.
I just got my first axolotl two months ago, so I am far from an expert. I have a 50 liter aquarium in which Kraken, my first lives. Used to live on gravel but as it was apparent that he actually ate it he is now without anything.

Yesterday we went to look for a tankmate for our Kraken. His legs has been eaten off and pretty much all of the thin coating on the tail was gone. His belly was white and showed no sign of having eaten for some time. The local axolotls are white, quite transparrent.
His tankmate was much the same but it was obvious that he, the larger, was eating him!
So we got him for free along with another from another tank. Poor guy. But hopefully we can fix him.

So the set up:
Right now it's a black bucket with water around 17 degrees. Oxygenizer is running and we're planning on feeding him one cube of bloodworms daily. Gonna wash out the filfilth as well. What do you think? Anything else I should think of? He is for the time being separated from our other two. How long should we wait before we introduce them?
Lastly, does anyone have experience with extensive damages like these? Anyone care to make a prognosis?

 

[ElHein]

Here's a picture of the poor guy

 

[rachel1]

I would say just keep him in clean cool water, feed frequent small meals, and hope for the best. He will either recover or he won't, and your role is to give him the best possible conditions to maximize his chances to get better.

 

[ElHein]

Thank you for your reply! Yes, I figured that would be my role in it as well. As it is now, I offer him 1 cube per day. The container is a bit small, but planning on changing some water every day. Should I rum the oxygenizer?

 

[rachel1]

I would do large water changes in a smaller tub-probably 50-100% every day depending on how much water you have in there. I would feed him as much as he can eat in a few minutes 2-3 times daily if he'll take it. If you can find earthworms, those are really great nutrition and will help him bulk up quickly. I would keep him by himself until all the wounds are healed and he has started to regenerate. I think the air stone doesn't really matter, but it certainly won't hurt. It can help oxygenate the water a bit, and the movement may aid evaporative cooling.

 

[qannp]

I would add something mildly antibacterial, like black tea or indian almond leaves, to the water.

I wish you all the best for the little guy, I hope he gets well soon! <3

 

[ElHein]

Thank you for your kind replies! Currently going strong in his little box. It is about 4 liters, I would think. How often do you figure I should change the water? I suck out the filth and bring in some new water every day. About half of it.

 

[qannp]

I'd do 80 to 100% water changes daily. Maybe you could find a bigger box so he can move a little and there's also space for a hiding place?

edit: I have a few clear and food safe plastic boxes (40l) for such emergency cases. I bought them at the home improvement store, they're cheap and easy to clean.

 

[ElHein]

Thank you for your replies.
Yes, I am currently pondering whether to find a bigger container for him or whether I should put him in with the others. He has been in his own box for about a week with daily water changes all between 50-100%. But I still notice that the water smells quite fast on account of the feeding. When do you think that it would be safe to move him over? His wounds seem to have closed, but no regrowth is visible with the naked eye. His gills are also fine and his tail seems to have closed up nicely as well. If things keep going like this, then he may just be OK.

 

[fafler]

I'm really impressed with the way axolotls are able to regenerate lost limbs. Some time ago, I took a (really dumb, won't happen again) chance and tried housing my axolotls together with a couple of ropefish. One day when i was feeding, a ropefish bit a hind leg of one of the axolotls, but it grew back with toes and everything in a couple of months. Yours probably will as well.

 

[qannp]

Great to hear he's doing well! :happy: I'd separate him for about a week to be sure that the wounds healed.
It will take some time until his legs grow back. The younger they are, the faster they are able to regrow bodyparts.

I just realized that you said your tank is 50 liters - that's way too small, even for one axie. I understood that you have three axies now?

Please try to get a tank that's at least 100x50x40cm for them. It's not only because they need their space; axies produce a lot of waste (I'm sure you noticed that already ) and it will be a problem to maintain good water quality in your 50l tank.

 

[ElHein]

Ah, thank you! Yes, that is probably accurate. We bought it thinking that we would only have 1 axolotl, but as time went by we just wanted more, and so we figured that it's time to get a larger aquarium! I am not very good at measurements, but that should be about 100-150 liters, correct?

 

[qannp]

200l.

 

[ElHein]

Status update:
Hello, everyone! Things are looking great for our badly eaten axie. Today he is a bit slow and almost sleepy during the water change, but other than that his limbs seem to have started regenerating and he is active and seems healthy. Nice colour and relaxed in his behaviour, so I am thinking of putting him in the tank with the others this friday!
As for the aquarium, the size seems to be sufficient for a few weeks while we look for a larger one. It's spacious and allows for good movement, but to adress the waste issues we are performing water changes every second day!
As for size we are looking for a 200 liter (breeder, hopefully) that we can have tabled next to the room divider. So all-in-all, things seem great for our little family!
What experiences do you have with feeding shrimp? We recently bought some atlantic, unboiled, unsalted, untreated shrimps!! which we cut to pieces and saved in cubes. They loved them, and it was quite strange to see them go so mad over those strips of shrimp!

 

[qannp]

I'm glad to hear he's doing so well!

Status update:
What experiences do you have with feeding shrimp?

None. No creature that once lived in the sea is good food for axoltl, because they're containing iodine.

Earthworms are the best food, also small live fish like guppys and mollies are. You can also give them slaters, small watersnails or gammarus as a snack or pieces of low-fat freshwater fish.

In my opinion live food is the best, but many keepers like axolotl pellets better, so this is also an option.

 

[Sweetie]

Live earthworms are the best food for axies. Also, they won't soil the water nearly as fast as bloodworms, which is a major plus in your situation. Normal quarantine period is at least four weeks before introducing anything new into a tank. When (if) you do decide to house them in the same tank, you will need to make sure your new tank is large enough to put a barrier down the middle to separate the new axie from the others before they eventually mingle. Proceed with caution and keep a close eye on proceedings to make sure no-one is picking on anyone else. Otherwise you'll be dealing with more lost limbs. Your axie should regenerate its limbs pretty quickly, however, given nutritious food and clean water, especially if s/he is under 12 months of age. If s/he is older, it will take longer but should still eventually occur.