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Very sick axolotls

Mwittmann

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I have had two axolotls for about a year and for the past few months they have not been eating and are so skinny I’m surprised they are alive. They get fed frozen bloodworms and frozen shrimp, and they previously ate pellets that the breeder gave me. They live in a 35 gallon tank with no substrate. I have done extensive water testing and the ammonium and nitrate levels are normal. They have a filter that has a low flow rate, I monitor the temperature daily and have a cooler if it gets too hot. I change out their water once a month. I tried feeding them live earthworms to see if that will do the trick but tried and could not eat them, the melanistic one keeps gaping. There has never been anything big enough in the tank for them to get a compaction from. I really don’t know what else could be wrong or what I should do. I’m a college student so it would be a little out of my reach financially to take them to a vet. Please help me try to figure this out since I don’t want to lose them but have no idea where to go from here!!
 

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Calgarycoppers

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What are the results for the following

temperature
ammonia
nitrite
nitrate
pH
High range pH

What water conditioner are you using?

These 2 ideally need to be tubbed separately and have their water changed 100% EVERY day.
Dump the waste water into the tank to keep the cycle fed.

Offered food minimum 3 times a day.

For right now these are your best options to save them.... Repashy grub pie, thawed raw salmon pieces, thawed shrimp pieces, live black worms, live white worms, cut up red wrigglers, frozen bloodworm as a last resort.
NO limits to how much to feed them.
NO pellets right now as they swell in the stomach and could make things worse.

Here is my hand out on food long term - AXOLOTL DIET


Once they are starting to gain weight and get reintroduced to the tank...

Switch to 50% water change weekly on the tank

Nitrates need to be kept below 4ppm ideally 5-20 ppm after a water change.

Feel free to message anytime
 
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