Illness/Sickness: Very very sick axolotl

[sarah13]

I have had my axolotl for five months and I think he has lots of problems. He is in a 48 litre tank with large pebbles (much too big for him to swallow). I do a partial water change every week and treat the water to remove chlorine. The filter also has a spray bar to reduce water flow.

Ever since I’ve had him he has never eaten much and been very fussy. He refuses to eat earthworms and spits them out even when I cut them up, so I have to feed him bloodworms, chicken and daphnia. I am aware that this is not nutritious for him but he will not eat anything else.

He has now stopped eating all together which I think is due to heat stress. We had a spell of hot weather and I did not realise how warm the tank was. It is now at a suitable temp but he is still stressed. My axolotl looks very underweight now and his back end floats up sometimes, I am not sure if this is a symptom of heat stress or something else.

I have also notices a change in his gills, they look less fluffy, he is now taking very frequent trips to the surface for air and also moving the gills a lot. There is enough oxygen in the water because I have an air stone and I think the filter puts oxygen into the water too. I have never kept him with fish.

I am very worried about my axolotl and although the heat stress was entirely my fault I cannot see how the other problems have occurred as I have tried my best to look after him properly. I’m starting to think about how healthy he was when I brought him because of his extremely small appetite but I may be wrong.

Please help me, I don’t know what to do anymore and I don’t want him to die. I will test the water soon, it is usually always fine and I will also try and take some pics but they don’t usually come out very good. Sorry this was so long but I wanted to explain as much as possible. Thanks Sarah.

 

[blackdog]

Hi Sarah,

First thing everyone will ask is for water parameters, so if you could provide them asap, great. Ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, ph , temp, and gh / kh if you can but not that important

Photos are great too but not that important.

Re frequency of eating - how often do you try to feed? how much? when?

A description of the tank set up in detail, plants? lighting? hides? pebble size?

Second thing, EVERYONE who has thier axies on pebbles says "with large pebbles (much too big for him to swallow)" - and inevitably a fairly large percentage of those people find out too late that in fact, the axie has swallowed a pebble that they thought was too big for them to do so.

Fact is, if we could swallow at the same scale as an axie, we could fit a basketball in our mouths, and actually swallow a volleyball, we could pass a tennis ball but it might cause some discomfort

Soooooo. when you say the pebbles are too big..... how big exactly are they?

For the record, bare tank or sand is the best substrate for an axie.

Bren

 

[herpvet]

Hi Sarah,

It's certainly worth posting the details requested here for comments, but I would also suggest getting your axolotl to a vet for examination and further investigations if necessary. That would probably be his best chance of getting a proper diagnosis of the problem and appropriate treatment.

I hope you can get him sorted out.

Bruce.

I have had my axolotl for five months and I think he has lots of problems. He is in a 48 litre tank with large pebbles (much too big for him to swallow). I do a partial water change every week and treat the water to remove chlorine. The filter also has a spray bar to reduce water flow.

Ever since I’ve had him he has never eaten much and been very fussy. He refuses to eat earthworms and spits them out even when I cut them up, so I have to feed him bloodworms, chicken and daphnia. I am aware that this is not nutritious for him but he will not eat anything else.

He has now stopped eating all together which I think is due to heat stress. We had a spell of hot weather and I did not realise how warm the tank was. It is now at a suitable temp but he is still stressed. My axolotl looks very underweight now and his back end floats up sometimes, I am not sure if this is a symptom of heat stress or something else.

I have also notices a change in his gills, they look less fluffy, he is now taking very frequent trips to the surface for air and also moving the gills a lot. There is enough oxygen in the water because I have an air stone and I think the filter puts oxygen into the water too. I have never kept him with fish.

I am very worried about my axolotl and although the heat stress was entirely my fault I cannot see how the other problems have occurred as I have tried my best to look after him properly. I’m starting to think about how healthy he was when I brought him because of his extremely small appetite but I may be wrong.

Please help me, I don’t know what to do anymore and I don’t want him to die. I will test the water soon, it is usually always fine and I will also try and take some pics but they don’t usually come out very good. Sorry this was so long but I wanted to explain as much as possible. Thanks Sarah.

 

[sarah13]

Ammonia = 0 Nitrite = 0 Nitrate = 5 PH = 8 Temp = 17-18

I used to try and feed him two or three times a week at night. My axolotl would not usually eat more than half a frozen cube of bloodworm or daphnia, probably once or twice a week.

In the tank there is a large hiding space for him, a light which is not used unless I need to see him properly and plastic plants. I used to have real ones but they did not do very well without the light on. The first attachment is an old pic which shows how big the stones are.

The second attachment shows a strange white thing on his foot, I did not think it was fungus as it is not fluffy.

The third attachment shows how skinny he is.

Thanks for your quick replies, I’m trying to find a vet who knows about axolotls but I don’t drive so it is a bit hard for me.

Sarah

 

[iChris]

as for the floating rear-end up, my axie always seems more "buoyant" before she passes waste, then goes back to normal after.

although to me, it looks like we have the classic impaction pose here, but I'm not certain. as for the foot, it is probably a fungus, axies can be prone to them when they are stressed and their immune systems are down.

 

[memojo1979]

Is the white bit stuck ON his toe, or does it look to be part of his foot? I'm definately no expert, but on my laptop, it looks like regrowth of a missing toe to me. And, my 1st thought on the floating rear end up was constipation, but if there are any things you are unsure about, then the only advise I can give is to see a vet. Hope it's all sorted ASAP + he starts eating for you again.

P.S. When you cut up the earthworms, did you try soaking them before offering them to him? That's always sounded strange to me, but I've been changing my friend's 3 axies from bloodworm to earthworms + they do indeed refuse un-soaked pieces. They also take a little while to accept the change, but they do accept it. I fattened them up 1st, admittedly, but when I made the change, it was the only thing I offered for a few days (figuring they'd eat if they were hungry enough), but then offered bloodworm every 3-4 days if any weren't accepting pieces of earthworm, so they weren't starving. They all now eagerly accept pieces of eartworm.
1 thing I did notive though, was the difference in the amount of poop produced - there's loads of it when they've been eating bloodworm, but less than 1/2 the amount when they have been eating earthworm, so switching to earthworm would also help with your water quality :happy:

 

[sarah13]

Ok, if you think it is fungus I will give him salt baths and put him in the fridge. Do you think that one salt bath a day will be alright because I am going to take him to my parent’s house as I have no room in my fridge and it is opened all the time by my housemates. If this does not work I have found a vet I can visit. Thanks

 

[sarah13]

Is the white bit stuck ON his toe, or does it look to be part of his foot? I'm definately no expert, but on my laptop, it looks like regrowth of a missing toe to me. And, my 1st thought on the floating rear end up was constipation, but if there are any things you are unsure about, then the only advise I can give is to see a vet. Hope it's all sorted ASAP + he starts eating for you again.

P.S. When you cut up the earthworms, did you try soaking them before offering them to him? That's always sounded strange to me, but I've been changing my friend's 3 axies from bloodworm to earthworms + they do indeed refuse un-soaked pieces. They also take a little while to accept the change, but they do accept it. I fattened them up 1st, admittedly, but when I made the change, it was the only thing I offered for a few days (figuring they'd eat if they were hungry enough), but then offered bloodworm every 3-4 days if any weren't accepting pieces of earthworm, so they weren't starving. They all now eagerly accept pieces of eartworm.
1 thing I did notive though, was the difference in the amount of poop produced - there's loads of it when they've been eating bloodworm, but less than 1/2 the amount when they have been eating earthworm, so switching to earthworm would also help with your water quality :happy:

To me I think it looks like part of his toe, when I first got him it was always a bit white and now the white has just got much bigger. He has always had all of his toes since I have had him unless it was damaged at the pet shop, he was kept with another axolotl and had small gravel.

I never used to soak the worms but I will try that. Thanks for the reply, everyone’s help is much appreciated.