Illness/Sickness: Woke up and BAM his arm is gone

[Mr Bear]

Hey,
As the title implies, my axie Happy's arm is well, gone

He's perfectly fine, swimming and eating like the lovable idiot that he is but it is gone. And frankly I don't know if he needs any special treatment plus there's random brown patch on his head that I have never seen before!

There's only one tank mate, Bentley aka the bastard, they're around the same age and both male and get a little stupid sometimes around feeding time and we've suspected that Bentley attacked him last month. He had some swollen limbs, and we thought that maybe some we're disjointed but he kept using them. We treated him and the swelling went down and he went back to being his normal Happy self.

So has it dropped off naturally or been ripped off?

Warm temp, and all levels are normal, ammonia levels are sweet too. We've got a large *** tank so if needs be we can put a divider in but we'd rather not cause usually they are fine.

 

[Quentari]

I'd recommend a divider until his arm's grown back at least. Keep a close eye on it in case of infection and keep his water nice and cool. A smaller hospital tank would probably be better but not everyone has a spare tank lying around.

 

[Mr Bear]

Actually as a matter of fact we do we've got a mini no fills tank and their old fully functioning tank, was planning to put some kick *** fish in it.

 

[Mr Bear]

Oh and do you know what that odd brown patch on his head is??

 

[Mr Bear]

Sorry forgot to attach pics

 

[Quentari]

Hmm not sure about the spot. You might need to google that one lol, but I'd reccomend he go in a different tank till his arms regrown and you can get a divider. It might not ever happen again but at least you should reacclimate slowly

 

[sabre]

When you say 'warm temp,' how warm is that?

 

[FX1C]

Could you please post the actually readings for the following parameters..
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
Ph
Temperature.
Also what type of test kit you're using
(Liquid or strip tests?)

Simply staying the waters fine doesn't help - clarity is no indication of water health either.

You stated that the tanks at a
"warm temp" in your first post -
What temp are you keeping the tank?
You do realise these are cool water animals & like their water cold not warm.

Definitely keep the axolotls separated until the limb has regrown - make sure the water in the tank is healthy (post parameters) otherwise keeping them both in tubs with fresh dechlorinated water until you know for sure the tank water is safe

Keep an eye out for fungus on the stump of the removed arm - if fungus appears - follow the instructions on the sticky in sick axolotl section and give twice daily salt baths until the fungus has gone - no need to fridge just salt bath then back into a freshwater tank/tub.




<3 >o_o< <3

 

[axolotl newbie]

If the tank is warm the brown patch could be heat stress.

 

[Asevernnnn]

Mines armS were bit off too, he was removed from the tank and 2 of the missing legs are growing back fine, and the 3rd looks like its developing but no skin over it.. like a bone, or something, its white and has little frills or something(I don't know how to describe it) but should I do anything special for it?

 

[Mr Bear]

No idea why I said warm

Must of been cause I just woke up.

its 16C in the the majority of the time. On hotter days I do the ole frozen bottle of water trick.

We use liquid to test out the water, ammonia was at 0 I believe.
At last check it was 7.2 PH in there
Had a problem with nitrates about 8 weeks ago but its now at 0

I've moved him into a his old tank, and he's doing okay, but I'm a little worried about him getting enough oxygen.
Usually he'll swim up when he needs a bit more but for obvious reasons he can't. Should I try out oxygenated tablets? Are they safe?

 

[Mr Bear]

Oh and Nitrite is at 1.2ppm :/

 

[Alkylhalide]

You shouldnt have a nitrate reading of 0.. Is your tank cycled? Ammonia and nitrite should be 0 and nitrate should be under 40ppm. Nitrate is at the end of a nitrogen cycle that is ultimately removed when you do a water change. Nitrite is turned into nitrate through biological filtration.
Do you mean nitrite?

Ive never heard of oxygenated tablets i go all natural for everything if possible. I use either an airstone for oxygen or since i have a sponge filter it provides sufficient oxygen i my opinion.

If you are concerned with oxygen put a airstone in the tank with just low bubbles. Make sure the water is clean and cool during hos recovery and he should be fine.

 

[Alkylhalide]

In my opinion if you have troubles keeping the water at optimal levels to keep him in a tub of clean dechlorinated water that you do 100% water changes on daily. That way water quality will never be an issue while he heals. You want to avoid fungus at all costs

 

[FX1C]

0 nitrate means your cycle has crashed

Anything over 0 in Nitrites confirms a crash.

You could put a sponge filter or an air stone in if the tank is big enough - but normally they're fine in just still water.

I would not add oxygenating tablets - totally unnecessary - especially if you're changing the water & replacing regularly.



<3 >o_o< <3

 

[Alkylhalide]

Agreed nikki, i wasnt sure if it was mentto say nitrite or nitrate until after i posted my post. Then i saw that there was a nitrite reading and 0 nitrate and i was like ughh. But i thought a 0nitrate ment there was no cycle at all? Because everytime my tank had crashed i still had nitrate readings but my nitrite and ammonia spiked too.

But that was with my 10gallon which i had such a hard time keeping stable! I got my 25gallon cycled in 3weeks but i had a lot of seeding material.

 

[Mr Bear]

eurgh, switch the readings.

I always mentally switch them 'cause I'm idiot :blush: and my partner always panics when I tell him hahaha.

Anywho. Yeah decided against the oxygen tablets, thinking of purchasing another airstone for his tank and but its probably unnecessary as we do a hundred percent water changes everyday.

He's happy, fungus-free, lively and I could swear his arm is growing back (my fist time experience their awesome powers first hand). Really thought that it was going to drop off though. I'm babbling now, but thanks guys for all the concern and advice :kiss:

 

[Mr Bear]

Just to make sure, that I'm not boycotted as a fool, my readings usually look like this:

pH usually 7.6 to 7.2
Nitrite consistently 0
Nitrate usually below 10 ppm
Ammonia averages 0.5 mg

 

[Tephra]

Haha, don't worry. I used to get nitrates and nitrites mixed up all the time as well.

The best thing you can do is use a tank divider and let him heal in cool, healthy water. He'll be fine.