Question: Are neurological disorders rare in axolotls ?

[snowbutton]

Re-posting this here because no-one replied to me and it's been five days.

I'm asking because my first axolotl, Casper, has always been kind of spazzy. He is older than his tank mates but they are quickly growing bigger than him since he refuses to eat more than one pellet per hour. So he's always been quite scrawny.

He also has these moments where he will start floating, and just drifting off, so I go to check if he's alive, then he flips out. He will contort his body, flip up upside down and around. Throw up huge amounts of sand. Scratch at his gills (and no it's not fungus, my other axies are fine and water is fine). Then when he calms down, his head will twitch, similar to when axies swallow a big bite of food.

A few days I decided to move him to a tub so that he can gain some weight and not stress in the big tank. He floats often. Oh and one last thing, he will also flip out in tubs. I know this because I put a lid with holes over his tub, and when I return, the lid is dripping wet.

 

[Donna001]

I'm afraid that I don't know, but I hope that the experienced keepers and breeders will be able to help you out with this.

 

[michael]

nutritional problems can cause that type of behavior. Nutritional problems can be caused by diet, disease, or parasites. It could also be a genetic problem or from an injury.

That covers about everything.

I'd set it up by itself in shallow well filtered water. I would feed salmon pellets and or earthworms. I'd stay away from blackworms and frozen bloodworms. If no improvement is seen in a couple weeks I'd consider medicating. My guess is it is a condition that won't be cured. If it happens with to many of your axolotls I would reexamine husbandry techniques.