BenC347
New member
Hi everyone,
I've been reading these forums for a couple years now, and I'm sorry that my first post isn't a happy one.
I woke up this morning to find my leucistic axolotl, Bam, dead in her tank. I believe the cause of death was septicemia localized around the gut, but I wanted to get people's opinions about what might have happened so that this doesn't happen again.
First, water parameters from this morning:
Temperature: 64.9 F (18.3 C)
pH: roughly 8
Ammonia: 0 ppm
NitrIte: 0 ppm
NitrAte: 10 - 20 ppm
Water parameters 5 days ago were exactly the same. The tank is 10 gallons with a fine sand substrate, 3 plants (Anubias of some sort), a ceramic flowerpot, and a 10 gallon Tetra Whisper in-tank filter. Currently, I have a small net breeder in the tank with a 3 month old juvenile inside who is doing just fine.
Last night, I checked on Bam before I went to bed. She was on the sand of the tank and not moving much. I didn't think much of this because she tends to be pretty lethargic. This morning, I found her floating vertically with her head down, and she didn't move at all upon me nudging her. The lower part of her belly, as well as her legs and cloaca, were very red (see the picture), so I'm guessing that she died due to septicemia. I'm sad about her death as well as frustrated at myself for not preventing it. She was swimming and crawling around just fine this past week, so I didn't think anything was wrong. I didn't notice any of the redness on her last night either.
However, her appetite has been poor for the past two months. Her filter went out for a few days in March when I was out of town, and I noticed after I returned home that she wasn't eating well. Over the next couple weeks, she wouldn't eat much at all and began losing weight. Normally, I fed her shrimp pellets, so I tried switching to earthworms to get her to eat to no avail. After reading up on the forums, I decided to give fridging a shot, and she recuperated in my refrigerator for two weeks. During that time, she started eating a pellet or two every now and then, and she seemed to be doing better.
A week ago, I moved back home from college. I kept Bam in a small tank in cold water on the 3 hour drive home, and I immediately changed the water upon getting back. She stayed in the smaller tank for a day or two while I made sure her larger tank (which I had to mostly empty in order to move back home) was still cycled. She would eat a pellet every day or so over the past week, and other than needing a brief salt bath for some fungus on her toe, I thought she was doing much better than she had been the past couple months. However, although I gave her small pieces of earthworms to try and get her to put some weight back on, she regurgitated those overnight.
I apologize for how long and rambling this post is, but I would really like to know what could have possibly happened. Right now, my best guess is that she had been battling a gut infection for the past couple of months and just finally succumbed to it last night. The gut infection would explain both her recent lack of appetite as well as the apparent septicemia on her belly that I saw this morning. However, I'm confused as to how it progressed so rapidly and caused her to go from asymptomatic (besides the lack of appetite) to dead overnight. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.
I've been reading these forums for a couple years now, and I'm sorry that my first post isn't a happy one.
I woke up this morning to find my leucistic axolotl, Bam, dead in her tank. I believe the cause of death was septicemia localized around the gut, but I wanted to get people's opinions about what might have happened so that this doesn't happen again.
First, water parameters from this morning:
Temperature: 64.9 F (18.3 C)
pH: roughly 8
Ammonia: 0 ppm
NitrIte: 0 ppm
NitrAte: 10 - 20 ppm
Water parameters 5 days ago were exactly the same. The tank is 10 gallons with a fine sand substrate, 3 plants (Anubias of some sort), a ceramic flowerpot, and a 10 gallon Tetra Whisper in-tank filter. Currently, I have a small net breeder in the tank with a 3 month old juvenile inside who is doing just fine.
Last night, I checked on Bam before I went to bed. She was on the sand of the tank and not moving much. I didn't think much of this because she tends to be pretty lethargic. This morning, I found her floating vertically with her head down, and she didn't move at all upon me nudging her. The lower part of her belly, as well as her legs and cloaca, were very red (see the picture), so I'm guessing that she died due to septicemia. I'm sad about her death as well as frustrated at myself for not preventing it. She was swimming and crawling around just fine this past week, so I didn't think anything was wrong. I didn't notice any of the redness on her last night either.
However, her appetite has been poor for the past two months. Her filter went out for a few days in March when I was out of town, and I noticed after I returned home that she wasn't eating well. Over the next couple weeks, she wouldn't eat much at all and began losing weight. Normally, I fed her shrimp pellets, so I tried switching to earthworms to get her to eat to no avail. After reading up on the forums, I decided to give fridging a shot, and she recuperated in my refrigerator for two weeks. During that time, she started eating a pellet or two every now and then, and she seemed to be doing better.
A week ago, I moved back home from college. I kept Bam in a small tank in cold water on the 3 hour drive home, and I immediately changed the water upon getting back. She stayed in the smaller tank for a day or two while I made sure her larger tank (which I had to mostly empty in order to move back home) was still cycled. She would eat a pellet every day or so over the past week, and other than needing a brief salt bath for some fungus on her toe, I thought she was doing much better than she had been the past couple months. However, although I gave her small pieces of earthworms to try and get her to put some weight back on, she regurgitated those overnight.
I apologize for how long and rambling this post is, but I would really like to know what could have possibly happened. Right now, my best guess is that she had been battling a gut infection for the past couple of months and just finally succumbed to it last night. The gut infection would explain both her recent lack of appetite as well as the apparent septicemia on her belly that I saw this morning. However, I'm confused as to how it progressed so rapidly and caused her to go from asymptomatic (besides the lack of appetite) to dead overnight. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.
