Axolotl suddenly died

[Ian Brodie]

Hi everyone,
After keeping tropical fish for decades, my son persuaded me to get some axolotls. Set up a 160litre tank, waited for it to stabilise & got the axolotls.
All good for 3 months, then yesterday found one dead. It's 2 left feet ended stuck in the 2mm thick slots for the filter intake.
2 days ago it looked fine and perky, ate, gills extended, etc. I didn't really take notice of them the day before as I was busy. Though from the beginnings of decomposition I'm guessing it was dead for a few hours before I found it.
I've checked all the water parameters, and all are within the correct tolerances required, except the temperature which is a little high at 23°.
The other one looks ok and moves about (see photo). I feed them frozen blood worms that I defrost before placing in the tank. It seems to be the only thing they eat (I tried thin strips of white fish, and special pellets for axolotls, neither of which they wanted).
So questions:
I've seen many posts about axolotls getting sick, stressed, etc, but none really mention sudden(ish) death - is this a common occurrence?
If it got its feet for some reason stuck in the filter intake, would this have been enough of a stress / problem to kill it. I've never had an issue with live fish getting caught up with the filter input (and only very rarely a dead one) so would find this a bit strange.
And lastly could the gravel have been a problem - ingestion wise. I've read many different opinions on the sort of substrate to use, and pea gravel seemed to be a good compromise, especially for allowing plants. Though in all cases of gravel ingestion it seems to take a few days to become serious or fatal.
Any help would be appreciated before I go and get a replacement. (The pair seemed to like each others company).

 

[ArchieThaAxolotl]

Wow, that is weird. I'm not an expert but I don't personally think that the filter would be too much of a problem. I think worst-case scenario it would only lose its legs. they are known for their regeneration and would regrow it. Could I see a picture of the other tank mate? If he is sick it'll show. Is the other aggressive? If so, it might have killed the other. (While some axolotls can be super territorial if they are together, some won't be.) Maybe it was sick? was it constipated? And what were the water parameters exactly? axolotls are quite sensitive and can get stressed easily although they are quite good at staying alive. The temperature is quite high ( the recommended temp is 16-18 degrees Celsius, but anything in the 16-20 range is ok. The high temp could have boosted the stress up high and then the filter was too much for it. although now I'm just throwing blind guesses. That's about the extent of my knowledge though.
Good Luck Finding the issue.
ArchieTheAxolotl

 

[Frillygill123098]

Poor guy

 

[Ian Brodie]

Hi Archie,
Yes very strange, I was especially surprised that 36 hours before it look to be perfectly healthy with no signs of illness. There didn't seem to be any damage to the gills or tail. I couldn't tell on the body as the skin was starting to flake post mortem. The 2 seemed to be relatively friendly, spending time together - almost as if they enjoyed each other's company.
The surviving one is in the picture from my original posting.
I'm seriously considering getting a cooler as the summer is likely to get much warmer. I'm looking at IceProbe Thermoelectric Aquarium Chiller - Nova Tec, especially from a space point of view.
Also regarding the gravel ingestion, after having observed the remaining one, it reminds me of behaviour in Cichlids, where they take a mouthful of gravel to suck off any nutrients on it. The axolotl seems to do the same thing, takes a mouthful, chomps down a couple of times, then spits everything out. Strange that it's body would accept to swallow something that is inedible. But then I'm only just discovering these quite fascinating creatures.

 

[marivan]

Is it possible that he ate some gravel and that killed him and he floated and ended up in the filter? (or attached to it?) From all the posts I've seen, you really should only have fine sand, not gravel. Sorry for your loss though, I know how upsetting it is to lose a pet, and not know if you did something wrong. You should also make sure that the tank is cool, they like it quite cool (as ArchieThaAxolotl mentions). My tank is at around 60odd degrees.

 

[AnimeDan]

While the gravel could definitely be a problem I don’t think it was the cause of this particular death. While I do recommend removing it as the size of it from what I can see in the pictures does seem large enough to cause impaction, axolotls will show signs of illness and will have lumpy spots where the impaction is. Filter doesn’t seem likely either. For temperature I recommend at least getting some fans to help cool the tank down.

But losing an Axie is hard. I just lost my Axolotl of 2.5 years named Buddy to what I believe is organ failure and have no idea what could have caused it. As his tank mate is also fine. Losing axolotls are hard as while hardy in some ways they are also very fragile in others. Just recommend keeping the tank clean and keeping any substrate to things as fine as sand or too big for them to suck up.

 

[wolfen]

couldn't say for sure without seeing the filter inlet but I would say that is the cause, It isn't that uncommon for fish to get trapped so perhaps not a impossibility for a axolotl.

 

[MnGuy]

What kind of filter and how strong was the flow? It’s completely possible that the filter trapped and killed it. I only use sponge filters for aquatic amphibians. They are not great swimmers.

If your axolotl is mouthing the gravel and spitting it out get rid of that gravel. Sounds dangerous and it’s an unnecessary risk. Fine sand is the best option.

Good luck.