Axolotl won't eat. PLEASE help.

[AbrahamAxolotl]

So it's been about a week to a week and a half my axolotl hasn't eaten anything. I typically give him those pellets that I got through here, and sometimes red wigglers from the local petco. He was never a huge fan of the worms, probably because of the smell they produce. The last time he ate he had two wigglers. He hasn't eaten since. He has had two poops since then.

I have been offering food daily since about 5 days ago when I realized he wasn't eating. I've been leaving pellets in the food dish and I have been offering worms. He chases after my finger, and he'll chase after the tongs/worms but as soon as he gets close enough to put his nose on them he runs away like he's been hurt. He does this over and over until I give up for the night. Never eats them. If I drop the worms in front of him he sniffs them and runs away still. I have tried blanching as well as not blanching them.

As for the pellets he doesn't even go near the food dish. I tried dropping some on his head and he HAS snapped at them. Only to spit them right back out. He's done this the last several nights. I've tried leaving the pellets in while I go to work or school only to find he hasn't touched them when I get home. I even tried overnight. Still won't eat them. Last night I dropped some on his head and he swallowed them. Then I found he threw them up, half chewed, about an hour later.

Params are:
temps 61-64F regulated by a chiller.
Ammonia is 0ppm to .25ppm depending on if I changed the water or not. I've just got my cycle to kick in a bit so I'm down to twice weekly water changes rather than DAILY changes.
Nitrites are 0ppm
Nitrates are 5/10ppm, but I do think it's 5ppm (API testkit is a little hard to read with that one).
When I change his water I use Prime to dechlorinate and make the ammonia less toxic, I'll be switching back to Tetra next water change since the ammonia is so low now.
PH is 6.

I have sand as the substrate and nothing sharp in the tank. I use silk plants. All decor is bigger than him so he can't swallow it. I was having an issue with mulm about a month ago but it doesn't seem like it's an issue anymore because I don't see any - when I do I clean it up.

He physically looks fine. No weird spots on his skin or anything. Sometimes in the morning his gills look slightly curled forward but they go straight by the afternoon. He's active at night, swims around non-stop as soon as I turn the room light off up until dawn lights up the room. When he is active his tail get's really pink, almost reddish, and you can see his veins sometimes. His gills get really red, too. When he's inactive they get super pale pink. But I'm told that's normal because it's just bloodflow from being active/inactive.

I know adult axolotls can go 5/6 days without eating. He's 9.5 inches long, but still, it's been a week or almost two weeks. Surely that can't be normal. And it does seem like he's hungry, since he does chase after food, but then he runs away and doesn't eat it. I don't understand. I tried getting hold of nightcrawlers but my local stores don't have any. If I knew it would help I would order them offline (if you know where I can do this let me know) but if he won't eat ANYTHING.....

Please help, I'm beginning to think maybe he's sick or something is wrong internally, but IDK why - I haven't exposed him to anything he shouldn't be exposed to and the only difference in his tank parameters this month VS the rest of the time I had him was now the ammonia levels are lower rather than .50+ daily.

 

[Bette]

I would try offering some frozen blood worms. They usually will coax finicky eaters to ultimately eat. It's worth a try!

 

[AbrahamAxolotl]

I'll try those if I can find them here, my local places mostly carry mealworms, I'm lucky they have the red wigglers! Do you think it's just an eating thing? 'Cos I've had him about 7 months and never had this happen. You don't think it's anything internal or from sickness, do you?

 

[LSuzuki]

Like Bette said, tempt him with things he likes. Keep dropping pellets on his nose too - if he snaps them, there is a chance they will stay down. Ditch the red wigglers for now.

He could be ill. Those symptoms are similar to when my adult axolotls had a protozoa infection. That can be diagnosed with a stool sample, if you can find a reputable vet that will treat amphibians. Of course, getting a stool sample is hard when he isn't eating.

 

[AbrahamAxolotl]

Unfortunately I can't afford a vet (I've got less than 50.00 in my account, it's great being a full-time student...not!). Would a salt bath be harmful or beneficial as a 'just in case' thing? I doubt salt does anything for infections, especially when there's no way of me telling myself if that's even the case since I'm not a vet.

 

[LSuzuki]

No, avoid salt.

I would say try a bit more on the "tempting" to eat, since medicating unnecessarily is not good in general.

If you want to "guess" that the problem is the same, the vet prescribed Flagyl (metronidazole) for the protozoa infection which is safe for axolotls (Axolotls - Health & Diseases) It is sold at pet stores to medicate fish, usually under the name metronidazole. I am not sure how you would get it into him if he isn't eating, though. (He also gave me syringes with a soft rubber tip to give it to him the liquid medication orally, and that was a challenge. Axies don't like being force-fed.) And I have no idea of the dosage. Maybe you could medicate the whole tank, like you do for fish. There are a lot of uncertainties - I'm no vet. This may be a very bad idea. But if he doesn't get better and you can't afford a vet, you could research more on whether this is a sensible course of action or not.

 

[AbrahamAxolotl]

Alright, thanks! And I'll avoid worms for now and keep trying to coax him into eating the pellets. Would possibly moving him into a smaller tub for feeding be beneficial since he wont be able to swim away to far, or would it stress him too much? And I read somewhere that a tea-bath helped treat an axolotl with a protozan infection, does that sound like it could be true? I've never done a tea-bath but should it be avoided like the salt should or would it be something to try rather than jumping into the flagyl if coaxing him to eat doesn't work?

 

[Bette]

I'll try those if I can find them here, my local places mostly carry mealworms, I'm lucky they have the red wigglers! Do you think it's just an eating thing? 'Cos I've had him about 7 months and never had this happen. You don't think it's anything internal or from sickness, do you?

There is no way to tell for sure if it's sickness unless a stool sample is tested by a vet. And you are probably not getting any stools on account of him not eating. I would steer clear of red wigglers, and just keep offering frozen blood worms and pellets. And no, I do not recommend salt bathes or tea baths for his current issue. And keep him in his tank for feedings... we don't want to unnecessarily stress him out.
Could you post a clear photo of him so we all can see if anything appears off?

 

[AbrahamAxolotl]

Sure! (I know I only got one side here but the other side looks identical) And I've never had frozen bloodworms before, how do you go about feeding them to him? Just keep them frozen and drop them in the tank or do you thaw one or two out first? Or am I only using these for him to smell and still feeding him the pellets?

 

[Bette]

Sure! (I know I only got one side here but the other side looks identical) And I've never had frozen bloodworms before, how do you go about feeding them to him? Just keep them frozen and drop them in the tank or do you thaw one or two out first? Or am I only using these for him to smell and still feeding him the pellets?

He looks good! Thaw the FBW cube first, then carefully drop the clump of FBW near/on his nose. After a few days of him hopefully eating the FBW, you should add the pellets back into his diet, along with the FBW. Eventually you should get him onto the pellets near 100% of the time. Perhaps at some point in the far future you could try e. Hortensis earthworms as a diet supplement.

 

[AbrahamAxolotl]

The only FBW I've been finding are San Francisco Bay Sally's Frozen Bloodworms Tropical Fish Food, are those the right kind? There was another kind that was some mosquito larva and another called Sally's The Lunchbox Frozen Bloodworms Tropical Fish Food. Or am I looking at the totally wrong thing?

 

[Bette]

The only FBW I've been finding are San Francisco Bay Sally's Frozen Bloodworms Tropical Fish Food, are those the right kind? There was another kind that was some mosquito larva and another called Sally's The Lunchbox Frozen Bloodworms Tropical Fish Food. Or am I looking at the totally wrong thing?

The San Francisco Bay Sally's FBWs sounds like what you want. I've bought that brand before. It should be 100% FBW.

 

[AbrahamAxolotl]

I ended up buying Omega brand instead because when I looked at the ingredients the San Fransisco Bay brand had guar gum listed whereas the Omega only had Bloodworms listed. I wasn't sure if guar gum is okay or not so I went with the Omega. Was that the right thing to do?
And to thaw do I simply leave it out on a dish or something until it's squishy and then drop it on his head? Or do I soak it in warmish water to thaw and loosen it up?

 

[AbrahamAxolotl]

I let it sit out to thaw until it got squishy. Then I went to feed it to my lotl. At first he ran away from it, like he has been with all his other food. But I took a second clump (I'd only taken a bit of it before) and dropped it on his nose when he stopped swimming around. He didn't snap at it or anything but after a few seconds he started sniffing them and then ate them. I let him swallow the first bite before dropping more on his head. He did the same thing that time, let them sink without snapping at them, and then sniffed around until he found them and ate them. He had two/three mouth-fulls of the worms and then walked away. There were some left over, but I'd say he ate a good 90% of them. Now I'm just watching to make sure he doesn't regurgitate them. It's been 30-40 minutes and so far so good.

Now should I offer him one of these daily for three/four days and then switch to the pellets again? Or should I offer one every other day until he eats about three or four of them and then wait another day and feed the pellets? Because I assume the pellets are better for him to eat as a primary food than the bloodworms?

 

[Bette]

That's great news! I would probably feed 1 cube of FBW daily for a few days, then offer both FBW and pellets for a few days more. Then ultimately wean him onto just pellets. (I wouldn't try offering any worms for a while... but it would be great if he can accept them as a supplement eventually)
Definitely not the red wigglers again.

 

[AbrahamAxolotl]

Alright. I will try the FBW cubes then both, hopefully he'll cooperate. I'm just so glad he's got something in his stomach! (It probably sounds silly but I swear he's happier, too, 'cos it looks like his mouth is more a smile shape than a straight line but I'm also more than likely insane lol).

And Omega is an alright brand, correct? The other had guar gum and I wasn't sure if that was okay so I didn't get that one.

And thank you all so much for the help!

 

[Bette]

Alright. I will try the FBW cubes then both, hopefully he'll cooperate. I'm just so glad he's got something in his stomach! (It probably sounds silly but I swear he's happier, too, 'cos it looks like his mouth is more a smile shape than a straight line but I'm also more than likely insane lol).

And Omega is an alright brand, correct? The other had guar gum and I wasn't sure if that was okay so I didn't get that one.

And thank you all so much for the help!

I am glad that I could help! :happy: It seems like the Omega FBW are a really good premium brand. Good choice. I've used the Sally's FBW before and they seemed fine. I don't believe that the guar gum would cause any harm.

 

[AbrahamAxolotl]

Alright, that's good to know - I think they were roughly the same price so I guess I'll just stick with one brand.

Anyway... I offered him another FBW tonight and he snapped at it when I dropped it on him but then ran away like he had been doing prior to him eating the FBW yesterday. He's an adult (almost 10in long) - is he simply not hungry again yet? I mean, because he did eat one yesterday and hasn't regurgitated it or pooped it out yet. I know you said to feed him one daily, but what if he's simply just not hungry (I read that it is normal for adults to not eat for days)?
Or is this an illness and something to be concerned about?

 

[LSuzuki]

Adults don't always eat every day. Hopefully, that is that case here.

Also, the snap seems to be instinctive. At least, mine will snap when surprised by a falling tidbit, but if they are really full (or ill), they will spit it out and then not be fooled into snapping again for a while.

 

[Bette]

It could be that he is just not hungry again yet. Try waiting another day and offer him some. Mine would eat every day if they could, but axolotls are all a little different.