Question: Floating Juvenile Axoltol

[rosemary]

Hello! Idk if I’m doing this right, this is my first time ever posting on any forum, so please bear with me. I recently just got some axoltols and they have been with me for about a week and a half. I got one golden and one albino. My albino girl, named Ophelia, has been the healthier one from the start. She’s growing a lot quicker, and she’s an amazing eater. I love her so much already. She is also very active. This morning however, I woke up to her floating at the top of her tank. I was very scared that she had passed, but a quick inspection showed that she was still alive. I scared her a bit, and she swam to the bottom of her tank. She floated up a bit in her tail area, involuntary. That definitely scared me a great deal, and made me worry that she might be sick. She then proceeded to, idk, burp I guess? A little air bubble came out of her mouth, and then she wasn’t floating anymore. I just kinda assumed that was that, and I went to work. But when I got home, I noticed she was floating again. Besides the fact that she is floating she seems fine! Even though she is floating, she is still moving around and seems to be acting normally. Except, for the floating of course. She has shown no signs of any sort of stress or sickness for the time that I have had her. Is she okay? Should I fridge her? Maybe is she sick and I just can’t see it? Anything would be helpful. Thank you!

 

[Spencer1044]

I can see your concern, I had the same worries when I first started keeping axolotls. However this is nothing to worry about. Axolotls tend to hang out in different parts of the tank. There is no reason to why they do this it really it just seems like a personal preference sort of thing. You will see them on the bottom, floating in the middle, floating at the surface, standing on their head, standing on their tail, burping, and if you are lucky you might get to see them yawn. The only thing that there might be something to worry about is if they are constipated. If they are their back end tends to float while their front stays down. This usually pass within a few hours but if they remain like that specifically for a day or two look into solutions for constipation. In the case of your axolotl I feel you have nothing to worry about I hope this helped!