He was out of water.... what do i do??

S

shane

Guest
I woke up this moring and found male axolotl curled up on the floor next tothe container i had him in while the tank is cycling. omg it was so bad. his skin was rubbery and had bits of the carpet fibres all over him. he's still in pretty bad shape. it looks like his skin is peeling, and he's moving really slow and keeps loosing his balance and falling over... also his back is arched and has been since i put him into a separate container. he's not eating but i didnt expect he would. is there anything i can do. his skin is not as rubbery as it was this morning but is still pretty bad... i dont know how long he was out of water, but he was very dry the only moist part was his stomach. i dont know what to do. i was so glad when he moved when i put him (so fast!) back into water. it was the worst feeling seeing him there.
 
Keep him in a cool, stress free environment. Don't disturb him too much. I would think maybe putting him in an isotonic salt solution would help him reabsorb water faster.

Best of luck. I can only imagine how you feel.
 
Shane - if you can get some Stress Coat put at least a double amount of it in the axolotls water. The IU colony recommended Stress Coat at up to 5 times the normal amount for axolotls who had been out of the water.
 
hey thanks for that, he's a bit better than yesterday, his skin has stopped peeling and he is a bit more active, his back is still hunched, i have no idea what that means. but when he walks his legs are straight and he does a full rotation when he walks, it would be funny if it wasnt for the situation. what is an isotonic salt solution? is that just a normal salt bath?
oh and should i put him in the fridge? or would that stress him even more? the water is pretty cold now.

thank you both. again
 
It's less than a normal salt bath. I recall Ed K. recommending ~ 15ppm (In grams/liter, I have no idea, sorry). I wouldn't bother with the fridge if he looks as if he's improving. See if you can find the stress-coat, as Cynthia suggested.

Best of luck.
 
shane- the same thing happened to one of my male axies when i was quarranting it. his back was hunched aswell and he kept falling over. i assume that this was because he had a large scrape on his belly and he didnt want it to touch the floor because it probably hurt him. i put stress coat in and some live shrimp and within a week he was as right as rain except for the scrape on his belly which has healed now. he got his appetite back after eating the live food.
 
yeah here's a pic. sorry its not a good quality. its still slightly like this not as bad. im still not sure why it happened.
sorry its such bad quality.
43282.jpg
 
awww, the poor thing! My julie did this... well I was there at the time... and it was so scary, you must have been so upset. she didn't arc her back like that though, he looks so uncomfortable.
hope it all gets better, gorgeous axie oxox sorry I can't help much, these guys sound pretty onto it though, good luck!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    There are no messages in the chat. Be the first one to say Hi!
    Back
    Top