Help! Axolotl jumped out of her cage!! Second opinion on vet recommendation please!

[mifuneaxie]

So like the title suggests, my axolotl squeezed through like a one inch gap (I'm still dumbfounded by this) and got out of her tank. I found her this morning under my bed with some dirt and lint on her. Amazingly she was still alive. So right now I have her in a bowl of clean water (I removed as much of the lint and fuzz as possible) in the fridge. I have no idea how long my axie was out of the water, hours I think (it was during the night that this happened). She was only damp when I found her. She doesn't seem to have any broken bones, she moved her arms normally in the bowl. But her skin looks bad as well as her tail. It's red, and I'm sure irritated. I just spoke to a herp vet here in Phoenix and wanted to get a second opinion on the recommendations that he gave me. He said that I should put her in a 1 tsp salt (table salt he said) per 1 liter bath and leave her in it for 24 hours or so. This is to help with her skin (which looks kind of fuzzy though I'm pretty sure it's not fungus and just her skin coming off maybe?). He also suggested buying artificial slime from a pet store because her slime coat seems bad. And lastly he said to remove her from the fridge and to a warmer place. The salt and warmer place are my concerns and I'm wondering if he knows what he is talking about. I have been to this vet before and he seemed knowledgeable but... I will try and upload a few pictures within the hour (It's tricky to get a picture of her, and I don't want to stress her more then she is).

Please let me know on this ASAP!!! I'm really worried and want to start treating her if this is the correct treatment. I really appreciate any answers! Thank you!

 

[Shizeric]

I probably wouldn't use a salt bath.

 

[mifuneaxie]

No on the salt bath? Yeah, it didn't really sound like a good idea to me... But I should keep her in the fridge, right? And have you heard of the artificial slime? I think it's this: Kordon LLC - Kordon - Novaqua

Should I try and get some? Thanks again.

 

[dragonlady]

Oh my! How frightening for everyone involved! I'm glad she seems to be okay.

I agree with Eric about the salt bath, it could prove too irritating, especially with her slimecoat damaged. In regards to the artificial slime, what dechlorinator are you already using? Check the label, it may not vary much from NovAqua, especially if you are already using AmQuel+ or Prime for example. NovAqua is a good product based on my experience, so it shouldn't hurt her.

I would definitely keep her in the fridge until you see noticeable improvement. She should feel really slick to you, not sticky. This is not to advocate picking up axolotls, I'm not saying that, just gently check her with your very wet hand.

I'd also be curious to know if something spooked her or did something go wrong in the tank to make her want to get out...What you describe took some effort and maybe even a little planning...two things axolotls are not exactly known for...

 

[mifuneaxie]

It was, and is. I'm really stressed out about it and worrying about her. When I turned on their light this morning and couldn't find her in the tank, I kind of freaked out, it took me quite a while to find her too....

That's what I figured about the salt bath. I thought that was mainly for fungus and such. I'm using Topfin dechlorinator. It says that it removes chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals. It doesn't say anything about helping the slime coat and such. I think I will probably go invest in the NovAqua then, like you said it can't really hurt her.

She does feel slick, not sticky, so I'm guessing that's good. And it's hard to describe how her skin looks, almost withered? Like rough looking, obviously from being on the ground. I guess there's not much else I can do for it really... I'm hoping she doesn't have any internal injuries as well, cause the drop from the tank to the floor is about three and a half feet...

I have two axolotls, so I'm guessing that the other one spooked her into jumping out, or something. And it wasn't a one inch gap really, more like two inches (between my lid and my filter), but still seems very unlikely that she could get out through it (but she did anyways).

So there doesn't seem like much I can really do to help her more, but keep the water clean and fresh, get that slime coat helper, and keep her in the fridge? I'm just hoping that cause she fought through being on the ground for that long, she can pull through this.

Thanks for your input! I appreciate it.

 

[mifuneaxie]

I went to a pet store and got something called Fish Protector by the same company that makes the NovAqua one I had been talking about before. So this one helps the slime-coat, heals bruises, minimize infections, and eases stress. So hopefully it helps her out.

I also got a picture, though it doesn't show her skin problem very well. If you notice on her left front foot its really red on her toes. It's like that on all her feet and her tail is a little worse then that. Red and shriveled kind of.

I know I can't do much, but anything else helpful that I could try would be great.

Thanks.

 

[Kaysie]

The outer skin layer will probably slough off. I use a dechlorinator with aloe, whos name escapes me right now. But NovAqua seems like it will be fine too. Just keep her cool and clean, and she should bounce back. Try feeding her a little more frequently too; fighting infection takes energy!

As for the red toes/tail: being in the fridge will make leucistic axolotls sometimes look more red because there's more blood at the surface. This is because cold water has more oxygen, so there's more blood at the surface of the skin to facilitate in oxygen exchange. If the redness gets more intense, or starts to spread beyond where is already red, it could be an infection.

 

[mifuneaxie]

Okay, so I should be expecting some skin to come off then. She is still in the fridge (probably will be for a while...) at about 7 degrees celsius or 45 degrees fahrenheit (which seems awfully cold, but I'm following the info from the axolotl sanctuary page). She's been in there over 24 hours now, so I guess I'll try feeding her tonight? Her gills are really far forward though, stressed out. Would it being so cold make her a stressed? She's usually in 64 degrees when she was in her tank, so that's a twenty degree difference.

I've attached another photo from just a half hour ago or so. I don't know if you'll even be able to see the details at all, but worth a try I guess.

Thanks for the info on the redness. That was really worrying me. I will definitely keep an eye on it to make sure it's not an infection. What would I do if it does turn into an infection? (I'd post a better picture before I do anything though.)

Thanks for your comment and help.

 

[MaddogJones]

I wouldn't say it's the temperature - she's looking a lot worse in that second picture, but you are doing everything right, and nothing looks critical - I would say she is going to be fine, just don't put her under any stress.

In my non-educated opinion, I would say it's all stress - the dark parts on her tail look worrying, though.

 

[mifuneaxie]

Yeah, I hope she's going to be fine too... I think that picture's darkness makes it look worse. She does look a little worse then yesterday though. And her not moving makes me worried (even though I know it's cause of the cold). I'm just wondering if she has any internal injuries. And her tail does look bad, but so do her feet... I think her being stressed out is making me even more stressed out then I would be. Ah, I hope she'll be okay. I read another post that pretty much this same thing happened and theirs didn't make it. But I'm hoping that since she spent such a long time out of the water, and fought through that, that she'll get through this too.

 

[HMAxolotl]

Hi, I think you read my thread about my axie jumping out of the tank ... Looking at the pictures your axie dosn't look as bad as mine did or it's just the photos... Is she eating at all? That would be a good sign as mine didn't eat anything after he jumped out... I hope your one pulls through and your keeping yours in the fridge at a lower temp so hopfully she does make it :happy:...

 

[mifuneaxie]

Yes, I did read your thread. I thought your axie's tail was redder then mines is. Mine is just red on the tips of her tail and feet. Though her skin looks kind of weird. I've been trying to describe it but it's tricky. It's probably from drying out and such. Did your axie's skin look bad?

I'm going to give her a worm right now, I'll probably end up leaving it in her bowl for a while, see if she eats it. I hope so, shes got to be hungry. But maybe being so cold might make her not want to eat?

Hopefully the lower temperature is going to do the trick. She moves so slow when she moves at all. Occasionally there's the gill flip, but not very often.

 

[HMAxolotl]

I knlw what you mean about her skin, very hard to describe and when I did a water change some of it wold come off ... All over his body looked like a layer of skin had come loose from head to tail... I hope she eats her worm and if you see her walking that's a good sign mine hardly ever moved, I only saw him move once and I had to watch him for about 15-20 mins to see if his gills would move... It sounds like she's doing a lot better than mine was doing so I think she will be fine :happy:

 

[dragonlady]

I wonder if a tea bath would help soothe the irritated skin? This is often recommended for skin issues. Are you familiar with this method?

You can find it about midway down this page - Tea Bath

 

[mifuneaxie]

Well no luck with the worm. I held it in front of her mouth for like five or ten minutes. She hardly moves, and it's the same way with the watching for 15-20 minutes for a gill flicker. I feel like she shouldn't be quite so cold?? I was thinking I could take her out of the fridge and let her sit for a while until the temperature gets up to 55 F or 60 F and then try with the worm (shes at 45 F or so in the fridge). It seems too cold for her to even move! I can barely hold my hand in it!

Yeah, her skin isn't really in a layer that wants to come off like that. It just looks sore and irritated. And her forward gills aren't making her condition any less worrying.

A tea bath? I'm not familiar with them, I mean I've heard of them but have never needed to use it yet. I thought that was mainly for fungus? Like a lesser form of the slat bath for milder cases of fungus? I had a frog a long time ago and he had that weird disease where the water gets trapped in between his skin? We read that a salt bath would help and it ended up killing him. Would a tea bath stress her out more? I thought they were painful. (I just want to know a little more before I try it, though she doesn't seem any better so maybe I should?)

I've also added a few pictures from just about ten minutes ago. I changed her into this bigger bowl and gave her fresh water. The flecks on the bottom are part of the bowl, though some of them are from the worm, should I move her to a new bowl again because of the worm residue? Could that lead to an infection or something bad?

Please reply soon! And thanks for your comments and help. I really appreciate it!!!

 

[dragonlady]

Tea baths are used for skin irritations, not fungal infections according to the article I gave you the link for. The tannins actually encourage the pores to close up and keep infections out, not recommended for fungal infections as with the closing, the fungus would actually end up trapped inside.

I wouldn't warm her back up as changing the temp on her could prove stressful. Usually with a fridged axie, folks just put a worm in for overnight to see if it gets eaten and remove it when the water gets changed if uneaten (This is what I do too). As far as the current debris, you could just remove it with a turkey baster if you didn't want to stress her with another water change. The more time she spends in the cold, quiet dark, I think the better for her.

 

[mifuneaxie]

Sorry, I didn't even look at the link. Should have. If there doesn't seem to be any change, I will probably try a tea bath tomorrow some time. It sounds like it would help. I'll put in a worm tonight then and leave it till tomorrow. I'm trying not to bug her too much, and open the fridge extra carefully so as not to stress her out even more then that, but I do want to check on her every so often just to make sure she's still alive in there.

Thanks for the link and the info. I'll post an update tomorrow after I see how she does with the worm and I do a tea bath. Thanks again.

 

[mifuneaxie]

Just an update I guess. She didn't eat the worm that I left in there all night. I'll try again tonight, but I don't think she even moved at all during the night. She looks like shes in the exact same spot she was before. I'll have to go get some appropriate tea and then I can try the tea bath. For now she's just in the dark, cold fridge, and I'm trying not to disturb her at all, even to check on her.

 

[Kaysie]

Just give her time. Healing is not instantaneous. And her skin will probably look worse before it starts to look better. The shedding is her way of getting rid of all of the skin that was damaged so she can grow new, healthy skin. I have no experience with tea baths, but if others have used them successfully, it's worth a try.

As far as food, I wouldn't expect her to eat while she's in the fridge. When they're kept that cool, their metabolism is slow enough that they need food only rarely. Taking her out of the fridge and warming her up and then putting her back in after she eats will probably just stress her more.

 

[mifuneaxie]

Well, she hasn't started any really noticeable shedding yet. Even if she probably won't eat, I'll put a worm in there every once in a while. I won't warm her up either, just keep her in the fridge.

Thanks for your reply. They all help! Again, I appreciate it!