Illness/Sickness: HELP!!Axolotl upside down at the bottom of tank!

[Autistic Catholic]

Sometimes, they suck in air when they eat causing floating problems.

Also, if you are feeding them pellets at all and aren't soaking them, that can cause these floating problems.

I know it doesn't seem like floating to you because all it's doing is making him tip over but the swimming imbalance is technically a floating problem.

If you would like, I can ask a vet I know to weigh in on it this time weekend.

 

[Bellabelloo]

I'm wondering if there is a neurological problem going on here. If so I don't know how this can be addressed.

 

[Autistic Catholic]

I'm wondering if there is a neurological problem going on here. If so I don't know how this can be addressed.

OP, do you notice any irregular twitching or other erratic movements. I think that Julia might be onto something in suggesting something neurological going on.

 

[wolfen]

the tipping over is due to lower air lock, adding food on top causes a loss of balance, weight above + air underneath = tipping.
the posture of the legs is a more relaxed position where as legs forward causes some lift.
until the air is removed he/she will keep rolling over because of where the air is.
feed frozen food or live, no pellets.

 

[Autistic Catholic]

the tipping over is due to lower air lock, adding food on top causes a loss of balance, weight above + air underneath = tipping.
the posture of the legs is a more relaxed position where as legs forward causes some lift.
until the air is removed he/she will keep rolling over because of where the air is.
feed frozen food or live, no pellets.

Getting another look at all the pictures, I'm almost positive wolfen is correct (which is good). If his legs are relaxed, it's almost certainly not neurological. If it's only happening when he eats, then what seems to be happening is he seems to be getting an extra gulp of air as he eats.

 

[Turtle Poop]

I'm new here at this site. I can completely understand your concern and worry and just simply wanting to fix him/her. I had a young Melanoid that went belly up and I did everything I could possibly think of but he didn't make it. Hopefully yours is getting better!! Sounds like you do have hopes in that he does seem to have better moments. Maybe just maybe holding off food for multiple days could help if it's gas. Give ot time to pass b4 more moves in kinda thing. Don't take my advice to heart as im just problem/solving here. They can go without food for a good amount of days as an adult so this may work and be less stressful for him as in gaining more gas. hope he feels better soon

 

[Turtle Poop]

I'm new here at this site. I can completely understand your concern and worry and just simply wanting to fix him/her. I had a young Melanoid that went belly up and I did everything I could possibly think of but he didn't make it. Hopefully yours is getting better!! Sounds like you do have hopes in that he does seem to have better moments. Maybe just maybe holding off food for multiple days could help if it's gas. Give ot time to pass b4 more moves in kinda thing. Don't take my advice to heart as im just problem/solving here. They can go without food for a good amount of days as an adult so this may work and be less stressful for him as in gaining more gas. hope he feels better soon

If your water perimeters read 0 ammonia/0 nitrites/0 nitrates then that makes me think your tank is not cycled cuz you turn ammonia into nitrites then into nitrates then gotta get those out by water changes. I suggest never doing more than 50% in a week unless nitrates are really high but still then only every other day or 25% a day til corrected. When I change complete tanks I reserve 50% of the dirty water to add it back then adjust over the next week. Minus water if nitrates are getting high so forth so on...that being said think of tubbing...you gotta do 100% water changes everyday right? So if other levels are high then address them by 25% water changes 2x a day til it can balance with your filter. Always use conditioner with these water changes. Once balanced you will carry around 25-30 nitrates. This reading identifies a cycled tank. I dont know of one that reads 0 nitrates.
Basically they pee and poop and eat all in a toliet...it cycles from that bad bacteria into good bacteria if your filter is primed correctly. But still it needs flushed to get that nitrate down and out. I suggest never cleaning your filter only rinsing it maybe once a month. Keeping a clean tank isn't cleaning it throughly lol I know that makes no sense but it is true. Your filter of you have the right kind produces from your bad waste(bacteria) and good bacteria builds in your filter that eats all that bad so cleaning your filer too much will kill all that good bacteria then you have no cycled tank again.

 

[Autistic Catholic]

I'm new here at this site. I can completely understand your concern and worry and just simply wanting to fix him/her. I had a young Melanoid that went belly up and I did everything I could possibly think of but he didn't make it. Hopefully yours is getting better!! Sounds like you do have hopes in that he does seem to have better moments. Maybe just maybe holding off food for multiple days could help if it's gas. Give ot time to pass b4 more moves in kinda thing. Don't take my advice to heart as im just problem/solving here. They can go without food for a good amount of days as an adult so this may work and be less stressful for him as in gaining more gas. hope he feels better soon

So sorry for the loss of your little guy.

If you wouldn't mind, maybe OP could benefit from hearing what was ultimately wrong with him.

We think OP's little guy is having a floating problem which is easily correctable. But neurological degeneration would be impossible to correct and bacterial infection would be tricky.

 

[wolfen]

So sorry for the loss of your little guy.

If you wouldn't mind, maybe OP could benefit from hearing what was ultimately wrong with him.

We think OP's little guy is having a floating problem which is easily correctable. But neurological degeneration would be impossible to correct and bacterial infection would be tricky.

unfortunately there is a way of stopping floating and tipping over but it is very controvertible and involves the use of something that is frowned upon when it comes to axolotls.
I will not advocate for or against but there is a theory of gastroliths when it comes to axolotls. If you require more information please use google.

 

[Autistic Catholic]

I'll link an article on what wolfen is referring to for OP.

Gravel for Axolotls: What Nobody Tells You • Fantaxies

I will warn you… This is a controversial topic, but […]

fantaxies.com

There is another member on here who also holds this position. They are an aspiring veterinarian.

 

[Jaxolotl27]

Update he has not passed he is still alive!!!! He’s currently still in a tub with 100% water changes daily.. he is still the same hardly any movement from him at all... I only feed live earthworms that I cut into small pieces and I hand feed him under the water so there’s no way he could be gulping air... I’ve gone up to 3 days without feeding him and he’s still flipping upside down.. he doesn’t seem to be getting any better he hardly moves and when he does move he’s very unstable and really wobbly I am constantly flipping him back upright to the point now that I’ve made like a little half dome to keep him up right more and less flipping going on but still no improvement!! He does eat when I offer it to him just not as much as he used to eat.. he doesn’t do any erratic movements at all as he hardly moves period literally.. I don’t know what else to do but at this point I feel like he’s just suffering... it’s been two weeks that he has been like this and nothing has helped at all...

 

[wolfen]

Update he has not passed he is still alive!!!! He’s currently still in a tub with 100% water changes daily.. he is still the same hardly any movement from him at all... I only feed live earthworms that I cut into small pieces and I hand feed him under the water so there’s no way he could be gulping air... I’ve gone up to 3 days without feeding him and he’s still flipping upside down.. he doesn’t seem to be getting any better he hardly moves and when he does move he’s very unstable and really wobbly I am constantly flipping him back upright to the point now that I’ve made like a little half dome to keep him up right more and less flipping going on but still no improvement!! He does eat when I offer it to him just not as much as he used to eat.. he doesn’t do any erratic movements at all as he hardly moves period literally.. I don’t know what else to do but at this point I feel like he’s just suffering... it’s been two weeks that he has been like this and nothing has helped at all...

have you been adding salt like suggested?
did you read the article that autistic catholic linked to?
feed frozen bloodworm or brineshrimp for now to reduce food load.

 

[Jaxolotl27]

I'll link an article on what wolfen is referring to for OP.

Gravel for Axolotls: What Nobody Tells You • Fantaxies

I will warn you… This is a controversial topic, but […]

fantaxies.com

There is another member on here who also holds this position. They are an aspiring veterinarian.

So what kind of substrates

unfortunately there is a way of stopping floating and tipping over but it is very controvertible and involves the use of something that is frowned upon when it comes to axolotls.
I will not advocate for or against but there is a theory of gastroliths when it comes to axolotls. If you require more information please use google.

so what kind of substrates do you use?

 

[Jaxolotl27]

have you been adding salt like suggested?
did you read the article that autistic catholic linked to?
feed frozen bloodworm or brineshrimp for now to reduce food load.

Yes and yes and I did try offering bloodworms last time and he just spit them all out.. but ate the earth worm when I offered that next...

I'll link an article on what wolfen is referring to for OP.

Gravel for Axolotls: What Nobody Tells You • Fantaxies

I will warn you… This is a controversial topic, but […]

fantaxies.com

There is another member on here who also holds this position. They are an aspiring veterinarian.

sorry but I’m lost on who or what is OP?

 

[Turtle Poop]

So what kind of substrates

so what kind of substrates do you use?

I'm using this gravel substrate as it makes sense to me and I already experimented with bare bottom which seem stressful to me to watch them ice skating and I've tried slate which was no better. I then read this above mentioned thread and all others that were linked and it made sense in my brain so I did it...I know others out there will critique it or bash it but sometimes it's all about gut when nothing else is helpful. By all means I don't want anyone to replace substrate to ordinary aquarium gravel. You need to get more of a variety of round sized gravel thats reputation is clean...then still rinse a few times. Watch your axolotl and don't feed them on it. They can chooseningly swallow the right ones they need to. Hand feeding I'd say is a must here.

 

[Autistic Catholic]

Sorry, OP is internet talk for "original poster". When referring to a thread, it's the person who made the first post. That'd be @Jaxolotl27 in this case.

Try him in a tank with a gravel substrate.

 

[Jaxolotl27]

I'm using this gravel substrate as it makes sense to me and I already experimented with bare bottom which seem stressful to me to watch them ice skating and I've tried slate which was no better. I then read this above mentioned thread and all others that were linked and it made sense in my brain so I did it...I know others out there will critique it or bash it but sometimes it's all about gut when nothing else is helpful. By all means I don't want anyone to replace substrate to ordinary aquarium gravel. You need to get more of a variety of round sized gravel thats reputation is clean...then still rinse a few times. Watch your axolotl and don't feed them on it. They can chooseningly swallow the right ones they need to. Hand feeding I'd say is a must here.

I agree I read the article and it does make a lot of since I also can see a lot of the controversy from different peoples opinions but being as I am a vet technician and I understand a lot more things that other people would disagree with when it comes to their domesticated pets.. i think giving them a habitat that is most identical to their natural habitat is what would be best, although I was never sure bc of all the controversy everyone says with substrates etc... I never really liked seeing the slip and slide across the bare bottom as I felt it was extremely unnatural and stressful so I’m definitely going to do more research regarding this topic and go from there.. thank you for this information!

 

[Jaxolotl27]

Sorry, OP is internet talk for "original poster". When referring to a thread, it's the person who made the first post. That'd be @Jaxolotl27 in this case.

Try him in a tank with a gravel substrate.

Oh ok i get it now! Lol I’m definitely going to give this a try as at this point I’m willing to try anything bc nothing else has helped him. Now considering that he’s still floating and wobbly would I just put the substrate in his hospital tank along with just barely enough water to still prevent him from floating for the time being or do you think I should add the substrate with more water and give him the opportunity of hoping he doesn’t float upside down... I can hold off on feeding for a couple of days before I add the substrate to possibly better his chances there as well as continuing with my hand feeding with tonges under water which is what ive always done so no big difference there for me!

 

[Turtle Poop]

Oh ok i get it now! Lol I’m definitely going to give this a try as at this point I’m willing to try anything bc nothing else has helped him. Now considering that he’s still floating and wobbly would I just put the substrate in his hospital tank along with just barely enough water to still prevent him from floating for the time being or do you think I should add the substrate with more water and give him the opportunity of hoping he doesn’t float upside down... I can hold off on feeding for a couple of days before I add the substrate to possibly better his chances there as well as continuing with my hand feeding with tonges under water which is what ive always done so no big difference there for me!

I'm no expert by no means but I'd continue what you are doing and maybe add a small section in a corner of the appropriate gravel. He/she may not do anything with it now he's already upside-down but it's there jic. Your situation sounds so familiar to swim bladder issues to me which only vet can correct with a syringe of sorts...dont try to do yourself. Big problem I have is there is absolutely no aquatics vet anywhere around myself ...so it's do or they die sadly. I'm not going to ever cut them or hit them to knock them out or anything brutal as they are my extended family lol...I just don't have that gene.

 

[Autistic Catholic]

Update he has not passed he is still alive!!!! He’s currently still in a tub with 100% water changes daily.. he is still the same hardly any movement from him at all... I only feed live earthworms that I cut into small pieces and I hand feed him under the water so there’s no way he could be gulping air... I’ve gone up to 3 days without feeding him and he’s still flipping upside down.. he doesn’t seem to be getting any better he hardly moves and when he does move he’s very unstable and really wobbly I am constantly flipping him back upright to the point now that I’ve made like a little half dome to keep him up right more and less flipping going on but still no improvement!! He does eat when I offer it to him just not as much as he used to eat.. he doesn’t do any erratic movements at all as he hardly moves period literally.. I don’t know what else to do but at this point I feel like he’s just suffering... it’s been two weeks that he has been like this and nothing has helped at all...

I don't think he's dying but he does seem uncomfortable and short on gastroliths. The gravel substrate is going to be your best bet to help him out.