Help - Not eaten for over a week and white stuff from cloaca

[Skijumptoes]

Hoping that someone can help / give advice.

Since a small heatwave we had in the UK, our Axoltl (Dart) went off his food and stopped eating on Sunday (21st June) - 10 Days ago now.

The thermoter we had was giving the wrong readings during this time, as we've got a new one today and his water is at 21.1c vs 17.5c that the old one read, and it's much cooler day also. So i'm concerned that he may have been 25c range during the heatwave (for 3-4 days?), or close to it.

In the past 2-3 days (We think he's male) he has started secreting like a white fluffly substance from his cloaca, it's not overly swollen.. But it slowly comes out over the course of an hour and seperates and floats in the tank. I'm not sure if it's fungal related (googled like crazy and couldn't see this being common), or perhaps some kind of sexual maturity happening?!

Other than not eating he seems totally fine and normal - perhaps going up for air a little more often than normal. (3-4 times an hour)

Does anyone have any ideas what this may be?

He usually eats hand fed earthworms which we clean beforehand, although during the heatwave they seemed to have gone off a little, so we did replace these recently - whether that was the start of it, i'm not sure. Never had substrate in his tank, and always clean excess food using a turkey baster when he's finished eating. Has artificial plants.

Just performed tank readings and have:-

Temp: 20.9c

Ammonia: 0

GH - 180

KH - 240

Ph - 8

NO2 - 0

NO3 - 0

This is on a fresh tank which we made up on Sunday as we moved him to a larger one and wanted to ensure it was clean.

I've tried to cool his tank down to 20c, but it's hard to get it low - despite today being cool.

Would really appreciate it if anyone has any ideas on what may be the problem, or what to do. Really appreciate any help.

 

[Skijumptoes]

Just wondering if anyone can offer advice on whether fridging or a salt bath may be worth a try? Just a little help would really be appreciated.

I'm thinking that maybe doing a salt bath for the next few days... But not sure if it's fungal infection, or something else. Really appreciate any response.

 

[Linkisnotzelda]

I’m no expert, but I’m willing to help in anyway I can! Do you know how old he is? I’m going to do some of my own research too, I’ll let you know what I find. Maybe a second opinion might be helpful!

 

[Skijumptoes]

Hi, thank you i really appreciate that.

He's 15 months, and we've just managed to get his water down to 18c using frozen bottles. Probably not a huge help, but just trying to create most optimum conditions to help him.

 

[Linkisnotzelda]

Water temperature is quite a struggle! I had to move my axolotl down to the basement just recently because I couldn’t regulate the heat. I just researched this, do you think he could be laying down sperm? Maybe the temperature change stimulated a mating instinct or something... they can do it even if there isn’t a female. I would try my best to monitor the temperature, offer him food, and hold off on the salt bath and fridge for now. If there isn’t an obvious fungal infection, the bath may stress him out. Hopefully he will get hungry and eat soon, I think that’s the biggest concern

 

[Linkisnotzelda]

The loss of appetite in axolotls apparently can be correlated with warmer water. Hopefully with cooler water he will start eating again!

 

[Skijumptoes]

Many thanks for looking into this, i think you're right - i'll give him a few days regulating the temp at 18c and not go the bath/fridge route yet. He's such a good eater normally, so it is very concerning.

His weight/size has maintained well considering he hasn't eaten for a while though, so that's a definite plus.

 

[Linkisnotzelda]

I hope he feels better soon! Glad to help! Let me know if anything changes, I’d be glad to help again!

 

[Murk]

Hiya. Seems the two of you are making progress, so let me just pop in with a few general remarks:

- Don't do salt baths. Salt baths are very hurtful and very harmful to axolotls. The only benefit of salt baths is that they are even more harmful to fungus. You should only do salt baths when the fungus is so severe that harming your axolotl is worth it. This is not fungus, so don't do salt baths. (Tea/Almond leaf baths are always OK, though their benefits are... speculative at best.)

- 20.9 degrees C is fine. 18 is better, so good on you for getting it down, but 21 is no disaster either.

- 25 C (if your thermometer did indeed give wrong readings) is still very survivable, but it makes sense it would stress the axolotl , especially if the increase happened relatively quickly.
Stressed axolotls lose appetite, and the appetite only returns after they've been given a few days to calm down. If you keep the water steady and do not change too much (so no fridging either!) I'd expect the appetite to return in due time.
Healthy axolotls can easily go a month without food. Obviously, you want to solve it before that, but 10 days is no reason to panic yet.

- The white stuff is definitely not sperm. I'd guess it's related to digestion problems (sudden heat and an empty stomach seem like logical causes).

- Unrelated: You do know the new tank is uncycled? It's not something to worry about now, but worth looking in to when the climate goes back to normal.

 

[Skijumptoes]

Hi Murk,

Thanks very much for those pieces of advice, and since he's had problems i've been reading a lot and did pick up on tank cycling so it's sure to be something that we incorporate into his well being. The tank we made up was treated and he was in the water within an hour as i've been told in the past that's all which needs to be done.

Also, i completely cleaned the filter thinking that if there was any badness inside that it would erradicate it, but i guess we've lost a lot of 'good' bacteria in doing that too.

We did have some algae build-up in the past as the tank gets a little sun where it is at the moment, it's taken a long time for that to build up though. I think that's something we need to rectify too, i've been looking at getting some polystyrene or something to put around the tank and to relocate him, and also i really think he'd benefit from some real plants vs the artificial ones in there.

But one step at a time right now. I'd be so happy if/when he returns to normal, and so will my son (Who's axie this is). Funny enough i ordered some medium sized almond leaves in the past few hours, purely cause they're a 'safe' option, and if it helps great, if they don't i have a Betta downstairs who apparently love them too.

Again, really appreciate the help, this forum is invaluable for owners like us who come in looking for help.

 

[Linkisnotzelda]

Thanks Murk! You definitely know than I do, but I’ll keep learning by helping anyway I can!