New member / new Axie help!

[Katy]

Hey all! I'm the proud co-owner of a fairly ridiculous collection of rescued exotics (my fiancé and I have reptiles, fish, two rescued parrots, and a small tarantula collection), but last night I took in my first axolotl. He was purchased by a friend of mine in July. I'm familiar with the store where he was obtained, and also know they had about 10 axies brought in by the breeder - my new little guy was from that batch. Now, I've been watching the unsold little ones at the store grow, and while I'm terrible with estimating measurements, I'd say they're about 5-6" from nose to the tip of the tail. The guy I adopted is probably 2/3 of that, and very thin. He seems to be clearly impacted - and when I say clearly, I mean I'm pretty sure I'm looking at rocks in his belly (guess what he had for substrate???). Oh! Worth noting that he's a GFP, so very translucent. What I'm not sure of, is whether or not those are definitely rocks I'm seeing, or if they could be something else - fecal matter, organs, etc? But going by their size and darkness, I'm inclined to assume gravel. My original plan was to just go see him, then spend time getting a tank ready, but when I saw how thin and sickly he looked I decided I should take him right away.

He came with a three gallon tank which I drained about halfway for transport. After re-filling it at home I tested it out, and from what my years in fish keeping would tell me, his chemistry looks pretty good - 0 ammonia and nitrite, small healthy presence of nitrate, very neutral PH. I treated his water with the conditioner I had on hand - API Stress Coat. Is this considered a ok conditioner for these guys, or is something else recommended? Also, is it advisable to salt the water (I know some people play around with different types, but I use freshwater aquarium salt, for reference)?

I've been doing my best to skim these forums and other websites, but I'm already very attached to this little guy and very concerned with making sure I do everything right. Everything I've read this far indicates that refrigeration is recommended, so I currently have him in there in a lidded Betta cup. I've attached a thermometer with a probe in his water, and he's currently at 7.2 C, but I'm going to try to get that down a bit more. He has a second cup of his water in there as well, and I'll rotate him to that one, refill the one he's in with tank water, and refrigerate that for daily rotation into clean cycled water. .

After one night in there it already seems to be doing something - he has what looks like a "bubble" of poop working its way out now, but that gravel (assuming that's what it is) hasn't seemed to move yet.

He was eating earthworms exclusively. This seems to be an ok thing from what I've read, but is there anything else I should be offering (like the magic pea trick with fish, as an example) given his current state? I'm actually not sure how his appetite is yet - we picked him up late last night, and I'm going to try feeding before his planned cup change later tonight to avoid water contamination.

Lastly (for now, anyway), his gills are either seriously tucked back, or perhaps just gone - it's hard to tell. His water chemistry seemed okay (though I didn't have a read before the half emptying / re-fill) so it doesn't seem related to acidity or anything - is there a chance this could be some kind of secondary health problem, or is it most likely because of his poor general health?

I really want to see this guy make it. I'd wanted an axolotl for quite awhile, and how that I have one I don't want to see him die on me! While he's in the fridge I'm going to start redesigning his tank. I'd love to do black sand and some low-light live plants, but I'm almost too concerned for sand and thinking of just doing bare-bottom. Opinions on that? Considering how this guy can't have any tank mates, I'd like to keep his enclosure aesthetic as possible, but his safety comes first.

Thanks very much for any input!

 

[Wild TONY appeared!]

Pictures would definitely help us to determine what is going on. I don't know if the API stress coat is okay for them, but I know that people say not to use anything that binds ammonia or adds a slime coat. That being said, I have used prime+ in the past for them and had no problems. For the salt, I don't use any, and I would advise you against it. That will be useful in case it needs a salt bath, though. There are varying opinions on whether or not fridging will help with impaction. If the axolotl isn't eating, I'd say fridging it may help it to pass the gravel before it starves because it slows it's metabolism down. If it's eating and pooping, then fridging may not help at all.

Your water change schedule and routine seems spot on. The earthworms are a great diet for axolotls, and you should continue feeding them to it. As for the gills, pictures would really help. Do the axolotls eyes seem a little bulgy at all? If I were you, I'd keep his tank bare-bottom for now, as he may be a compulsive substrate eater. I have sand in my tanks without problems, but it's a possibility. Hopefully this helps, and sorry if I missed something. Good luck! I hope it goes well!

~Anthony

 

[Kaysie]

Stress Coat is fine, especially in a hospital setting, just be aware that it does add aloe (which can add to the bio-load in a tank).

Anthony's advice is spot on. Keep on what you're doing!