Illness/Sickness: Off food.

[Chibisora]

Hi everyone!

Looking a little advice about my 16 or so month Axolotl. He/she has always been a great eater - pellets, earthworms and occasional blood worms - I will admit I probably over-feed them a bit - they always take it and isn’t overweight. Lately though they’ve been refusing food - no matter what I try. They’re still active when they should be and look really healthy - not bloated, doesn’t seem distressed, gils are healthy and pink - lighter when they’re asleep but nice and pink when active and not curled in. Tail isn’t curled. The water parameters are all within normal range and haven’t changed in a long time i.e. no parameter change to warrant different behaviour. Temp is also in normal range. I have also seen fresh poop - as a I was worrying about constipation, haven’t seen one in 2 days but they haven’t eaten in a week so I’m assuming that would be normal. There is also no substrate for impaction.

I’m really hoping it’s just a case of not being hungry but I’m worried I’m missing something and they are really ill. They are my first one but I’ve always taken care of weird and wonderful creatures. My kids (and me) would be devastated if something happened to her.

Unfortunately where were are from there aren’t any specialist vets we could contact.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Angie & Pixel

 

[wolfen]

what food have you tried?
although you say everything is normal, what are the water levels? ie.. temperature, ph, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, kh and gh if possible.
it isn't uncommon for axolotls to go on hunger strike although sometimes it can just be bored of the regular food.
a picture is always helpful.

 

[Autistic Catholic]

If you can show pictures of the axolotl currently, this would be helpful. As wolfen said, they do go on hunger strikes. The worrying range would be after a week of such behavior.

Females, when gravid and full of eggs will refuse food as well.

 

[Chibisora]

Hey all!

Thanks so much for the replies! I think I’ve worked out what’s happening! I think the water is too soft! I had recently got new test strips which read differently to the ones I had before so I did a full check of everything and the water was too soft. So I’ve been to our local marine shop - and where I got him/her and got some crushed coral and popped it in the filter. Hopefully this will help. Sorry about the no pictures - they’re currently chilling in the cave and I can only see their tail. I’ll try and get a few once the sun sets.

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[Chibisora]

Thanks again for the help. Hopefully I’m fixing the hardness slowly. They’ve been relatively active but not distressed - managed to snap a few pictures - please excuse the reflections

Still not eating but I haven’t tried too hard. I’m going to take a sample of water to my local marine shop for a full test - not sure if the strips I have are doing a good job as they read differently each time Hoping the coral does the job and I’ll post full parameters when I get them.

 

[Autistic Catholic]

looks like a male so i am thinking water hardness issue too.

 

[Chibisora]

Also I am so sorry I realised I haven’t answered any of your questions

The food I’ve tried - earth worms, blood worm, daphnia (live and frozen) and pellets. I know the live daphnia are too small but I hoped it would get them excited for the food - it did as they were super active that day but I’m no clue if they managed to eat any.

Temperature is 20, nitrites was 10, nitrates 0, ammonia 0, ph was 7, kh - I think that’s carbonate? Was reading less than 40 and the hardness (gh) was 25. The last two seemed to be very off which I am hopefully fixing with the coral. It had always sat around the ideal range for ages but I’m not sure what’s happened to change it so drastically. Hopefully we are on the right track

 

[Chibisora]

looks like a male so i am thinking water hardness issue too.

I’m pretty sure that’s what’s going on - ragin with myself I missed it I’m hoping I can fix it and it won’t cause too many long term effects or worse

I found a similar thread on the forum that lead me to the water hardness issue.

Thanks again for all the help.

 

[Autistic Catholic]

Have you looked into Holtfreter's? It can help with pH and kH problems.

 

[wolfen]

test strips will alert you to issues but aren't very accurate, it is better to get a liquid freshwater master test kit, unfortunately kh and gh tend to be sold separately but is quite useful to have.
what are the readings that you have.
your axolotl does look like a male.
Axolotls - Requirements & Water Conditions in Captivity
Water Quality Explained: How It Can Affect Your Axolotl's Health - WSAVA 2015 Congress - VIN
the first link contain info on holtfreters as suggested by Autistic Catholic, the second link has ideal and tolerable levels.

 

[Autistic Catholic]

I read your intro post and it looks like you have the temperatures fluctuating between 19-22 which may be causing some stress for the salamander. Target a slightly lower temperature, like 18 or 19, and keep it consistent as well.

 

[Chibisora]

Happy to report that Pixel is eating again! He took an earthworm - a small one on Saturday evening when he was super active. I will try him again in a few days as I don’t want to over feed him. Still working on the water hardness but it’s moving in the right direction. Freshwater kit arriving from Amazon soon

Thanks again for all the help.