Please Help! My Axolotl Jumped Out Of Her Tank!

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TaylorLynn

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I really need some help. Tuesday morning (it is Thursday now) something horrible happened. I woke up to find my Axolotl, Falkcor, on the floor in my bedroom. I remember hearing a few bumps in the night, as if something on my shelf fell. I was too tired to think to check, and it didn't make me worry at all if one of my figurines or something had fallen. When I awoke in the morning and I saw my baby on the floor, my heart dropped.

She lives in a 20 gallon tank with no lid, high up on my shelf. The fall she took had to be a 7 foot or so fall, and I heard her bump into something (probably another shelf) on the way down. I have no idea how long she was out, but it had to be at the VERY very least, two hours. But I have a feeling it was way longer.

I found her and picked her up, she twitched/squirmed a bit in hand, so I knew she was alive! I rushed and put her back in the tank, and she immediately started moving her gills to breathe. She stayed in one spot for about five minutes, in shock I assume, but then started to move and act herself. She slowly crawled over to me, but it looked like her legs were hurting the way she was moving and how slow it was.

She was covered in fuzz and dog fur, so I started cleaning it off of her. She had helped by lifting her head up so I can get it from under her head, and looking to the side so I could get it from the side, ect. She's a super interactive Axolotl with a shining personality and a huge love and trust for me, so all of this made me feel so much better, knowing that she was acting herself.

She got her color back after being in the water, and I cleaned all the fuzz off of her. After that though, she burped up a bunch of air bubbles, and then puked out all the food I fed her last night which I had to then clean. She has a really messed up tail, it looks like the top got cut off, and the area near the tip looks all torn up and has scabs. Her legs hurt I assume, she walks very strangely as if they were hurting, and she'll occasionally fall to the side when stepping with her front left arm.

It's been a couple days here now, and she seems to be looking better each day, however she won't eat or interact anymore. Does this have to do with the healing process? She won't come up to me anymore, and won't get excited when I open the door or turn off her fan for feeding. She also won't eat, I'll hold the worm in front of her and she'll just keep turning her head away.

I took out a few inches of water so she couldn't jump out again if she tried. I've made sure the water stays cold, and the room dark. I also took out her rocks and stuff in the tank in fear of her scratching up her tail some more.

What do I do guys? And what do you think is going on with her? Will she be okay?
 
Oh no!! I am so sorry to hear that!!! I'm so glad you found her before she dried out too much! If she looks red and sore you could try a tea bath or add tea to her tank, almond leaves also work the same way. Can you tell if your axies legs are bent aqwardly or seem to be broken? That maybe a reason that she is walking funny and falling over. If one or more of her legs are badly broken then unfortunately the best thing that will help her is actually snipping off the axie's broken leg. It's much easier and quicker for an axolotl to regenerate a leg rather then heal from a bad break. I would also be on the lookout for fungus. If she looks like she has fungus (a cottony, wool type growth) give her a salt bath. If the scratches get infected, swollen, red and possibly leaking yellow pus, you can try a broad spectrum antiobiotic from your vet. She may be stressed, which would explain why she isn't eating. Check and see if the tip of her tail is curled or her gills are forward-turned. This would be a sign that she is stressed. I hope this post helped and I hope your axie gets well soon!
 
And I would also reccomend buying a screen lid for your tank. Taking out a few inches of water will not help much if your axie is propelling herself out of the water for any reason :)
 
Attach some pics if you can, it'll help a lot :)
 
Dolphinlover55 said:
Oh no!! I am so sorry to hear that!!! I'm so glad you found her before she dried out too much! If she looks red and sore you could try a tea bath or add tea to her tank, almond leaves also work the same way. Can you tell if your axies legs are bent aqwardly or seem to be broken? That maybe a reason that she is walking funny and falling over. If one or more of her legs are badly broken then unfortunately the best thing that will help her is actually snipping off the axie's broken leg. It's much easier and quicker for an axolotl to regenerate a leg rather then heal from a bad break. I would also be on the lookout for fungus. If she looks like she has fungus (a cottony, wool type growth) give her a salt bath. If the scratches get infected, swollen, red and possibly leaking yellow pus, you can try a broad spectrum antiobiotic from your vet. She may be stressed, which would explain why she isn't eating. Check and see if the tip of her tail is curled or her gills are forward-turned. This would be a sign that she is stressed. I hope this post helped and I hope your axie gets well soon!
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Her gills aren't facing forward, but her tail is definitely curled so stress could just be the reason for not eating. What could I do to help her with stress? And I will try to keep an eye out for fungus, I'm worried I'll miss it somehow though. Would it be growing on the infected areas? Because there is something white at the tip of her tail, where it seemed to be cut off before, but it almost looks better than the first day. Is this white thing fungus, or possibly some sort of scab and form of healing on her tail? I really hope her leg isn't broken, I'd probably bawl my eyes out if I had to cut her leg off myself, I'd have to go into a vet lol. Her leg really doesn't look well though, if I add pictures do you think you'll be able to tell? Also this is a new update, after making this post, Falkcor moved to a point where I could see her stomach in the reflection of the bottom of the tank, and it looks HORRIBLE. It is a completely white oval on her stomach, with a red outline. It also seems raised from the rest of her skin. I tried looking for an example of this online, and I found a post on here along the lines of "Axolotl fell out of tank- serious looking injury" and it was identical to her axolotl's injury. From what I could tell of the most recent update, it was regenerating or healing a part messed up from the fall, do you think that could be the case for mine? I could post pictures along with the arm pictures if you would like. And also, I have a second Axolotl in the tank with her. His name is Cilantro and they've been together since babies, he's been seeming to comfort her and not leave her side, but is it a good idea to have them in the same tank right now? Especially if Falkcor gets some type of fungus, would it transfer to Cilantro before I could catch it? Thank you SO much for all your help! And I apologize for bombarding you with questions.
 
If you could post some pictures that would be great ;) here is a link with pictures of what a bad fungal infection looks like and how to treat it with a salt bath- http://sillyaxolotls.wixsite.com/sillyaxolotls/saltbath :) most likely the white oval on her stomach is, like you said, the regeneration of something which was damaged from the fall. I would highly reccomend taking her to the vet, and if possible separating her from cilantro. If you post some pics I could probably identify if she has a broken leg or not :) and please don't worry about asking lots of questions! I don't mind at all ;) if you have any more let me know! :)
 
Dolphinlover55 said:
If you could post some pictures that would be great ;) here is a link with pictures of what a bad fungal infection looks like and how to treat it with a salt bath- http://sillyaxolotls.wixsite.com/sillyaxolotls/saltbath :) most likely the white oval on her stomach is, like you said, the regeneration of something which was damaged from the fall. I would highly reccomend taking her to the vet, and if possible separating her from cilantro. If you post some pics I could probably identify if she has a broken leg or not :) and please don't worry about asking lots of questions! I don't mind at all ;) if you have any more let me know! :)
Click to expand...

Based off that picture, I don't think she has any sort of fungal infection, at least not yet! Im going to keep a good eye out for any developing though. I'm going to try making a vet appointment for her, I'm just worried about stressing her out more honestly. And is taking Cilantro out of the tank for his safety or hers? I'm not sure how I'll be able to separate them yet since I only have the one tank. Also I'm gonna post the pictures, but I first have to find out how to actually upload them here, so they'll be posted after this comment lol
 
There's an easier way to attach photos. When you go to reply there is a paperclip symbol above the text box. Click that then you can attach images from your computer.
 
I think they will upload now image.jpeg

image.jpg
 
And as an update, she was standing in one place, only moving slightly if needed, since Wednesday morning. It was making me really worried, but last night (Friday night) she started to swim around again. Not for any particular reason, she'd just swim from one side to the next and was starting to seem fairly active for how she's been doing lately. I have stil been trying to feed her, and she has not yet eaten, she just turns her head or swims away. However, she's doing this thing that I've noticed. She'll go swim to the top, take a gulp of air, and come back down. This is making her body float just a little, just enough to keep her stomach off the ground, either to pain or to help it heal. I'm going to try and feed her again a few times today, and I'm calling a vet today to possibly schedule an appointment for tomorrow. If she eats though, do you think I might be able to get by without the vet? As long as she eats, the waters clean, and I do things like tea baths and fridging if need be, do you think I could heal her here?
 
It looks like she may possibly have the start of a fungal infection on her tail. As for her leg, it looks like it might be broken or badly bruised. If she can't walk on it then it is most likely broken and you should snip it off. For her stomach I would take her to the vet to make sure it's just the regeneration of a damaged organ/something inside and not something dangerous. To help the stress I would keep her in cool water (around 65 Fahrenheit) and make sure her tank is dark and shady. If your tank is already around 65 degrees then that is great, if it isn't then an easy way to cool it down is to place frozen water bottles (without the wrapper) in the water and switching them out when they melt.
 
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Dolphinlover55 said:
It looks like she may possibly have the start of a fungal infection on her tail. As for her leg, it looks like it might be broken or badly bruised. If she can't walk on it then it is most likely broken and you should snip it off. For her stomach I would take her to the vet to make sure it's just the regeneration of a damaged organ/something inside and not something dangerous. To help the stress I would keep her in cool water (around 65 Fahrenheit) and make sure her tank is dark and shady. If your tank is already around 65 degrees then that is great, if it isn't then an easy way to cool it down is to place frozen water bottles (without the wrapper) in the water and switching them out when they melt.
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The picture of her tail was actually from the first day back in the tank, I believe that stuff hanging off was dead skin because at least that's gone (I'll insert a picture). And I think you're right about her leg, I'll have to take her into the vet to get it snipped off though. Unfortunately, she hasn't eaten since the fall. I will call to make an appointment with a vet tomorrow morning if possible. That way, they can inspect her and amputate her leg if needed.

Here is an update of her tail from yesterday, it seems to be healing!
image.png
 
Oh good! Her tail looks a lot better than it did! That's great! Let us know how the vet appointment goes and I hope your axie pulls through!
 
Dolphinlover55 said:
Oh good! Her tail looks a lot better than it did! That's great! Let us know how the vet appointment goes and I hope your axie pulls through!
Click to expand...

I'm really happy it looks so much better! It makes me hopeful that she's got this down lol. I called the vet and the soonest appointment I could get was Wednesday at 12:30 :( Until then I will make sure the water stays clean, cool, and in the shade. I'll watch for any fungal infections, or worsening symptoms, and I will continue trying to feed her. Do you guys recommend anything else for her? Like I always hear of fridging axolotls for serious illnesses, would this be something that I should consider?
 
No, I wouldn't recommend fridging her. Most likely that would just stress her more rather than help her. Fridging is mostly used for impaction. Right now I'd say let her be and maybe add a few almond leaves to your tank if possible. It will help with the healing process. Don't try to feed her too often, maybe every other day or every few days. That's probably the most you can do for her until you get to the vet, but if anything else comes to mind I will let you know :)
 
IMPORTANT!! I just checked on Falkcor and her gills are bleeding!! What is happening?? She seemed to be doing fine. She's been swimming around and being more active, the white stuff on her stomach is turning out to be dead skin as its peeling away and her stomach looks perfectly fine underneath, her arms seem less red (although the one is still broken of course), and I had a vet appointment ready for the day after tomorrow. But now I look and there's like a pile of blood in her tank under wear she's standing and it's pouring out of the gills. Help!! I can't go to the vet, they're closed today for Memorial Day and won't even answer the phone! What do I do? What's happening? There's nothing sharp in the tank, I took everything out to keep that from happening when I first put her back in! Cilantro wouldn't bite her, that only happens on accident if they were eating at the same time and neither have ever bled from such an accident. What is going on?
 
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