Please Help! My Axolotl Jumped Out Of Her Tank!

Within the next 2 minutes from that update I gave, the rest of that skin peeled off and it looks far worse than what I thought it did. It's dark underneath and doesn't look okay at all. She also started floating and couldn't get back down, but suddenly stopped moving and I swore she died. Her gills wouldn't move for awhile and she stopped any form of movement or twitch or anything. But now it seems her gills on the side that wasn't bleeding are moving again. She's still floating though and won't come down. Her gills stopped bleeding. Can anyone help?
 
Not sure if this will be very helpful, but definitely put her in an extremely shallow container so that her feet can touch the bottom. Then her stress levels will go down.
Use water from her tank so you don't have to wait for dechlorinator to work.
 
Did you manage to get any photos of her gills bleeding?
Maybe fridging will help until you can get to your vet. It's often used when axolotls are having a floating issue. Here's the fridging guide: https://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=85263
Is she eating at all?
Give the vet a call tomorrow if they're open and see if they have any over the phone suggestions.
 
The vet will be able to determine whether the legs are broken and need to be amputated, and whether the bleeding is due to internal damage or septicaemia. I would definitely fridge her (no lower than 10 C) until her vet appointment.
 
Give her a tea bath. It will help a lot. There are a few reasons her gills might be bleeding. Cilantro may have accidentally snapped at her gills while eating, or it may be that she has an infection in her gills. Either way, I would give her a bath and if possible put almond leaves in her tank :)
 
Hey guys! I'm sorry for the lack of updates, everything has been so hectic. I rushed her to the vet on Monday after I noticed her gills bleeding and her stomach becoming far worse.. Three-four hours and $180 later, they tell me they have no idea how to care for axolotls, and that she'll need to stay the night at the vet and a specialist will come in in the morning. Falkor got antibiotics and pain injections overnight with the stay. Tuesday morning, the specialist came around.

They took an X-Ray and it turns out her arm is actually not broken, but she instead has a dislocated wrist that the specialist believes Falkor can heal herself. It was a huge relief because before the X-ray, they were talking about me going to some university where they have surgical operations on fish and I was like oh my goddd my poor baby!!

So good news on her arm and gills. She only has a dislocated wrist, and her gills were in fact caused by Cilantro because there is nothing else wrong with them. Now that's all fine and dandy, but turns out her stomach is just one giant, red, and open wound. Those pictures of her stomach I posted, remember? That white stuff turned out to be her skin dying away, not healing. It died away and underneath layed her basically completely skinned, an open wound. The vet described it as the equivalent of me peeling my arm skin away and just leaving it out in the open.

Good news is that her tissue seemed to be healthy regarding the circumstances. She had no infections of the wound or anywhere else, and didn't seem to be getting any sign of it. The specialist said that Falkcor will most likely be able to heal herself, with the help of antibiotics I have to inject into her every three days.

All positive updates, and I got to take her home Tuesday night! Thursday morning I gave her the first injection from the hospital, she's taking it pretty well.

My only concern is the fact she has still not eaten since the fall almost two weeks ago. The vet said its most likely due to the pain on her bottom with the open wound. When the antibiotics start helping and she starts healing, they hope she will start eating again. I'm trying to stay hopeful but I'm so worried. I try feeding her everyday, but she won't go for it. She's dramatically lost weight. She is super skinny compared to how she was, and has actually shrunk in overall size and length as well. Cilantro used to be the runt of the two of them, with Falkor being generally larger, longer, and fatter than he was. But now compared to Falkcor, Cilantro looks like a giant :(
 
Glad to hear the good news!!! I haven’t read too many stories about what vets do or say with amphibians so this was certainly fascinating to read! I hope she starts eating again soon!
 
Aww my, that is wonderful news that she is getting better soon, fingers crossed that she would start eating 4 you soon..
 
That's great news!! I'm so happy she is doing better! I would say however that it would be quicker and less painful for her if you snipped off her leg. But if you feel it would be better for her to heal herself then that is up to you. :) I'm so glad she is doing better! I hope she starts eating soon!
 
Dolphinlover55 said:
That's great news!! I'm so happy she is doing better! I would say however that it would be quicker and less painful for her if you snipped off her leg. But if you feel it would be better for her to heal herself then that is up to you. :) I'm so glad she is doing better! I hope she starts eating soon!
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What do you mean by snipping off her leg, like an amputation? Because when I was at the vet, they were talking about sending me to a university far away that does surgical procedures on fish. They were going to put her under and do a surgical procedure to amputate it. Is that the same thing you mean or is there a simpler option? Because I'm really worried she's not eating due to all the pain. Her weight is seriously worrying me since she's not eating :( On Monday it'll be two weeks since the fall with no food, how long can she survive like this?
 
TaylorLynn said:
What do you mean by snipping off her leg, like an amputation? Because when I was at the vet, they were talking about sending me to a university far away that does surgical procedures on fish. They were going to put her under and do a surgical procedure to amputate it. Is that the same thing you mean or is there a simpler option? Because I'm really worried she's not eating due to all the pain. Her weight is seriously worrying me since she's not eating :( On Monday it'll be two weeks since the fall with no food, how long can she survive like this?
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If you feel comfortable with it, you could cut the leg off yourself. If you don't then I would recommend going to the place the vet reccomended. Once it is cut off she will be in less pain and hopefully less stressed. Her leg will grow back in approximately 40-50 days. Axolotls can normaly live 3 weeks without food so you still have a bit of time to get her to eat. If you decide to cut off the leg yourself, I can give you instructions if you would like.
 
Dolphinlover55 said:
If you feel comfortable with it, you could cut the leg off yourself. If you don't then I would recommend going to the place the vet reccomended. Once it is cut off she will be in less pain and hopefully less stressed. Her leg will grow back in approximately 40-50 days. Axolotls can normaly live 3 weeks without food so you still have a bit of time to get her to eat. If you decide to cut off the leg yourself, I can give you instructions if you would like.
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Will you please give me those instructions? I don't believe I can afford the surgery for her at the moment. Wouldn't me cutting off her leg cause her more stress though through pain and fear? And do you have any advice on how I could coax her to eat?
 
First of all put your axolotl in a small container and leave her in the dark where she can calm down while you are preparing. Put on latex gloves and rinse them thoroughly then rinse them again in aquarium water removed from your tank. Slide your hand under her and wait untill she relaxes on your hand. Once relaxed, gently pin her toes with your thumb and have the scissors ready in your other hand - when she squirmes the leg should straighten and you can carefully but quickly snip just above the dislocated area on her arm. Be sure your scissors are sharp and well cleansed. It is harder than it sounds and if you don't feel comfortable doing it than I wouldnt reccomend it. For the food there isn't a lot you can do. What have you been trying to feed her? And is her tail still curled at the tip or her gills forward turned?
 
I'm not sure if I'm comfortable doing that so I might not. If it comes down to it, I'll get it amputated by a professional or maybe a friend/family member who is more comfortable and won't mess it up. But even that I'm scared about.

I've been trying to feed her nightcrawlers. She won't eat red wigglers, anytime I've fed them to her in the past, she just pukes them back up. I heard they can eat bloodworms, but I feel like that won't work either. I cut the night crawlers into way tinier pieces than she's used to as well, just because of her drastic change in size, but she still won't eat.

She's back and forth with seeming stressed. She seems more stressed than not though, like right now her gills are forward. I'm trying to keep the water as cool as I can with fans, water bottle rotations, and ice pack rotations on the side of the tank. What else can I do for stress? And you mentioned a tea bath before, is that to help soothe her open wound? If so, I'm willing to try. Is fridging at all necessary?

I'm honestly willing to try anything at this point if she only has one more week to live without food.
 
I'm not sure if you already mentioned this, but is there any current in the water? This can cause more stress to the axie. If the filter is creating a current you can block the output with a shower sponge.
I don't think you need to fridge, unless you can't keep the tank cool. Although, fridging does reduce their appetite so it can help when they refuse food so they don't lose weight as quickly. I haven't fridged too much so not really sure if it's the best option for you.
Are you able to house your two separately, or have a divider? It will stop Cilantro (love that name btw!) from bugging her while she is healing.
Out of all the food nightcrawlers should get the best reaction so if she isn't eating them she probably won't eat bloodworms. You can always try it though, and I'd recommend using a feeding jar so the water doesn't get too contaminated. You could try a full nightcrawler and see if you get a better response. Most people seem to cut them up but my Bucky always eats a full one in a big gulp lol
 
I'd say go ahead and fridge her. There's not much more you can do at this point sadly, but fridging her may help. Try two or three days and see how it goes. Make sure to do a 100% water change each day and take her out for a few minutes to try and feed her. When your done set the cup in your tank water and let it gradually reach the tanks temperature before letting her out.
 
Wow. All I can say is good luck. That sounds like a horrible situation to be in. Hope your baby gets better!
 
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