Sick Axolotl

Awh he really is a cutie! =D Fingers crossed for the little guy! I'm really hoping he'll be right as rain (where does that saying even come from?!) again soon. =]
 
Aww, poor little guy! Unfortunately, alot of smaller petstores don't know jack about 90% of the animals they sell. But you're in good hands now, with Erzs and everyone else giving you some pointers. I'm sure James will be in good health in no time. :) Good luck with the cute little guy!
 
stand a bowl of water out overnight to disperse the chemicals from the tap water. this is safer than water straight from the tap but a standard dechlorinator is a must asap. Also james will find it very difficult to eat whilst in the fridge as his metabolism will be very slow. they often dont eat and even regurgitate food in temps lower than 14 degrees c. (no harm is done at low temps though). Maybe bring him out the fridge to warm up for a couple of hours then try feeding him?

When james is feeling better another factor to consider is water hardness. Our beloved axies like soft water. an indication of soft water would be limescale in your kettle or on pipes. I have had the problem of my axies gills going pale as you described. this is one of the symptoms of anemia caused by water not having enough salts in. Im currently researching makes and types of appropriate salt recipies out there. i will post here tomorrw and check up on james.

Good luck

Leilu:(
 
Actually, axolotls much prefer hard water. And limescale forms in hard water, not soft. It's Calcium carbonate that precipitates out of the water.

As for James, I wouldn't put him in the fridge, but just cool him down and get him to eat as soon as possible. He's dangerously thin.
 
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I agree ;)
Fridging him will lower his metabolic rate, so he'll have less appetite.
As Kaysie said, cool water might be better.
Live food such as small waxworms can be found easily online* and are cheap and as well as being reasonably nutritious, they contain a high fat content.....this might be something to try James on to help 'beef him up'....


* (they have their own individual Face-book accounts lol)
 
James is so adorable! He's such a tiny tot!

Make sure when moving him around and changing water that you don't cause too much fluctuations in the water temperatures as this causes them to stress out aswell. If he's in the fridge right now you're going to have to have some declorinated jugs of water in there aswell for the water change.

There are loads of forums and links here thats going to help you out a lot as far as proper care and proper treatment for sick axies

I bought my two axies Dec 26th, 2010 and had no information on how to take care of them at all from the pet store I bought them from. Most pet stores won't know how to properly care for axolotls(especially if they don't normally carry them) and most of their info is very basic(for any pet). I advise any pet owners to do some thorough research before/after purchase of their new pets!! One of my axie had fungus very shortly after I got him and I had to learn how to salt bath and fridge him. Definitely very thankful to have this site here!!!:happy:
 
Aww, James! (Fab name btw)

Loads of great advice in this thread which will hopefully help you get James up to a nice curvy axolotl shape again, he really is painfully thin.

It'll be great to see some photos as you get him fed up :)

I was given bad advice by the pet shop too, I'd done *some* research before, but not enough to fervently stand up for what I knew. They gave me LOTS of advice, so it sounded very convincing. Shame it was essentially lots of garbage!

Still, I DREAM axolotl these days thanks to this forum.
 
anxiously awaiting an update.... how is the little man this morning??

As Mewsie said we have all made mistakes a lot of people talk the talk which helps no-one!

Fingers crossed
 
you must focus on getting james back onto his food, feed daily with earthworms and after a few days slowly up the amount of food you offer, and after a week and a half offer twice a day, young axies must be fed daily.

I have successfully fattened up a very skinny axie using a combination of live earthworm, pellets and beef heart, but you must feed beef heart sparingly as it is very high in fat, and once at a healthy weight cut it from your animals diet completely.
 
Well guys its now about 48 hours after we noticed that james wasn't well. i checked on him this morning and he seemed to be alright... now, we aren't so sure. :(

he seems to be a little stiff but seems to be moving a *little*... now, i don't know if that was because we were trying to get a reaction out of him by lightly touching his elbow or if the movements were made by the ripples in the water.

the movements were only slight. but he still seems to be ''stiff'' looking. we really hope that the stiffness isn't rigor mortis setting in because that means the wee dude has lost the battle and passed on :(

is there anything you guys can suggest that we do to make sure he is still alive?
:(:confused::(:confused:

***EDIT*** ok guys i didnt notice the 2nd page of help here! thanks again for all the help you guys are giving us! all taken aboard!
 
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Oh no :( Sadly I have no experience of this so could not tell you if it is, keeping everything crossed that it isn't but does not sound good :(
 
i know! we've taken him out of the fridge now and we trying to get him to heat up a little by keeping him in his fridge tank and sitting on the sideboard. we'll try him again with a worm in a few hours to see if he eats it and let you all know how things turn out. i think its 50/50 today tho...
 
gutted for you, presume he is making no movement at all even with the worm in with him??
 
when we put the worm in originally he did put it in his mouth... but it just kinda sat in his mouth. he didnt try to eat it or chew it or do what he normally does. but its still in the water with him. hopefully when he heats up a little he'l munch it
 
ok well thats a good sign if he tried to eat it. how big is the worm?? maybe as he is so weak cutting it up may help as maybe he does not have the energy to eat a live wiggling worm.

Does he hand feed from you at all??

Did you manage to get some dechlorinator for him??
 
Its a great sign he has attempted to eat, once he warms up hopefully his appetite will come back.

I made a mistake earlier, the type of water they like is hard not soft, the other info is right though about adding a water hardner if you have soft water in your area. this can be found in ebay by searching for water hardener in pets section. you would do this if you have noticed the gills going pale from anywhere from a min to a few hours.

keep us posted
 
well guys it looks like Little James has lost the battle. Sadly it looks like he has died :( but my partner and i want to thank-you all for the help and support that you have given us. Although that James was our first Axie and we didnt know 100% what way to look after him it seems, he surely won't be our last.

I think that i am going to try my hardest to get another one asap as we really enjoyed keeping james as a member of our little family. I know that the other pets will miss him (apart from Lydia the bearded dragon, cause she was never near him lol) especially the cats as they seemed to enjoy sitting beside his tank watching him swim around all night.

Again i just want to say thank-you to everyone that helped and showed concern. It is much appreciated. It's a pity that we can't do anything about the store that sold James to us, not giving us enough info etc.

Anyway...

R.I.P. wee James. xxx
 

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so so sorry to hear your sad news :( RIP James x
 
You have my condolences! Poor little guy, you did your best & now you've found this forum. I'm sure your next axie will live a long & happy life.

Pet shops should take responsibility for the awful 'advice' they give! :mad:
 
I've been keeping my eye on this thread hoping after reading he'd gone for the worm he'd be beginning to get back on track. It's so sad to read the news that he hasn't made it. =[ I'm sorry for your loss. =[

At least you have these forums now to come to for advice when you decide to get your next axolotl and don't have to worry about the wrong advice from petshops. >=[

R.I.P James :(
 
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