We thought he was dead...

[leah]

Hi all

When I came home today, poor little Egon was floating on top of the tank like a corpse. For more an hour we thought he was dead - he was lifeless and wouldn't move no matter what we did. When we went to get him out, he came back to life, but he couldn't get his back legs and tail end to stop floating, but now he's fine and is walking and swimming okay - just a little shaken. Should I put him in the fridge in case it's something serious?? I'm still freaked out and worried about him! We do water tests several times a week, so I guess maybe he just swallowed too much air?? What do you guys think?

Thanks!
Leah

 

[rita]

One of my axies did that once. Turns out she had a bacterial infection in her gut system. 18 hours in the fridge really helped, because she wasn't stressed about not being on the bottom of the tank, and her immune system was able to get rid of the nasty bacteria and she burped all the gas up again. (It's the gas build-up that tends to make their rear ends float)

 

[leah]

Thanks Rita! That sounds about right - Egon's doing okay now - still a bit floaty, but he's happy enough. He'll be getting a nice theraputic sleep in the fridge soon.

Did you find out what caused your girl's infection?

 

[rita]

Yeah, the bacteria was carried by an earthworm that I fed to her. That sometimes happens.
My older axies are never affected by any infected earthworms because they're larger and have a stronger immune system. As long as the bacterial infections are treated, they don't seem to have any lasting effects on the animals.