Whats wrong with my baby?!

[heather]

my big boy antonio has been having the strangest behavior and oh i dont know whats going on with him!! im very worried about him
i havent changd any of the diet or tank setings, my female who is livig in the same tank has been having no problems but my pooor antonio
his gills look like there are no feathers left exept a few and those few are smooshed up and tangled together, he does this wierd thing that i have never seen before too; he sicks his nose up in the water and lifts his tail up as high as he can. his cloaca seems a bit swollen and red, he swims to the top for air alot now too...... i really need help if anyone can tell me whats going on, and how i can help him...

 

[heather]

and i dont think i metioned it but he has been so active lately, climbing all over the tank deco <<searching>> am i looking too deep??

 

[benjamin]

What temps are you keeping him at. He may be more sensitive than the female.

 

[heather]

right now its a bit warm, the tank is at 20C. cooler weather is coming soon, it will get the tanks temp down alot.
I think he might be morphing?? he climbs to the highest point in the tank and hands out up there, grabs gulps of air. I dont see how the tempurature would be making him behave so strangely though, its always been this warm.

 

[benjamin]

Give him land just in case.

 

[kim]

Ben,

Please stop telling people that because there axie is going to the surface it is going to morph. It is extremly rare for an axie to morph, and very few of us will see a morphed one in our life time. This may also make someone over react and stress there ainmal, by lowering the water level etc. I aslo dont see any reason for you to think he maybe morphing.

Heather,

Im thinking he might be stressed due to his redness, and/or because of the heat there is less oxygen in the water and this is why he keeps swimming to the top of the tank. Dont worry too much I would just say try and keep the temp lower if you can freeze some bottles of water and put them in with them.. I have found that also when there are bottles in the tank having a fan blow over them can reduce it even further.

Im not sure why is only one axie but it maybe that he can handle a slightly higher temp.

Just keep a good eye on them, and if you get worried and he goes down hill take him to the vet, thats all else I surgest.

(Message edited by jigglypuff on October 30, 2004)

 

[benjamin]

I'm just anxious to see one appear, the only reason why suggested morphing this time was because she said that's what she thought it was. Land doesn't always have to mean lowered water levels either.

 

[john]

Ben - please stop giving bad advice. You're wrong in this case.

Heather - your description sounds to me like this animal is pretty sick (and it's not metamorphosing). It's going to the surface so frequently because it isn't able to carry out gaseous exchange at a high enough rate using just its skin and gills, so it's filling it rudimentary lungs more frequently.

Heather, the chances are that something in the tank is causing the stress that made this animal succumb to a disease. For axolotls, usually that stress is caused by flowing water or excessive temperature. So firstly deal with the problem. As for treating the animal, I would remove it to a cool, shallow (just enough water to cover the axolotl completely), bare-bottomed tank and see how gets on. If you have access to an amphibian-savvy vet then you may be able to get antibiotics for it, but this could cost you a lot of money. There are details on the axolotl site at http://www.caudata.org/axolotl.

Good luck

 

[andrew]

I agree with Kim and John on this one, it sounds like its sick to me, i'd take their advice Heather! For anyone thats interested though one of mine morphed a number of years ago and quite fascinating it was too. I've since seen another one do it a because a guy i knew put one in with a caimen of all things, the caimen obviousley took a bite out of the poor axies tail and this prompted rapid metamorphosis! I think i'd do the same if i were the axolotl in question!!
Andy

 

[heather]

I think I may have over-reacted a bit, he seems fine now, Catherine was probably nibbling at his gills, and the temperature is probably an issue with the oxygen and all (that would explain the gulping of air)I will lower the temp in there and see how he does. His cloacca isnt red anymore he seems to have stopped lifting his tail up too. Im still not sure why he is climbing to the top of the tank deco

Kim>> My good friend has an axolotl that she accidentally made metamorphosized by not putting back water from his tank that had evaporated. This was before he got to sexual maturity so he will live longer, he is about 8 years old now. She lets him run around on the carpet when i come over, its quite funny. though im sure it takes a toll on his belly, which drags on the ground since he is fat.

 

[kaysie]

Heather, its extremely rare that an axolotl morphs just by lowering the water temperature. Also, morphed axolotls usually only live for a few years. It was a tiger salamander, not an axolotl. Letting it walk on the carpet is stupid and irresponsible. It is a bad idea to handle your caudates anyway, but letting them out on such a dry and contaminated surface is just plain irresponsible.

 

[benjamin]

What colour is your freind's "axolotl", and I've heard axies over 8cm don't nibble on each other. From what I have heard on these forums in hot temperatures gills can often be damaged by fungal decay. If your axie has smaller gills at 20ºc it's no wonder he's surfacing so crazilly.

 

[john]

I've had 17 cm axolotls bite each other...

 

[mik]

Occaisonally they get confused and will take a chunk out of each other. If there is food in the tank they will sometimes nip each other by mistake.

Psylocke tried to eat Tweaks leg the other day 'cos it was near a worm. They are both 300mm long. Luckily no damage to either of them, they're both fairly substantial beasties.

Axies don't reads posts or books and will act as instinct or mood dictates, regardfless of size, colour, age, sex etc. Expect them to do 'wild' things whenever they are about and try not to judge their behaviour as always being symptomatic of something else.

 

[kaysie]

My axies are almost 17cm long, and they still chomp on each other on occasion. I've got one regenerating a gillstalk right now which was lost at the mouth of another. Ben, axies over 8cm rarely practice cannablism, but they still nibble on each other.

Edit: I meant to say that axies wont morph just by lowering water LEVEL, not temperature.

 

[heather]

ben>>my friends axo looks just like a wildtype.
i have seen both nibble on eachother alot, especially during feeding time. antonio is such a pig, he will have a few worms, then i will feed catherine and he tries to steal the worms out of her mouth. thats how catherine lost one of her gill stalks.
i am still trying to lower the water tempuratur as often as i can, but i dont see how this is going to help; theyve always been kept at warm tempertures so they dont know any different, how would that make them react only now???