# Dead axolotl



## Nathen (Oct 9, 2008)

I found one of my axolotls dead this morning and i have been trying to find out why. A couple of months ago he was floating in the tank and seemed unable to stay on the bottom. he was only like it for about a day so i thought that maybe it was the mealworms i had been feeding him. since then he wouldnt eat as much and over the last couple of weeks he stopped eatting. yesterday he was floating again and all the colour had gone from his gills. the other one he was living with seems fine.
any ideas?


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## freekygeeky (May 25, 2007)

Nathen said:


> I found one of my axolotls dead this morning and i have been trying to find out why. A couple of months ago he was floating in the tank and seemed unable to stay on the bottom. he was only like it for about a day so i thought that maybe it was the mealworms i had been feeding him. since then he wouldnt eat as much and over the last couple of weeks he stopped eatting. yesterday he was floating again and all the colour had gone from his gills. the other one he was living with seems fine.
> any ideas?


i woudl advsise checking out

Axolotls: The Fascinating Mexican Axolotl and the Tiger Salamander
the forum is great to for amphibians


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## spend_day (Apr 10, 2008)

stolen from axolotl.org said:


> Often, some stress will lead to a small bacterial infection in the gut. This would lead to a gas build up, and the floating. It is possible that the axolotl swallowed a large amount of air into its digestive system too. Warm temperatures (over 20 °C / 68 °F) don't help. Anything over 25 °C / 77 °F is far too warm for axolotls - just in case you didn't know.
> 
> As to how to solve the problem, axolotls find it stressful when they can't touch the bottom. I suggest you lower the water level so that the axolotl is touching the bottom, but still submerged. The fact that it can touch the bottom should help to relieve the stress and hence help it to recover. If you keep it at temperatures over 20 °C / 68 °F it will probably make it harder for the axolotl's gut to keep up with any bacterial activity, so try and keep it cooler. As long as it eats, that's a good sign. Sometimes it is possible to massage the animal's abdomen to help it pass the gas, but it's hard to do without hurting and/or stressing the animal. It's safer to do what I've suggested and let the animal pass the gas on its own.


this might explain the floating 
sorry for your loss


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## Nathen (Oct 9, 2008)

thanks


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## sean k (Dec 20, 2007)

*food*

hi did you feed him on pellets


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## Nathen (Oct 9, 2008)

I used to feed him mealworms, crickets and earthworms.


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