Another bad pet shop experience...now I need help!

Have just bought 2 new axies-2 days ago, both 6mnths old-so shop tells me. 1 is a gorgoeus pink albino-very active, strong & healthy looking, excellent appetite but dominant. The other is a very sick & mutilated black one. the sick one is not actually the one we picked out but we didn't know until we got home that the pet shop got that one out for us!(I was tempted to go back but I wanted to make sure it was cared for-so we ended up keeping it!) So here I am hoping for guidance that I am on the right path to helping the poor thing!

To start with, it has white spots all over its body-I don't know if that's it's colouring or not, but from what I have read-it's not common and is more likely fungus?? I don't have dig cam-but may get pics soon...Secondly it has chunks out of all of it's gills-no where near as fluffy as the albino-only about a 1/3 remaining. A small chunk out of it's cheek, nearly a centimetre off the end of it's tail and it's only got half of a front leg (the other half was previously dangling but it fell off in it's first sea salt bath-which after research I felt it needed desperately!). Would it be in pain? Thirdly it won't eat-the albino was stealing it's food before I separated them-but still won't eat. (is it bad that the sick one shares the same water as the healthy one?) Fourthly, it goes up for air atleast every 10 mins-MUCH more frequently than the albino-but that's prob bcoz of gill prob hey?!

I didn't know until half hr ago that u need the tank set up atleast 2 wks before u get them! We got home, rinsed out everything, filled tank, added water conditioner, set up filter-then put them in. What should I do? it's an 80L tank-now divided into 2. Albino seems quite content in new surroundings-so assume all is fine?

But wait...there is more-sorry!! Also, I didn't want to keep them separate-will it be ok to take away the barrier once the sick one is better and eating again? The albino isn't aggressive but it definately dominant over sick one. trial and error?

Please help...I want success!

poor thing, if you post your problem in the sick axies section im sure youd get lots of ppl to help you

Lauren, an 80L tank may be big enough for 2 adults, if it's the 'long' type, and not the tall type. If you put two adults into an 80L tall, they'll not have a lot of room to move around, and this may cause fighting, or the territorial issues you've been seeing.

I'd put the sick one into a seperate tank, in case it is a fungus. You wouldn't want to spread the fungus onto your other one.

For water quality, it's okay. Get a test kit that tests for nitrites, nitrates, and ammonia and test for these regularly (2 or 3 times a week). Also make sure you do water changes regularly (any time one of these gets too high, or once a week, at least) until the tank is cycled. I didn't cycle my tank with my axolotls, and they turned out just fine. Read http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/waterquality.shtml http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml and http://www.caudata.org/cc/faq/faq.shtml. These will give you a good basis to build on.

If you suspect it is a fungus, keep on with the salt baths twice a day and make sure you do NOT use more salt than what's recommended in the faq's. You don't want to burn the gills, especially if they're already damaged.

The animal is probably coming to the surface due to gill loss. Without as much oxygen exchange at the gills, they must rely more on their rudimentary lungs to get the needed oxygen.

Try feeding it earth worms. Rarely will an axolotl refuse earthworms. If it's sick, it probably won't eat. That's okay. They can go quite some time without food without going into a dangerous situation. Just keep trying.

Good Luck