Illness/Sickness: Fin shrinking?? HELP!!!!!

[Puli]

Hi everyone! I need help, dont know whats happening to my axie

He is a 7 month leucistic, I keep him in the tank with 2 others and they are perfectly fine. These are the symptoms:

- Tail fin almost gone, he only walks on the bottom of the tank, cant seem to swim up
- Skinny face, bulging eyes (but body seems fine)
- Arms and legs thicker
- He eats but just a little
- He looks really uncomfortable

I cant do a ph ammonia test right now, but the two others are perfectly fine. Temperature is 15°C and I change the water once every month (its a large tank)

Here are pictures, the first is before and the other two are from today:

[Puli]

BEFORE


AFTER


AFTER

[chrysler]

We have the same problem at the moment. Lost 1 allready. Now the other one that was healthy is starting with the same. All I can tell you, seperate him for the others ! Hope you have better luck then us.

[Puli]

Im so sorry to hear that

[Chirple]

Unfortunately, it's probably a water quality issue - these are very common symptoms for such a problem. Sometimes one little guy is just more sensitive than the others.

Do you remove their poop daily ? You probably need to do more than monthly changes. What kind of filter do you have and how often / how is it cleaned ?


Your best bet is to get *liquid* test kits for ammonia, nitrate and nitrite. Those levels will give you a good indication of how your tank is doing. pH isn't a big deal - the most important part of pH is just that it's not ridiculously out of range for an animal and that it's not constantly fluctuating.

If you already have those, report the levels here. :)


And your axolotl is super cute. <3

[Puli]

Hi, thank you so much for your answer

I'll change the water today and get one of those test kit as soon as possible. :)

[llamalord2212]

I have the same issue too... just looked at old pics of my axxie and noticed his tail used to be quite alot larger ((( not sure what the issue is... ive been experiencing a bacterial bloom FOREVER and it has not been going away :/ ammonia and nitrates seem normal though and he is eating normally

[Puli]

I talked to a vet today and he said it could be the oxigen levels in the water...anyone knows how can i measure oxigen levels?

[tusken raider]

Measuring dissolved oxygen content wouldn't really be practically unless you have the equipment on hand, try adding an air stone and have your pump set to the lowest output, and see if there is any improvement in your axolotl,

if your axie becomes accustomed to it you can try turning it up to add more oxygen