Gill problems + not eating.

[kelidoscope]

So my brand new axie is living in the fridge for now, as her gills have shrunk and were white and fluffy-ish and she hasn't been eating. After reading everything I could find about gill problems, it looks like it might be a fungus. So into the fridge she went and some new salt suitable for baths was purchased.

After the first day, (but no salt bath yet) Jor is way more active and a lot of the white stuff has fallen off, but I'm still worried, as she is so thin and her gills are so tiny and stubby!

Background info: Unfortunately the tank is being cycled with Jor in it but I've been keeping an eye on the levels and doing 20% daily water changes. The temp has been sitting at about 21C and I've been using frozen water bottles to keep it down during the day (it's starting to get pretty hot). There is a also a converted pc fan blowing onto the water. I'm going to try to feed her some earthworms I'm picking up tomorrow, as she was on pellets.

...She's about 23cm...and so cute.

Any thoughts?

[Kaysie]

You're taking all the right steps.

Keep us updated on how the earthworms go!

[kelidoscope]

Update...

Jor's gills actually look like they might have grown since yesterday! - But she won't even nibble at the earthworms. I'm thinking maybe the water is too cold for her to want to eat, so now that she is looking better, I'm leaving the container she's in out of the fridge to slowly warm up, so I can put her back in her tank and then try again with a worm.

Will cross my fingers that she will start eating again...

[Roy]

Hello, one of my Axolotls, a male of two years called Herckie has the same problem, their gills are not so impaired as your axolotl but has become very sluggish and refuses food. I have not found enough information about what caused the deterioration of its gills but I think it may be an infection so now is in the fridge. Hope it works well so fingers crossed.

[kaliko22]

Mine had the same problem when cycling. Never used a filter, then added one when I moved him to a bigger tank, and he went downhill fast. Stopped eating and pooping, filaments gone. The ammonia never got above 1 and did water changes, just didn't help. So I put him back into his old tank and took care of him as normal, just when I did my daily water changes, I did larger changes. Within 24 hours he went poo, ALOT. lol. Slowly he started eating, just did 2 small meals a day, otherwise he would throw up. Within a week he was pretty much back to normal. More active, eating almost as much as usual, and his filaments were growing back. At about 2 weeks, I moved him back to his bigger tank, no filter, so no cycling, and he is 100% perfect. Gills back to normal, huge appetite, and goofy as ever. :) so from my experience, its the cycling process. You can try the no filter method if you think he would be more comfortable out of the fridge. Everyday he improved a little. I will try to upload a pic of him with his gill issue and some weight loss, and another taken yesterday. Hope it work out for you guys!

[kelidoscope]

She ate a worm! So it wasn't very big and it took her a couple of tries to get it all down but she ate it.

She's gone back in the fridge though because her right gill is looking worse...one thing at a time I guess

[joescalais]

Water chemistry problems?

[kelidoscope]

Originally Posted by joescalais

Water chemistry problems?

Possibly as the tank is still cycling, but the ammonia is falling (I'll have to wait and see if the nitrites spike).

After the last fridging, the fungus is completely gone and she's back in the tank - her filaments are growing - just slightly! - and tonight she ate 2 worms.

[Olivia]

Wow my axie's gills look exactly the same! However no white fluff... wonder if he suffered with fungus infections prior to me getting him :'(