Illness/Sickness: New axie, injured gills.

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milahoh

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Friday I received a female leucistic axolotl in the mail. She had traveled cross county a long ways, and spent several days in her bag. I noticed her gills looked strange and even a bit inflamed the first day she arrived, and I think maybe there was an ammonia spike during shipping. Whatever the case, her gills look rough to me. Since she has arrived, she has spent almost all of her time floating on the top and hasn't eaten a thing. Is this due to the gill damage? Any advice would be appreciated. She is in a ten gallon tank alone. Gentle filter to oxygenate water. I have added melafix to deter bacterial infection.
 

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Poor thing. My guess is that you are right about the ammonia burning the gills.

The best thing to do right now is to get the conditions in the tank as good as you can and keep them that way. Axolotls are tough, but she has been through a physically stressful experience.

So, keep the cool (below 70), make sure ammonia and nitrite stay at 0, and keep nitrate very low. Give her a hiding place (if you haven't already), keep the lights low, and avoid a lot of movement near the tank.

Does she seem to be deliberately at the top, or is she unable to swim down?

A lot of times axolotls won't eat at first after major change in environment or when presented with a different food. Hopefully, that will pass soon. What are you trying to feed her?
 
It takes several days for ammonia to be eliminated from the body after ammonia poisoning. It literally binds to her red blood cells and interferes with their ability to carry oxygen. I second keeping her clean and cool, and she should heal up in her own. I keep methylene blue on hand and give anyone that comes in looking bad off a 10minute soak in a weak methylene blue solution to help reverse ammonia poisoning and speed up recovery, but it's not really worth it when a couple days have passed.
 
Nothing more to add... some good advice has been given. I sure hope that she pulls through :happy:
 
Bette said:
Nothing more to add... some good advice has been given. I sure hope that she pulls through :happy:
Click to expand...

On second thought, I would personally not use the melafix... only because it can be harsh. I think it would best if you just use clean water only.
 
I'm so sorry for your loss. :(
I had a similar experience, so I totally understand.
 
I'm sorry for your loss. :sad:
 
I'm sorry for your loss.

This looks like oxygen deprivation to me. When I ship larger axolotls (or fish), I pack them in straight oxygen instead of air to help avoid this.
 
Sorry for your loss :(
You should get in touch with who ever sent it to you
Once again sorry.
 
I called him about it, and he is very sad too. Poor little thing.
 
milahoh said:
I have added melafix to deter bacterial infection.
Click to expand...

I don't know if many would choose Melafix for the treatment of bacterial infections. I believe it's mostly for open sores and fungal infections, and even the effectiveness in those areas are questionable for axolotls. It also seems a bit excessive as a preventative measure.

Melafix can be easily overdosed if done improperly, so the adjusted dosage for axoltols should be carefully measured, as Melafix is known to be liver toxic and an irritant.
(further discussion can be found here)

Caudata.org has Melafix listed with a caution:
Caution: This product is related to turpentine. Its safety for amphibians is unknown, and its effectiveness is questionable.
Click to expand...
More information can be found here: Caudata Culture Articles - Illness Part 1
 
Good to know. I am still using it with the other one that came with this one in the same shipment. She has an infection in her feet that looks like it has been there a while- bright red streaking to her knees/elbows and bones sticking out of the toe tips. She went to the vet and is on Baytril, but I have been adding it to help treat the open wounds (the redness is gone now, and it looks like healing has begun). I will discontinue and clean her water out today. ;)
 
It sounds to me like those animals were not healthy enough to be shipped. Shipping is a huge stress, and can easily be lethal to an already sick animal.
 
I am going to have to agree with you. I don't know when the issues started with them, but the rotten feet has been going for a while. I am sad we lost one, but I can only learn from the experience. I got them knowing the one "wasn't eating", but had no clue that her feet were even affected by anything. That was a nasty surprise.
 
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