Illness/Sickness: White Gills, Gulping Air, and Small Bumps?

Recently I started using CO2 in my axolotls tank to try and grow the plants in their tank. Ever since starting the CO2, my females health has been deteriorating. She has had these strange small bumps all over her head and body that are more like orbs under her skin. But due to the CO2 (I believe), she has started air gulping like crazy as well as parts of her gills changing colour to white. The others were air gulping as well so I turned off the CO2 completely (originally I would leave the CO2 on during the night and turn it off in the morning to stop an increase of pH). It seems as though the others do not gulp air nearly as frequently as her, nor as aggressively. She has been really active as well. It has been almost two days since I stopped the CO2 but she is only getting worse. Does anybody know what this is?

sidenote: I will fridge her tonight if she shows know positive signs of health

sidenote 2: I'll try to get a picture of the bumps on her head, she was hiding in a plant when I went to take pictures

EDIT: I have tested my water, everything is fine, the nitrites are a little high but not dangerously high, no ammonia, no nitrates, and the pH is slightly below 6. The temperature is around 18c.

Why would you use co2 at night ? Plants don't use co2 at night they produce it . They only use co2 in bright light . As for the bumps I have no idea but could be co2 poisoning as I believe that is what they use to put axolotls to sleep . Why did you think this would be ok with axolotls? Did you read about it somewhere?

birdsong said:

Why would you use co2 at night ? Plants don't use co2 at night they produce it . They only use co2 in bright light . As for the bumps I have no idea but could be co2 poisoning as I believe that is what they use to put axolotls to sleep . Why did you think this would be ok with axolotls? Did you read about it somewhere?

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I use the CO2 at night with my lights because the tank is in an area where is does not get any natural light during the day. As for the CO2, you are not supposed to leave it on for the full day for it can cause spikes in the pH which is why I would turn it on during the night (I turn my 'fake' sunlight on at this time as well). As for the plants, they don't produce CO2, they use the CO2 as well as the light to create sugar (which they use as energy) and O2 so ideally I was hoping to increase the O2 in my tank. Since there is no exothermic reaction, carbon monoxide isn't being created which I think is what you are thinking of when you mention putting to sleep but I could be wrong about this because all in all I am no expert but I did do research before adding this all into my tank for the safety of my axolotls. Also the system I am using really does not put much CO2 into the water because it is the sugar and yeast system, if anything it is pumping more O2 into the water since there is oxygen in the canister. My main concern is that she has gotten stressed out by perhaps the change in levels of gas in the water which is why I turned everything off. Anyways my main issue right now is not that, I am worried for her health and wondering if anybody knows what could be wrong with her. The bumps under her skin have been present a while since the CO2 ever got involved but I never thought much of them; now I'm thinking that they are what caused her deterioration. But I don't know what these bumps are, also sorry this is so long.

Your right i didn't mean to be critical . Are you sure the yeast reactor was totally sealed ? All I can think that would help you is that if it leaked it could cause a bacterial or fungal infection . But I would try putting her symptoms in the search field and seeing if it comes up with anything similar. Other than that the ph seems to be rather acidic witch could cause skin irritation .

I would be doing frequent water changes to minimize the nitrites until your tank has finished cycling.

Do the bumps look like bubbles under the skin? There is such a thing as gas bubble disease from the water becoming supersaturated with gases. Caudata Culture Articles - Illness Part 1

birdsong said:

Your right i didn't mean to be critical . Are you sure the yeast reactor was totally sealed ? All I can think that would help you is that if it leaked it could cause a bacterial or fungal infection . But I would try putting her symptoms in the search field and seeing if it comes up with anything similar. Other than that the ph seems to be rather acidic witch could cause skin irritation .

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The canister is outside the tank so I don't think any of the yeast entered the tank but it could possibly have happened. I'll try putting her symptoms in the search bar, thanks for your help!

CatSpit said:

I would be doing frequent water changes to minimize the nitrites until your tank has finished cycling.

Do the bumps look like bubbles under the skin? There is such a thing as gas bubble disease from the water becoming supersaturated with gases. Caudata Culture Articles - Illness Part 1

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My tank is fully cycled, but I'll try doing a water change tonight. I don't think it's gas bubble disease because the bumps don't protrude from her skin at all, they just kind of look like spheres under her skin. It reminds me of those beads you find in bean bag chairs and stuffed toys. I'll go see if she has moved so I can take a picture of her head.

Maybe it could be dead gill filaments?
I had this problem a while ago when my ph was low
so maybe a ph buff to 7.5 might help?

The CO2 is poisoning your axie and suffocating it - stop using it. CO2 is also acidic and will be affecting your water quality, as well as burning your axie.

sebguy said:

Maybe it could be dead gill filaments?
I had this problem a while ago when my ph was low
so maybe a ph buff to 7.5 might help?

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Okay I'll try doing that, I noticed that the white filaments disappeared before nightfall so it seems like it was most likely that. Thank you for your help!

auntiejude said:

The CO2 is poisoning your axie and suffocating it - stop using it. CO2 is also acidic and will be affecting your water quality, as well as burning your axie.

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I'm not using any CO2 at the moment and haven't for a few days now because I was worried that it was causing too much of a change in gas levels. Ironically, when the CO2 is on her air gulping stops because there is O2 being pumped into the water as well, but I have to turn it off to prevent a drop in pH. As for the acidity, she has no burns, nor do the others. At this moment, I'm more concerned that this is a stress related disease rather than one caused by the input of gas.

birdsong said:

As for the bumps I have no idea but could be co2 poisoning as I believe that is what they use to put axolotls to sleep .

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Here's a screenshot from Caudata Culture, and I crossed off the extra stuff.
As for using the CO2, I wouldn't use it ever again unless it's an amphibian-less tank, amphibians have permeable skin and having different chemicals and gasses in with the water would definitely cause issues.

The amount of co2 is way more than the amount of 02 being produced by plants we gave all given you the same answer. Yes she is probably stressed. . N by the co2

birdsong said:

The amount of co2 is way more than the amount of 02 being produced by plants we gave all given you the same answer. Yes she is probably stressed. . N by the co2

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Yes I agree she is stressed but it isn't by the CO2 levels, just look at all the planted tanks with CO2 and axolotls in them! This is why I am getting confused because although what you guys are saying is possible,and I am thankful for your help, it goes against everything I researched prior to adding this to my tank. I think it is just a matter of getting an air stone to run during the time when the CO2 is turned off to stop the fluctuation of oxygen. But believe me, there really is not very much CO2 being put in, by no means a toxic or dangerous amount. But considering the fact that she does not air gulp when the CO2 is on tells me it's not the CO2 that is the problem, but rather the changing level O2 (greater when there is air being pumped into the tank, decreases when I turn the machine off.) Anyways, as I have stated several times before, I turned the machine off before even posting this thread and it has remained off ever since for her safety. All I would like is for some help diagnosing her and allowing her to return to normal health.

ThoseNewtsTho said:

Here's a screenshot from Caudata Culture, and I crossed off the extra stuff.
As for using the CO2, I wouldn't use it ever again unless it's an amphibian-less tank, amphibians have permeable skin and having different chemicals and gasses in with the water would definitely cause issues.

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Thank you for your insight and help!

I would agree with auntiejude's comment that the co2 was likely suffocating your axoltol. The the low pH and high concentration of co2 may have limited the capacity of the axoltol's blood to carry oxygen by lowering the blood pH at the gills and suffocating them. The recommended pH range for axoltols is 6.5-8 (ambystoma.org).

The small cluster of bumps on the tail are normal pigmentation.

Elise said:

I would agree with auntiejude's comment that the co2 was likely suffocating your axoltol. The the low pH and high concentration of co2 may have limited the capacity of the axoltol's blood to carry oxygen by lowering the blood pH at the gills and suffocating them. The recommended pH range for axoltols is 6.5-8 (ambystoma.org).

The small cluster of bumps on the tail are normal pigmentation.

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Okay thank you, that makes me feel better about the bumps. I am going to go to the pet store tonight to hopefully get some pH raisers.

Hope axie is doing better

tammyaxie said:

Hope axie is doing better

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She is doing much better now, thanks everyone for the help :happy: