Axolotl Gills

One of my axolotls has ripped off his own gills they seem to be healing back slowly but he keeps scratching at them like a dog would scratch it's ears. So now on one side he has two little nubs and one healthy looking gill and on the other he has two healthy and one starting to regrow little filaments on it. Could this be an indication of something wrong? I'm a first time axie owner so I'm a bit puzzled. I know goldfish beating themselves up is normally an indication of parasites. I'm not sure what to do.

I'm sure Axolotls don't rip their own gills off, do you have something in your tank like rock or an ornament which has sharp edges that could have allowed him to do damage to him self accidentally?

Have you tested your Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate?
What is your water temperature?

Could you post some images of your tank and Axolotl?

If he starts doing it agian I'll make sure I get a video. He literally ripped them of himself I watched him do it and vacuumed them out of the tank after he was done.

They seemed damaged and limp from the time I got him (December 11) Now however they seem to be growing back slowly but healthy.

My water temp is 18.2 degrees

0 Ammonia
0 Nirites
10 Nitrate
7 pH

Since he ripped them off he goes to the top of the tank more often to gulp air and he is eating nearly double what he would normally eat. He seems himself otherwise. Should I be concerned? I have another axie in the tank who looks fine, he also doesn't have very fluffy gills but neither of them ever have.

The photo of my tank is bad but I'm sure you get the idea. Also please note I opened the blind to take this the light isn't normally as bright.

Hmm very odd, doesn't appear to be anything that could be particularly sharp which could damage his gills so badly, but perhaps he wedges him self between some of decor which helped rip them off..
Can you explain how he ripped them off?

Your water test results seem to show you have an active cycle 'biofilter'.
Your temperature is just right.

Did you purchase both Axolotls when they were older, from another owner?

Sometimes when Axolotls loose their gills due to poor water quality or accidents, the gills and fimbriae don't always grow back as full as they once were. So perhaps your Axolotls gills have been damaged previous to your ownership so they just don't grow as full anymore.

Going to the surface is not really an issue unless there wasn't enough Oxygen in the water.

I purchased them the size they are in the photos. They may have grown a very little amount since I got them, I find it hard to tell when I see them everyday.

I did a fish in cycle previously to purchasing them with a couple of my hardy goldfish. I cycle out ice bottles during warmer weather to maintain the temp and have a fan on the tank. That isn't pictured has I removed it and the hood prior to the photo. They get a mixed diet of earthworms, white fish, axolotl gel food and pallets. I normally feed them once a day but at the moment Thrall (wild type) pictured above has been eating twice a day. They hate water changes but we have come to an understanding that rather then big weekly ones they now get small water changes every 2-3 days depending on my water test readings, which they don't mind, they even come up and swim around hoping for food.

They both had pretty poorly looking gills when I purchased them but I had hoped with some tlc they might recover. I will keep close eye and if I notice any damage being caused by the decor I'll remove it. If he starts again i will definitely be getting a video, I told the guy at the store and he seemed puzzled too.

Thanks for your help

No problem!

You probably don't need to be doing water changes so frequently. Do the water changes when the Nitrates reach around 40ppm.

You said you watched him rip them off, so how did he do it?

He repeatedly scratched at them with his little feet until they were just the little stubs you see in the picture, he did it over the course of about 3 days. If you have ever seen a dog with an ear infection keep pawing at its ear it looked very much like that. It kept attracting my attention because he looked like he was throwing a tantrum jerking around eradically. I work from home half the time so my easel and work bench is right next to the tank.

There must be something in the water that is irritating the gills, or he has some form of parasite possibly. Definitely odd, what kind of sand are you using??

It's just a natural white sand I brought from the aquarium store, it was all pre washed but despite that I cleaned it in treated water anyway before putting it in the tank. But it must have been washed as claimed already as the water wasn't cloudy or milky. It has no coral in it I checked and when I added it to the tank I tested the pH over a couple of days to make sure it didn't change. Unless the parasite came from the store I'm certain it wasn't a pre existing thing in the tank. Even the plants were one's I grew myself.

He actually seems to be doing really well now. No more scratching and his skin is looking a nice deep healthy colour he looked a little washed out before in comparison.

I have after all only had him for a month and have since been back to the store, the axolotls they still have there look in pretty bad shape, now I have a better idea of what to look out for.

Hopefully he will recover his gills and I'll see improvement given more time.

Yeah keep an eye on him, I shall do some more research on the scratching of gills!

What dechlorinator do you use. I've had similiar issues in the past. In the end a change in dechlorinator seemed to fix it.

Only 1 out of 9 at the time had the problem so it was isolated. I ran out of dechlorinator from doing frequent changes to try and fix it and my lfs didn't have my usual, Prime, so I got API stress coat after 2 changes problem was gone and never returned. so I stuck with the API.