Metamorphosis and how to treat it

I bought two axolotl a few days ago from a pet shop falling apart.
The pet shop failed/closed two days later.

I had no idea this was so hard to care. I even bought stones (as the pet guy sugested) and apparently it was a mistake. I also own a 40 litre tank and for two of them is tiny. Im keeping them well fed hoping they wont kill each other.
Im going to buy a new tank in some days, probably a 130litre one.

Now one of my axolotl is strangely changing, in a matter of a week it grown fangs, teeth, eyelids...the gills changed a lot and they retired, they also turned a little dark purple.
He seems walking underwater and no longer swimming. He also seem to have stronger arms...
Oh another thing. he is always digging and trying to hide under stuff.
He is 20 cm and some months old.

I noticed my axolotl is trying to jump on my hand ALL the time and barely eats.
Another thing, he seem to avoid fish treats now, and seem to want only insect larvaes food...
My other axolotl is way younger and seem to eat more.
I dont know what it means, why is it jumping on my hand?
Is he going through a metamorphosis? How will he breathe without gills?
Can i revert the metamorphosis?
Is it possible that my axolotl is half morphed and wont proceed to a total metamorphosis?

Another weird thing... my axolotls is Always watching me, whenever i put my face near the tank he just stop and come close to the water surface, he watch me face to face and blink his eyes a lot. When i leave he just goes away.

I asked some friends to put a hand in the tank and he dont jump on it...he apparently just want my hand...weird.

When hes alone, he dont blink, unless he is eating.

What do he want from me? Is he trying to jump on me because of my hand temperature? Could it be he feels not okay at 17 degrees when morphing?
Do he require a different alimentation? Why hes looking for me? Is he intelligent enough and he is trying to tell me something, or he is just curious about my face?

Please helpe me! Im really afraid he could die, noone knows a lot about this animal in my country...

I just dont understand what is happening. Some friends of mine who are tropical fish experts (but never had axolotls) told me he could be affetionate to me but that sounds strange, i only own him since a morth or less...


host immagini

Re: Methamorphosis and how to treat it

I think we need more pictures to see what is going on. Can you get bigger pictures too?

Axolotls seldom undergo metamorphosis. When they do, it is sometimes caused by poor water conditions.

If metamorphosis has started, I have been told it can't be stopped.

One thought I had - is it possible that you don't have axolotls, but rather some other amphibian? Tiger salamanders are closely related and do undergo metamorphosis.

If the metamorphosis was triggered by bad water conditions, then it is very important to correct these conditions. Do you have a test kit to test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH? If so, what are the readings? If not, I recommend you get a test kit from a local pet store.

If the one axolotl is undergoing metamorphosis, then it will need to be kept like adult tiger salamander. Here is some info Axolotls - Metamorphosed & Tiger Salamanders

I suggest posting pictures in this forum for help determining if your "axolots" are actually something else, since one seems to be undergoing metamorphosis. Species, Genus & Family Discussions - Tiger Salamander & Axolotl (<i>Ambystoma tigrinum</i>, <i>A. mavortium</i> spp, etc.) at Caudata.org Newt and Salamander Portal

Re: Methamorphosis and how to treat it

Ok ill upload a pic.
By the way the reseller had a Cites authorization.
Im not sure if he could cheat and give me a fake axolotl.
Honestly i dont care.

All i care now is make them survive as long as they can.
Thursday i will get my 130litres tank and a filter with sponges aged 40 years...

How long the methamorphosis can last? All i can say for sure is that my creature can blink eyes, jump on surfaces using legs, and his gills are tiny and weird.

The big one is not normal i believe.


upload immagini

Re: Methamorphosis and how to treat it

Here are some other pic. What do you think?
I believe the guy is going to adapt to the surface....
How can he breathe underwater with such a little/deformed gill?


upload


hosting immagini

Re: Methamorphosis and how to treat it

The pictures aren't clear enough for me to be sure (I am not good at interpreting pictures), I don't see signs of metamorphosis. It looks like you have two axolotls whose gills have been damaged. I am going to guess either bad water conditions, a bacterial infection, or fish nibbling their gills. Do you have fish in with them?

Axolotls have lungs too. You will see them going to the surface to get air. They can survive and recover from damaged gills.

Do you have a test kit for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH? If so, what are the readings? If not, get one. Bad water is a common cause of axolotl problem, either directly or indirectly.

Do you have a filter? Is your tank cycled? (If you don't know what I mean when I say "cycled" say so - a lot f new keepers don't.)

What are you feeding them?

Is that a heater in the tank? If so, take it out. Axolotls prefer it cool. Unless that tank is going to get lower than 5C, you do not need a heater.

Re: Methamorphosis and how to treat it

I don't think they are metamorphosing. I would concentrate on water quality, keep the tank cool, and be careful not to overfeed.

Ill be direct, since the pics dont seem to show enough.
His gills are like big fingers. They dont have any kind of alveoulus.
Its just a plain piece of meat, without holes or anything. Its not a normal gill.
He moves them a lot under the water, when he is not breathing on the surface.

My tank is cycled with artificial bacterias and has a filter.
Its a ****ty one. Sometimes it makes bubbles.
Ill get my new tank and fully bacterial filter in a few days.

The water is:
Ammonia almost zero, n02 zero, n03 zero, ph 7.2, gh around 6-7°d.
Temperature always on 17°C due to thermoregulation.

Is this good? I think its safe.

When i bought them, the pet shop owner had them in a turtle tank with a terrible, terrible water without filter.
They was also near a snake tank so basicly they was getting some UV light.....
When he gave me, he warned me he was mutating due to stressful enviroment.
There are no fishes in the tank, the other axolotl is very tiny and never attacked this one in my presence.

The other axolotl has totally different gills, the pet shop guy gave me two because the little one had his tail cut off and part of his arms broken.
He(or she) was in another tank with another yellow axolotl that apparently was evil and he gave it to someone else.
In about 10 days he regenerated everything, both hands and tail.

Are gills harder to regenerate compared to other body parts? Because in 10 days they could have fully regenerated i think.

I have to add my axolotl blink eyes often and breathes a lot. He also tries to reach the air.

Sometimes he stays out for a long time with his back or tail, but when the gills get out, he jump back down in the water.

So, do you think he is completely safe and not mutating? How much time it takes to mutate?


ABOUT OVERFEEDING... oh **** maybe i am!?!?
Im giving them about 4 grams of bloodworms each day.
Sometimes i give four little chunks of shrimp food for chiclides a day.
Some other time 1 food pill for silures each day.

Is this too much?
I have to say the little one eats like theres no tomorrow.
The bigger one (pics one) has a normal appetite.
I think the little one eats about 20% more. Im feeding him more because i believe regenerating takes a lot of proteins.

The lack of gill filaments is likely due to poor water quality. From the photos, the legs do look somewhat bloated but I would be concerned about a bacterial infection although. Have you got a vet in your area?

Regardless, it is important to correct husbandry to give your axolotls the best chance. There is no instant cycling method. The bottled bacteria is an aide to help get the cycle started (although I don't like to use them at all) but it still takes weeks to cycle a tank. Below is a couple of links I would suggest you reading thoroughly.

Caudata Culture Articles - Water Quality

Caudata Culture Articles - Cycling

Could you post a video of the other behaviours?

Bloodworm is great for very young juvenile axolotls but they need more nutritious options as they grow. Your two would be better having earthworms as a staple diet.

Behaviour... they both act relaxed.
They breathe on surface once every some minutes. The bigger one breathes once in 2 minutes maybe, sometimes more often.
They hug and stack each other often, they move a little then stop for some minutes.
When the water is colder, they move less.
They pass like 80% of the time not swimming but rather sitting there or walking on floor.
And yes, im aware i need sand asap.

The little one is very sensitive and hates to be touched. He only allow to be touched on face and belly.
The bigger one is a very friendly, he hugs me, bites my fingers gently, normally he tries to jump on my hands to reach the surface.
If i let him, he use me like a rock.
He allows me to touch him everywhere and drag him everywhere.
He also seem to like 18-19 degrees more than 15-16.
The little one prefer 16 degrees.
They seem to like the tank corners and the filters when is 17-18 degrees, and they like to be near the thermoregulator when its under 16.
They also seem to like the filter bubbles but they go away after a few seconds.
They also hide often. Probably 20-30% of the time.

I keep them in partial darkness for the whole day when im at work, and under light for 4-5 hours at night when im at the computer.
So lets say... they stay 4-5 hours in complete darkness, 15 hours in partial darkness, 4-5 hours under house light. The light is about 1500 lumen and its 3 meters far.

One strange thing is that... they bring water bubbles inside the hiding place. Why is that?


The only exotic veterinary in my area asked me what an axolotl is.
I would avoid them.
He is a reptile specialist... so i think im completely lonely in this.
You guys gotta help me.

Can i find earthworms in a fish pet shop?


If you have time (i hope so) i can show their behaviour in skype.

It's really hard to tell by pictures, but if he is blinking that is definitely a sign that he at least COULD be metamorphosing. Axolotls do not have eyelids. From everything that I've heard, if they go through metamorphosis, one of the easiest ways to tell is that they develop eyelids (and then their gills shrink away, their tail will become a lot less fin-like, etc.) He may not be going through metamorphosis. It looks like your tank is not cycled (you have some ammonia, no nitrite, and, most importantly, no nitRATE). A fully-cycled tank will have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and a few ppm nitrate to show that ammonia is being fully converted to nitrite and that that nitrite is then being fully converted to nitRATE. The nitRATE doesn't go anywhere (well, a little bit of it is consumed by live plants, but not that much), so the only way to get rid of it sufficiently is through water changes.

Anyway, if he IS going through metamorphosis, it is going to be hard on him if you don't take precaution. Get yourself some kind of turtle rock, steady float, shelf he can get up onto... just something that he can jump or crawl up onto that is above the surface of the water. If he IS becoming a terrestrial salamander, it will be pretty stressful for him to always have to come up for air. Not saying he wouldn't survive, but obviously creatures with lungs and no gills (or at least inadequate gills) would do much better being able to breathe comfortably on land rather than always have to take gulps and essentially hold their breath all the time. My American ignorance is about to show... I have no idea if you can use Amazon.com in Italy (I assume you can?), but, if you can, there are some great little shower shelves that work really well for an axolotl tank. They have suction cups to stick to the glass, and you could position one right at the surface (make sure the surface is a few inches below the lid so he doesn't smack into the lid trying to get onto the shelf) so that, if he IS metamorphosing, he can hop up onto the shelf and breathe more comfortably until you figure out for sure what's going on.

Thanks. Yes we do have amazon and online stuff lol.
Should i put this rocks over the water level or one inch under?
Atm there is a fake rock going about 1inch near the water surface and the poor axy is sitting there all day, sometimes he swim a lot, hug the other axolotl and then he goes back on the rock.

Sadly my tank is not fully cycled yet, i do a 25% water change daily.
The reason why the water looks torbid is because the filter is not the right one for axolotls, it moves a lot of water and i dont know how to stop it.

I bought a 100€ canister filter in an acquarium shop (the guy dont seem to understand what axelotls need but he knows a lot about fishes) and he is cyclying it together with a 40 years old biological filter, as he said he is able to reply the old bacterial colony in my new filter.

On thursday i will get my big tank, and after a week ill get my new filter.

I know you have the internet! haha. I just wasn't positive whether Amazon.com was worldwide. You know what happens when you assume!

Anyway. I would put a rock or shelf right at or above the water level so he can comfortably sit on it.

If your Axolotl is actually blinking, then it must be morphing. If it's not blinking then it will take some weeks to recover to full health.

But imo it doesn't shown the signs of morphing I have seen in other Axolotls.. time will tell!