Battered Axie Has No Gills

Hi guys, long time browser of this site and now newly registered.

I Have recently moved house and my axies have suffered for it. The temp used to be kept at a steady 17-18 degrees but in my new place it can fluctuate up to 28! I left my 3 healthy axolotls for a weekend and came back to find them covered in fungus, mostly on their gills and front legs. I also had the added problem that I had to leave town for 3 weeks.

To prepare I gave them 2-3 salt baths a day for a week and put them in the fridge (in the fruit keepers to my girlfriends displeasure). When I had to leave I left them in the fridge, as I was unable to keep up the salt baths I added a weak solution of methylene blue. Even though I'm sure I have read on this site that this product may not be safe.

When I came back I found my 2y old female 35 cm axie "Monster" cured of fungus but had sadly died of some sort of bloat related illness. The other 2 also seemed to be free of fungus and alive, I gave them another 2 salt baths anyway. My 1 yr albino axl was hit the hardest losing ALL of his gills.

So after my long winded introduction my questions are...

1- Is Methylene blue safe for use with axies? I have continued to use a solution 1/10th of the strength recommended on the packet in their quarantine tanks.

2- How can I best help and house my axie with no gills? He also has black marks across the area where the gills used to be.

They have both also not eaten for a month, but have only been out of the fridge for a few hours and I will try to feed them in the morning.

(Message edited by grubby on January 07, 2007)

Sorry to hear of the loss of 1 of the axies.

The only thing i can suggest for the axie with no gills is that you keep him in water that is just deep enough to cover his back. This way he can "gulp" air from the surface easily. With him being a year old i would expect the gills to grow back without too much of a problem.
I wouldnt suggest using chemacles of any kind as axies are naturally regenerative and the less chemacles used the better. I've heard people saying about pro's and con's of meth blue but to save any complications i would personally do without.
Check the temperature in your fridge. This should be no lower than 5C. Somebody may suggest keeping him in the fridge until gills have started to grow back but i havn't a clue if this is beneficial in this case so i will let someone else advise on that.

I hope they make a good recovery

Rather than lower the water in his quarantine tank, you could place an airstone in. I think the lower the water level, and if the quarantine tanks are small, then the temperature is more likely to warm up alot faster than if they were in their usual main tank. Hope you don't have too much trouble keeping their quarantine tanks cooler.

Thanks for replying guys,

The quarantine tanks are 2ft, each with airstones. The water is about 10cm deep in the tank with the gilless axie. I have a pedestal fan blowing over them and the temp has been sitting between 14-19 degrees. I tried to feed them with no luck this morning i will try again tonight. the albino hasn't eaten since the 7th of December and my wild gold cross hasn't since the 13th of
December . Try again tonight I guess

Methylene blue is considered safe, but I wouldn't recommend using any medication long-term.

When they do start to eat again, only give them small amounts of food at a time. If a starved animal is suddenly fed a large amount of food at once, this can be fatal.

Have you tried varied foods? A bit of earthworm or raw shrimp offered on a stick might strike their fancy. Good luck!

Success!

Thanks for the stick idea Jennifer. I have always fed my axies by hand, however they may have developed a bit of a phobia of them now from the constant handling with the salt baths.

I used a garbage bag tie (plastic with wire support) and put an eighth of a turtle dinner cube on the end, keeping in mind that jennifer said it could be fatal to feed them too much.

Both have accepted 2 offerings today

I hand feed too, sister and friend uses a bamboo barbecue skewer with a piece of worm on the end.