Gills no colour

Hi, not sure what if anything is wrong with our axie Fifi. She/he is leucistic and about 5mths old tho we have had her just over a month and about 12-13cm long (I am terrible at measurements so only an approximation!). The last few days Fifi has got increasingly whiter, tho you can still see the speckles on her face, even her gills/frilly bits have gone really white. Our other leucistic axies gills are still pink and they seem ok. Fifi is still eating at mom (we feed our axies every 2 days) and swimming round ok. But just wondering if her lack of colour on gills is due to illness or something else?

First, check you water quality (ammonia, nitrItes, nitrAtes). And in any case, do a 25% water change (always helps, can't hurt--unless you forget the water conditioner!).

Everything seems fine, and did a water change yesterday. The other axies are fine. Water temp is 17-18deg Celcius.

when an axie is more active there gills will go more red due to more blood flow. when they are less active less blood needs to flow so there gills wont be as red. darker gills also occur with higher water temps.

It is pretty normal for them to go pale like that. I've noticed with mine they always turn bright pink again when they are excited like when its feeding time.

I wouldn't worry too much, keep an eye on things just in case though.

yip, they go pale when they sleep to but if its still happening after a few days im not sure what it could be...

I have wildtypes and melanoids, and even they get very pale (almost pink!) when they're sleeping or resting and it's been dark. I would try to feed it and see if it brings up any color (it should).

Hi, thanks all. Fed Fifi last night, gills still very white - translucent white - and only pale pink colour showed on her/his sides as she/he ate/swallowed. Just looks very odd compared, compared to our other leucs.

Fifi has been acting really strange tonight. Took the lid of to feed, turned to the table to get food and heard a loud plop. She/he had tried to jump out of the water - hubby had been watching from couch. Turned round and Fifi was spinning round in circles, like a dog chasing its tail. She is still very white, slight pink on left side of body but gills still translucent... Any ideas, hubby is very reluctant to put in fridge.

maybe its parasites??. axolotls go up to take gulps of air everynow and then, that sort of makes a plop sound. my axies do it every time i feed them. have u tried salt baths. id give fifi 2-3 saltbaths per day 10-15 minutes each bath.

good to see another nzer on the forum!!.were are you from? im in wellington.

Fifi is looking really skinny and pasty compared to Brodie, other leuc tankmate, so maybe isn't digesting food but haven't noticed any food bits lying round on sand. And tonight after the plop incident kept skitzing out all over place, esp. when she bumped into Brodie and the chopstick hubby was trying to feed them with (did the tailspin cartwheel again). So we are going to put her in fridge ( had to run to neighbours to get one as i tossed out all my containers to the recycling bin last Monday without thinking!). will start on saltbaths tomorrow.


Also, we are also in Wellington

could be parasites like alex said? its unusual for them to be pale at this time of year- with summer and all, mine normally get a wee bit pink.

any chance she could have eaten gravel? either at the pet shop or at home? maybe she could be having a hard time passing it... long shot though

no gravel in our tanks, all sand; and hubby got them from someone who breeds them in a pond I think, definitely not from a petshop. Will the saltbaths work on parasites? And if Fifi does have parasites, will her tankmates have it too - we are keeping a close eye on them all tho. There was a hell of a mess in her water when we went to do the water change; and gave her first saltbath. Fifi just looks so fragile now compared to the others.

when you feed her do her gills get more reddish?. my axies gills always go more reddish when i feed them.

Nope she wudn't eat tonight. And the last time she ate bout 3 days ago now; only the left side of her body went slight pink. Her gills stayed white. I'll see how she goes over the next day/so

its not unusual for axolotls to go without food for 3 days, sometimes mine just randomly choose not to eat for a week then start eating again. i dont think its anything to bad. if she starts to float and do other weird things like that then you should be worried.

Fifi still in the fridge; having saltbaths twice a day, waterchanges daily and attempting to feed her each day with no success. The past few days there have been a lot of little bits in her water, hasn't pooed since placing her in, and her gills/body still very white/pasty looking. Just today I noticed what looked like 3 tiny blood spots on her left rear foot. Not sure if that is part of the problem either. But she is looking very very skinny (hasn't eaten since last week, tho we realise after reading several threads that her metabolism slows down when in fridge and prob. won't eat). Also we have put Brodie in the fridge tonight as B started jerking around abit, after feeding, and has also gone very white round the gills like Fifi.

Oh my gosh kapo, what a time you are having.
What did you mean when you said there was a mess in the water when you use do your water changes, and what did you mean by little bits in the water... what colour were the bits?

Day after placing Fifi in fridge I checked her first thing in the morning and had tried to feed her. At that stage her water was still pretty clean looking. Hadn't as yet given saltbath cos I had to head to lfs to buy salt. Later in pm/eve tried to feed her again and the water was really messy. All this stuff (loads of creamy, dark brown and light brown bits floating round) in the water and slightly dirty coloured water. I was amazed (hadn't yet given saltbath - but hub thought might be her skin coming off - can't honestly say). So, I transferred her to saltbath for 10mins while hubby changed her water with dechlorinated water.

Past few days since then she has still had few creamy/light brown bits floating but not as much as the first day after. Got a bit of a fright yesterday morn as thought she was dead cos she was so still for so long!

Noticed when I waterchanged Brodie this afternoon B's water was as messy as Fifi's first day with the exception that you could see a few bits partially digested food and small poo in her water. Brodie did have a feed yesterday prior to being put in fridge.

They both look very anaemic - Brodie is more active than Fifi but still no colour showing on either (I would post a photo of them both if I could get a decent picture; but our digicam pic quality isn't very good - hard to see) Will see if I can get someone to take some shots.

I really don't know what cud be wrong with them; have 2 wildtypes, Fugly and Bigyin, that share same tank too but they seem to be hardier or maybe hasn't effected them yet.

when axies poos break up they can make a big mess, could be the brown bits you are finding floating around/brown water? thats the only thing i can think of other than bolus (puke)