White axie turned pink and strage behaviour

Hi My white axie has turned a pink and is exhibiting strage behaviour. Io(my axie) has been climbing right up onto the filter in the full jet stream of the filter. (I had turned the filter nozel around because it was creating too much water movement in the tank) Io sat there and wouldn't move for at least an hour just clinging on lings waving madly on the stream of water. There is some white end on some of her ling that look a little suspect ( I have treated the water with a fungal treatment) What is the ideal temp for axolotls?

The ideal temperature is from 16 °C and 18 °C, that behavior is very weird, is he out of the water? It looks like he is sticking out of the water. If he is, he could be morphing, though i highly doubt that. I don't see the white ling?? that you speak of.

In the first photo on her top ling(its white but not that fuzzy) She has for the past couple of hours has been sitting on the bottom of the tank. I think the temp of the water could be higher than 18 Degrees maybe around 20-22. It going to be 32 today in Melbourne. The guy at the pet shop when I bought her said I wouldn't need any cooling or heating??

you definitley don't need heating, i don't know about cooling, because i don't know what the temperature is like down there. 20 degrees is still okay but over that is not. I don't know about the white thing on her ling though.

Her is another one of her trying to get out?

what is that in the tank that she is climbing on? When were these pictures taken? Is she still attempting to "get out"?

It's the top of the filter! No still on the bottom, her lings are curled a little forward and seem to not as bushy as they used to be!

at least she's at the bottom. Her lings don't look too bad, they could be much smaller. She could be rare axolotl that metamorphosizes. But that wouldn't be good because that dramitically lowers their life span. I hope she turns out better.

Chris, take your axie out and place it in a food safe container with water from the tap and if possible place it in the fridge or somewhere cool. check your water temp etc. see if this calms your axie down.

well Hailz, he said the axie was down so i assume it was calmed down.But he should definitly check his temperature.

Chris - As Hailz suggested I too would recommend removing your axolotl from the tank and putting it in a food safe container with a lid (Like an ice cream bucket). Use fresh decholorinated water, and put her in the fridge.

How long has your tank been set up? If you have a test kit you need to check ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph. If you don't have a test kit you should take a sample of your tank water to a pet shop and ask them to test ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph for you.

i guess everone's going with the fridge method now. I don't see the reason if she is at the bottom and hasn't gone there since she should be fine. As long as your readings for nitrite, ammonia and nitrates are also good.

(Message edited by axolotlboy21 on November 02, 2005)

Jordan: Its just better safe then sorry, just because the axie returned to the bottom of the tank doesnt mean its feeling better. Its safer for the axie if it is removed just in case its the water quality that is causing problems

Chris, I would look into also changing that gravel to either a bare bottom or sand. Sand would be better.

Also go with Hailz and Cynthia's advise and keep her in a food safe container with a lid on it. Poke holes in the lid for air. You can also tape a piece of black construction paper over the lid and also poke holes in that. This keeps the light from scaring the Axolotl if you can't tape the light down in the fridge.

Your Axie could eat some of the gravel and that can be really harmful.

Jordan, Hailz is right. The cold water also helps the Axolotl to heal.

It seems to me she was trying to get out from her water conditions.

Chris, when you test your water, please post your readings.

Also, your tank should follow up with 25% water changes weekly. This helps the tank to stay healthy.

The water readings should be:

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0.0 - 20

PH 7.0 - 8

Stress coat is wonderful to use as a declorinator.

Salt baths help Axolotls with illness or skin that has fungus. Either a teaspoon of salt to two litres of water, or you can do two teaspoons of salt to a litre. Both are just fine.They should be given twice a day, ten minutes each. Make sure that you don't go any longer than 10 to 15 minutes or you can "burn" your axies skin from the salt.

Your axie looks very sick. Also she looks rather thin.

What are you feeding her?

Try and fatten her up with some juicy earthworms .

Here is a link about tank cycling:
http://axolotls.org/requirements.htm

Here is a link about safe and unsafe chemicals to use in your tank:
http://axolotls.org/health.htm#list

Anything else visit

www.axolotls.org

Please let us know how she improves.

what anti fungal medication did you use? Nothing with melachite green in it i hope.

I live in queensland, and have had problems with the temperatures. Computer fans mounted to blow onto the water certanly help, however i don't think the temperature is your problem.

In my experience (when i was a newbie) when their water is too warm they start gulping lots of air and tend to float abit. They also seem to be very restless.

If your water tests ok (nitrite and amonia can do some nasty things).

I believe your problem souds like a fungal or bacterial. probably fungal though judging from the wispy bits of white on the sides of your axie in the first picture. The eyes also look a little cloudy.

I would definatly be following everyones advice on salt baths and refridgeration, however i'm not a fan of the fridge method as it always seems too cold for them (just my opinion), and you can never get them to eat when they are that cold.

I prefer to place them in a small tub, and place the tub inside an esky where i can then maintain a temperature between 10 and 15 degrees by adding ice bricks or frozen milk bottles full of water.

Is your axie still eating? this is the first sign they are sick, and dont be suprised if he/she wont eat for a week or so, they just do that!

please keep us posted with how things develop.

ok yes i was wrong you should put her in the fridge to calm her down.Just make sure you change the water every day, with water that has also been in the fridge so it's the same temp.

I don't know much about axolotl diseases but it does look like she's trying to get out - maybe she is being burned by the water quality - that is, if the tank wasn't cycled properly first or harsh chemicals were added.

I think the fridge is probably the safest place for her - esp. with the weather in melb! My tank (whilst cycling) has a water temp of 30c at the moment!

There is no way my axies are going in there until I get a chiller!

you're seriously going to buy a chiller!! o by the way Casey, my cycling has finally ended!

Well done, Jordan! That's great news! Yes I am seriously going to buy a chiller - I'm not home enough to do the ice-bottle method and this summer is supposed to be the hottest in Australian History, so I can't take any chances.

yes that is definitly not something you want to do.