Gills not grown

Hi,
I am just a newbie to this site, but so far it has been very helpful!!
I was just wondering why my Axie's gills haven't grown yet?
She is Albino and named "Thumper". I have had her for about a month but I think she is around two months old. She is about 20cm long.
Apparently, she should have red gills growing but I see nada...
Help?

Hi,

if it really is an axolotls (got any pictures?) it should have had gills from the start. With 20 cm it would be older than 2 months; mine reach 20 cm with about 10 to 12 months.

Maybe you got another kind of salamander or a morphed axolotl (not very common)?

it would be really cool if you could post up a pic of it

maybe its metermorphisied? (like mine?)

Hi Emma.
I agree with Daniel that at 20 cm its close to being adult size , had it ever had gills while you have had it?. If the water conditions in the past ( or even now) have been poor it can effect the gills . Is the tank that it is in cycled and have you checked your ammonia/nitrite/ nitrate levels, if you don't yet have test kit ( single ones are by far the better in my opinion) many pet/ fish shops will happily test the water for you..just resist purchasing any chemicals that claim to remove ammonia etc. Let us know what the results are and we can take you through the next steps if neccessary.
Finally if your axolotl is golden with pale eyes ( mine had yellowish eyes) then this is albino, the white axolotl that have pink gills are refered to as being leucistic..I haven't yet quite understood why yet other than it tends to be the yellow form that lack pigmentation/colour rather than the white that can have freckles etc.!!

Wow!

Wow, I am just amazed at how many responses I got, and so quickly too!
I have attached pictures, but they are from my phone so are not the best quality unfortunately.
She is a beige-pinkish colour and apparently should have red-pink gills. If you look on the www.axolotl.org site, she looks like the axolotyl in the header image, with the big red gills, but she doesn't have any yet.
Maybe I got my measurements wrong, but please have a look and tell me what you think!!
Thanks for all the help!

Obviously it is an albino axolotl.
It also has some gills, but these are only stumps (you can see them on the last two photos).

It also looks skinny, not quite as good as it should.

Can you give any additional information on the tank she lives in (what is in there - soil, decoration, any other inhabitants; what are the water parameters as temperature, ammoina, nitrite, nitrate, pH, do you use a filter or any chemicals?) and about the food it gets (what, how much and how often)?

is her/his fin type thing that goes down its back to its tail, getting thinner, shorter?..... is it loosing that too...

mine lost wieght, thwn its glls then its fin type thing, now it lives on water, its metermorphisied

Ok, she is in a small tank. Her fin is not getting any thinner or shorter, it looks fine to me... I don't have a pH kit, but I give her room-temperature Brita filtered water every time it gets low so, supposedly i don't have to get a kit...
I give her frozen beef heart (suggested by pet shop) and dried worm cubes that i reconstitute. I am in search of live worms but none are in my garden.
She doesn't seem unhappy or sick. She is quite active. I also have two snails and 3 minows. So, she also eats minows i guess too.
Everything seems to go fine with her, its just that she only has the nobby things on her neck, not the big feathery gills?
She eats once a day so I have no idea why she is skinny. I don't really think she looks that skinny but seeing as she is my first, i wouldn't have much of an idea!!

Hi there,
With regards to water tests, ammonia/nitrate/nitrite these are important to test the water quality. Axolotl do produce a fair bit of waste, their droppings fall apart very easily and in general a build up of the chemicals listed occurs..even with a filter, and this will effect the gills and the axolotl. Once your tank has cycled weekly checks are wise to check nothing untoward is going on. I test weekly after I have done the 20/30% water change. With regards to the filter jug water I have on occasion used this when its been warm and more water has evaporated, but you must make sure the filters are changed accordingly.
I could see the gill stumps but not the filaments so this could be down to water quality issues ..but also any type of fish can potentially damage the gills too( look like yummy worms!!).
Diet wise at this size live worms would be the best ( cut to size if too big) , with mine their main diet is worms with occasional slices of raw lean meat/ tiger prawn/chicken heart etc and the occasional treat is live river shrimp.

The gills without the filaments (hairy bits) are known as gill stubs. We have two that looked similar, their gill loss was due to poor water quality - previous owner didn't have the time, due to studies and work, to care for them and they suffered.

Is it dried tubifex worm cubes? They foul up the tank as they disintegrate and aren't really that good for feeding axolotls (a better alternative if you can't get earthworms would be frozen bloodworm cubes - thaw the bloodworm before adding it to the tank - some people use the turkey baster to with a bit of tankwater and suck it up and drop it in the tank for feeding). You can order earthworms online or ask your local garden centre/hardware store (anywhere that sells wormfarms or composting bins - where to get the compost worms as they generally have a list of wormfarmers). Your local council may also have a composting facility and will have worms they could sell (or hopefully give away for free).

How often do you clean the tank? Do you spotclean (ie clean up any uneaten food/waste daily or when spotted)?

Also, where do you get your minnows, do you breed them or buy them from the petshop? If you buy them from the petshop, they need to be quarantined for minimum 30 days, and then preferably breed them and feed the offspring. This is so they don't pass on any nasties and you can ensure your axolotl gets healthy live food from a known source. Another thing to avoid is adding any tankwater that comes from the petshop (this could also contaminate your tankwater).

Take a sample of tankwater to your local petshop and get them to test for ammonia/nitrite and nitrates and mark down the figures next to each. You don't need to buy anything to fix it, so ignore the petshop people if they suggest anything. Basically, if ammonia or nitrites are above 0, you need to do frequent partial waterchanges to bring the levels down (every day or every two days).

Being quite active could be due to the warm temperature - what is your tankwater temperature? Generally as they mature and during warm temperatures they are more active but during cooler temperatures, they tend to get become less active, unless food's involved!

Sad News

Thumper died on Wednesday. I went and got a new Axie, it's name is Ariba and is black.

I was in Tasmania for the week and asked dearest mother to look after my pet. It wasn't feeding well previously and her gills never did grow! Mum said that she was constantly sitting on top of the filter with her head out of the water and then began swimming around vertically with its head above water, then the next day she was running into the glass constantly, over and over again.
Then mum went in the next day and she was dead on the ground of the tank, she never ate throughout that whole week.

So, yes very disappointing and sad but I have a new one now and have bought a chemical that gets rid of the chlorine, took the shells out that make the water too hard and got rid of the little bits of gravel... all of which were there for Thumper which may have contributed to her death, I don't know. I think I have learnt now and can take better care of Ariba, at least I hope so!! And no, Thumper's gills never did grow, I had her since September 24th and she died Wednesday the 19th of December. Ariba is very active and very happy at my house and his gills have already started growing. Very good news. Plus I had the pH tested and everything is how it should be.

Sorry to hear about that, Emma.

Don't just test the pH though. The most important ones to keep an eye on are ammonia and nitrite and temperature as well, ie preferably below 21C, else if the tankwater temperature goes over that then you'll have to start cooling your tankwater using the following methods: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cooling.shtml

One of my axies also has small stumps, but there are gill filaments on it and she is perfectly happy. Her gills won't grow any longer either, I have her for about a year, and she is eating fine.
Should those gills grow to a certain size?

I think there was something else wrong.
How long did you have that axie?

Danny

Our adult also has small gill filaments - they have grown a little (a few mms) since early last year but don't think they will get any longer. I know once they as they age regeneration does take a lot longer; but in the case of the filaments being damaged down to the stubs they will probably never get the a substantial length. Compared to our other adults he does stand out a bit but seems relatively content for the last year and a half+ we've had him = eats normally and appears unstressed.