Fat with red gills

I recently (December 07) got a new axolotyl from an exotic pet and marine life shop in Wangara in Perth. He is a black male axolotyl and was in a small tank but I have recently moved him into a new tank and tested the water for harsh chemicals etc.
He has grown drastically in the last two weeks, getting considerably fat and his gills have turned a redish shade underneath. The water temperature stays at 18 degrees with the highest getting to 21. When it does get to this temperature, I place two frozen water bottles in which brings it back down to 18. He is approximately two months old I am guessing but has grown to about 17cm long.

I have a Eheim water filter which is more than ample for my size tank, and use the Prime water conditioner wich removes chlorine, chloramine and ammonia and detoxifies nitrite and nitrate and provides the slime coat, all of which were suggested by the pet shop.

As for chemicals, the PH is at 7.4, Nitrate at 5 and Nitrite and Ammonia at 0.

I feed my axie every second day, varying between dried tubifex worms and frozen beef heart. He eats every single time I have fed him and is fairly active. He isn't doing any floating at the surface or crazy movements like my last one did. There are also two snails in the tank.

There, now that I have given all the information and provided a picture, what should I do about his red-tinged gills and bulging stomach?

Which shop in wangara if i may ask.....?
Im not sure what he peoblem may be but im sure there are many people on here who may know and will answer you shortly!!

Have you got him on gravel? That could be an issue.
Try to vary the diet a little more. Earthworms, slugs, slaters(earwigs), and snail with shell removed are an excellent food for an axolotl.
I have a wildtype axolotl and even though the gills look black most of the time, when she is active or getting excited at feeding time I do notice they flush a red colour, its just blood supply rushing through.

I can't see a problem with a fat stomach.

At 17cm he may be much older than you estimate! More likely if it has a rounded stomach he might be a she!

If you're talking about the dried tubifex cubes these aren't that good for your axolotl - the frozen bloodworm cubes are ok (as long as you defrost them before dropping in so they defrosting water/ice doesn't foul the tank). Are you able to get some live earthworms = they are a much better staple and can be alternated with the frozen bloodworm cube along with some axolotl pellets.

As for the red gills - also hard to see but wildtype axies (what you have) do have red or dark gills especially when active. The only problem I really see with the gill stubs are there are no gill filaments on them and they look a bit stunted. Were they like that when you bought her/him?

Becky over here slaters and earwigs are two different insects! Slaters are a type of greyish looking insect - think you might call it/them woodlice (looks like a little soft armour plate on its back and soft pale underbelly). The earwigs are skinny and have a pincer type thing at the front of its head and is dark brown or black.

oops my mistake Kapo, i meant to say woodlice lol...i'm out so often digging the things up i'm insect blind

I think you should consider taking your axie off the gravel as well. This can lead to impactions; which may be a reason for the "fat" stomach

Mine lives on a diet of earthworms, frozen bloodworm cubes and axolotl pellets. That's when he's not in the fridge!!

Amiracle said:

I think you should consider taking your axie off the gravel as well. This can lead to impactions; which may be a reason for the "fat" stomach

Click to expand...

there isn't any gravel, its all sand, very little and fine sand.

Shop in wangara?
exotic fish and pets it was called.

Now the slime coat is peeling off... what do i do? what does this mean? HELP!:blush:

what are your water conditions?
Temperature?
ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

How often have you been waterchanging and how much and what is your tank temperature?

I'd recommend getting your tankwater tested again in case your water test kits are faulty. It's odd that the slime coat is peeling

Also regarding your water conditioner, you'd be better of just using one that removes the chlorine and chloramines from tapwater. Any that usually mucks around with ammonia/nitrites or provides slime coat can actually cause more problems than good if your tank was uncycled to start with. Things that usually provide slime coat adds to the bioload of the tank.


How large (measurements please) is your tank and what type of snails, and how large are they, do you have in the tank?

I think you should remove your axolotl and place it in the fridge and do complete daily waterchanges on its container, then try and work out what could be wrong with your tankwater. Get the petshop to test your tankwater and compare it to your test results.

i will test the chemicals and pH tomorrow at my sister's house, but i think its prbably the same. i haven't been doing much water changing, cleaned out the filter last weekend in the tank water in a bucket as instructed, tank measurements are:
length: 76cm
height: 46cm
width: 30cm
i don't know what type of snails they are but they are golden in colour and the size of a 50 cent piece.
i will check chemical stats tomorrow, post them and then see if i have to but Ariba in the fridge.
temperature right now is at 21 degrees C.
Thanks!

one more tip from a armature i recently discovered i was adding two times the amount of water conditioner that made the newts and axies a bit funny since Ive been correctly adding the right amount they seem happier so make sure you have right dosage