loss of wieght, appetite and coloration?

hi i have had my two golden axies for about 2 weeks and when they arrived they were roughly the same size. one is now significantly skinnier, its gills are much smaller and it is generally paler in colour, also it has refused food for about 3 days. they are hand fed with beef, chicken and "axolotl fish mince", but the smaller one only ever ate chicken. i have corrected the pH to as close as my test kit allows and the temperature is kept between 12 and 15 degrees C. unfortunately i dont have the money to buy a full chemical test kit right now, could these symptoms be a sign of ammonia or nitrite poisoning? is it strange because the larger axie actively hunts his food out and bites my hand in his vigour, while the smaller gives a half arsed attemt to eat and swims away every time. both their activity levels seem much the same. any help with this would be greatly appeciated.
thanks
Josh

Hmm I am guessing perhaps you could have a water quality problem? Generally that will start to affect the weakest axolotl first so maybe that is why only one of your axolotls seems sick. If you could get your water tested that would help rule out that (aquariums or petstores can test your water free of charge). Did you cycle your tank before getting your axolotls? If not you really should get at least an ammonia test kit and also change the water 20% each day that the ammonia reads above 0.

It could be too, that your sick axolotl was already sick when you got it? Maybe ask at the place you got it from.

How did you adjust your ph? If you used chemicals this is a really bad idea as it makes the ph unstable and an unstable ph also adds to stress. Anything between 6.5 and 8 is fine.

Also I would take a look at what you are feeding your axolotls. Meat like chicken and beef are fatty and are really only good for treats, not as a staple. You should try earthworms, salmon pellets and things like bloodworms instead.

Good luck.

thanks sarah!
i dont have a filter operating right now as the filter that came with the tank is grotty, is that what you mean by cycle the tank? it is also probably worth noting that the sick axie has only got 3 legs. the breeder who sold them to me said it was bitten off by a larger axie ( mine are only about 10-12 cm) and will grow back. i heard that earthworms can carry diseases to axolotls, is it safe to dig up some worms to feed?

Hmm without a filter you will definitely need to do water changes each day of 20%. Axolotls are pretty grotty creatures! Filters aren't necessary if you are happy to keep up the water changes but I would highly recommend you get one as it will make life a lot easier. Just make sure you don't get one with too high a flow rate as water movement can stress out axolotls.

Here is an article that explains the cycling process really well: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml

With the earthworms, not sure about diseases, someone else here can inform you better. I know it is not a good idea to take them from spots that have chemical fertilizers and the like. They are sold at hardware and bait shops, so you could check them out. I don't use them myself as I live close to the city and have no garden and no local bait shops! But they are a really great source of nutrition. I use salmon pellets, feeder guppies that I breed myself (I would not recommend using feeder fish though, until you get a bit more comfortable with keeping axies) and also frozen blood worms and brine shrimp. So those are alternatives if you can't feed worms. Some people use snails, crickets and slugs too.

Don't worry, your axie's leg will grow again. I bought my axolotl with no legs (well he had little stumps) as they had all been bitten off. They grew back in a few months and the only issue is his front legs only have a few toes... he doesn't seem to mind though