Illness/Sickness: Help Needed Please!.,....

I recently posted a thread about my axolotl saxson and axol, since my old axolotl azura died i brought axol saxson a friend to play with they get on fine and i have completely washed and soadked all hidey holes plants filters, every thing that was in the tank, i have recently made a half water change. he seems fine in him self he swims around with saxson he eats like a pig and he plays wih his toys in him self he is fine however i have noticed about a day or two ago axol's gills have completly gone ( red/purple fluffy bits) from one side of his head, the other side has grown alot!, im not sure because he is still very young if it is normal or not?, this morning saxsons gills on one side seemed alot more smaller too the tempreture is the same as when i brought them and the vet said the water amonia and quality of the tank is normal so im not sure what is wrong i can not se any signs off infection or any cotton wool? fluffy stuff on any part of him the only differance in him i have noticed is recently he has spots and shades of blue but it could be hes coulor coming throught can some one please help i will post a picture up of him to show people what i mean i have been told it is normal but i dont want it to be a fungal infection?



http://i1013.photobucket.com/albums/af252/toxicparadise/Photo-0005.jpg?t=1263828068

I would assume one has bitten the other. How big are they? Mel

they are both the same size give or take one is a girl the other a boy,Hello mel im not intally sure what's wrong axol was losing his gills as soon as Azura died i thought it may be a greving thing?, as he was very slow and didnt eat alot but now hes got a friend hes perked up alot im watching them 24 hours got a webcam on them to make sure they do not fight and i can see them at night they dont seem to be attacking each other its just strange it on one side and they are both losing them from the same side , im watching them now and it almost looks like the gills have doubled in the past hour the water is cold so it cant be the oxygen?.. as long as he is ok and can breath i dont mind but if its an infection id like to kno so i can do something about it

I think Mel was wondering about their size because juveniles tend to be more canibalistic than adults. How large is the tank you keep them in? The reasons that this would seem to be that one axie bit the other is the length of time over which it occured. If his gills shrunk so quickly in just 1 or 2 days, that is far too quick to be caused by an infection or through a physiological change. I would probably agree with Mel, especially if they are smaller axies. But continue to monitor them, and keep an eye on the water conditions.

I've looked at the photo now and it does look a bit strange. They have gone very stumpy.
I would also ask as Shizeric has how long did this take to happen?
Have you been in contact with a vet? You mention the vet says the water quality is fine.
Have you got a test kit? You could do with monitering the water parameters as they will change.

I'm still thinking it could possibly be that they are nipping each other.
Mine were terrible when younger and always had raggy looking gills lol.
Mel

Hello thank you for your help, i was wondering this too i have a few pictures of saxson too well i first noticed axol's gills shrinking when unfortuantly my old axolotl died i removed her straight away to not infect the water and done all the cleaning and every thing he seemed fine for a day and as i sed looked very lonely then i noticed on one side of his head one just disapeared he was on his own when this happend i have been reading about it and its said when they mature they can lose thier feathers and regrow

i noticed the first sign january the 1st witch is when azura died, then axols gills game back as in huge! when i brought in saxson ive been monitering them and the water conditions every day now and all seems fine they are both eating neither of them ( that i kno) have any signs of fluffy bactier or infection on them, they both seemed very happy active and eating alot hes still eating and swimming and active looks happy and i have been paying particular attention to his tail as when he is stressed it kind of goes stiff and rigid but he seems smooth and normal

one intresting fact i have noticed is both have lost them on the same side as each other the other side is pretty much normal i can see them every day and even at night so i dont see how they can nibble each other no other animal is in the tank with them, ive put a few pictures up

i have added some images of them before and now also the tank size ...

sry jst one more thing i have noticed this very secon Axol has Alot of blue shiny dots over his head and whole body on this tail and feet could this be his couloring?

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Because its only on one side and the other side is ok, I would guess at trauma or injury.
Although if the other side starts going i would definately take to a vet.
It probably wouldn't hurt to have them checked anyway if thats something you can do.

Mel

ok thank you for your help is the tank big enegh for the two of them is that the problem that it may be too small? it seems pretty big too me at the moment when they grow older i will get a bigger one and it is very strange do axy's grow back thier feathery gills? and can he still breath if he has little ones i still think hes beautiful i just dont want it to be hurting him or anoying them. i have took saxson to the vet however they said they would suggest that it could be them just growing i dont think he knew much about them tbf. can they still breath if they do have little gills i have heard may be heating up the water a bit to not have as much oxygen is this a gd idea?, the tempreture at the moment between about 15/17 degree C.

Your temperature is fine i wouldn't mess with it.
How big is the tank?
The gills should grow back but they may not be as long as the other side. They should still beable to breathe as the gills are ok on the other side.
If it is due to nipping it could be something they grow out of.
I have a gold who used to be awful to my other two he has had the end of their tails off numerous times and broke my wilds leg!. He has just about stopped now and he's about 23cms now.

Just make sure you try to feed them at seperate sides of the tank. This could reduce any nipping.
Mel

The tank does look large enough for the both of them, but I would HIGHLY recommend you use a different substrate for your axolotl tank. That gravel could be accidently ingested, and could cause some major trouble.

hello thanks for the reply so the tank is ok it could just be there nippingstage? just abit worried it could be fungal or bacterial but i see no signs off it and the substrage pebbles have been removedthis morning as we saw axol eating one of them and spat it out there now on sand =]

How big is the tank?

I'm gonna take a stab and say 20 gallons.

Hey I'm sorry, I'm not sure as it was a present . It looks big and deep enough for the both of them, they both have the same amount of hide out places and toys. They can get away from each other if they want too. I'm not sure, just kind of strange. I've been looking through the tapes I've had from watching them and I haven't noticed them attacking each other. They lay on each other a lot. I'm not really sure, just hope they are ok

How often do you do water changes? Is there any source of oxygen in the water? A submersible filter like that is not providing oxygen, so it seems water changes will be the only source.

About a quater of the water, every 2 days is changed. We have a special oxygen fixture to the tank which is not powerfull, but gives out a lot of oxygen. Could this be the problem as some one told me they may be getting too much?.. There is hardly any current as I know it stresses them out. We change the water very often and use the syfen to clean out the sand which we now have.

25% water changes is a LOT every other day. Most people try to keep it around 25% per week. And I would remove the "oxygen fixture".

0o oki il start doing it per week then, and could it be the problem that they have too much oxygen?

If it was a problem with the oxygen levels then I would expect both sides of the gills to look smaller. Axies don't need any extra oxygen in the water, I have a axie that only has gills on one side (they just haven't grown properly) and he just gulps at the surface more than the others.

Just a thought, do you know why your other axolotl died? It seems strange that both your axies both have a problem with their gills and on the same side. As I understand it your other axie only died this month, does that mean you didn't quarantine the new one? You say that you cleaned the tank, but obviously if the surviving axolotl has any infection or bacteria passed on from his tank mate he could pass it on to the new tank mate.

This is just a theory and probably has nothing to do with the gill loss, I too think it's more than likely the axies nipping each other.

Hello. She was extremally skinny when I brought her, so was Axol.They were rescued due to neglect. I wanted to get them out the pet shop which is why I brought them. She gained weight but all of a sudden just went to a skeleton, I fed her every day and she ate it all so I assume a problem with her digesive system. She had no fungus on her but she did bite her tail and legs off so it may of just been her. We took her to the vet when she died they said they saw no signs of infection on her just she was very skinny!, I left Axol in the tank because I tested the tank, there was no ammonia at all, so nothing wrong with the water.It just seems very strange, I had Saxson in another tank for a while next to his so they get used to each other. He was losing his gills as soon as Azura died, so it cant of been Saxson. Then when I put Saxson in, in a day his gills just ballooned into a healthy length, the same as saxson then they just both lost them. They still active and I can see them 24 hours a day, I dont see either of them having a go at each other just very strange..

Could I do with getting them a bigger tank ?