Question: Should I be concerned

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Kashka

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Hi, I have a dark grey / slate coloured speckled axi which I believe is called a water dog. He is about eight years of age and I have had him since he was a baby. Over the past six weeks, he has started to lose his colour, especially on the underside of his trunk / belly. He is very dark grey in colour, yet this area is turning a very pale shade of grey. He is eating as normal, but does seem a little less active. Is it that he is just getting older and that his skin is fading as a consequence or do you think it could be a biological / physical defect ?

Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you
 
I think it's fairly natural..my dark gray wild type has a fairly pale white belly as well and is perfectly healthy (I think).
 
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I have a melanoid thats comin up to 9 inches (hes still pretty young tho dont think hes even 6months) his belly is constantly changing color sometimes completely dark, sometimes dark to light grey and sometimes has a completely white belly n he seems very happy n healthy so i'd say its pretty normal. if you are worried monitor your axie closely for anything else unusual (behaviour or feeding wise) which you seem to be doing (mine doesnt move much either unless theres food involved!) but if its just a color change id say its normal, however im no expert!
 
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I'm not sure if you should be concerned about the changing color but I would be concerned about the gravel. From the look of him, I can bet that he has swallowed quite a bit of that gravel.

I would remove the gravel and fridge him to help pass it. Gravel larger than 1mm is an impaction hazard and he looks a bit bloated to me. Sand, tile, or none are the typical choices for substrate.

Here is the fridging process - FRIDGE and here is information about SUBSTRATE. Take care.
 
It looks as though he is just changing colour. There have been two recent threads concerning the same thing. I agree with Shannon that the gravel needs to come out and the axie needs to be fridged to pass all that gravel. You could always change it to a sand bottom or bare, rive stones or as some have done already have slate tiles. Good luck.
 
Hi, many thanks for your reply and reassurance. I will keep monitoring him. How long have you had your critters for and what is your tank set up like ?
 
I am having problems posting a response so thank you all for your comments. I have been keeping axi's for over ten years, with only the Peter Scott book as a reference and he advised gravel so that is what I have always used, however, you are quite right the axi's do forage and consume the gravel which, although easily passed as it is so small, does concern me. If I were to change to the sand substrate, surely dont the fine particles get absorbed into their delicate skin and irritate their gills ? Also, isn't it difficult to clean ? Please advise me of your experiences. Many many thanks.
 
Hi Kashka,

I too was slow to switch to sand but am quite happy with it now. The wastes are very apparent sitting right on top of the sand and as long as you keep your siphon moving just above the sand, it is very easy to clean. I have not had any health issues with the sand at all. I do think you will be much happier with it. Slate tiles look really nice too - I, personally, am not fond of having the bare bottom. The hardest part to sand is getting it prepared to go in the tank - it's a pain to get rinsed out. When adding it, you may want your filter turned off until it settles a bit. Good luck and please keep us posted! ;)
 
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