Newbie and need some help!

hi everyone ive recently bought an axoltl approximately 4 weeks ago. he lives in a 5 foot by 2 foot tank along with approximaley 5 guppies(which have been fine with him) and also used to live wityh a plec as we were told they would be fine together and were until a few days ago. i noticed the plec was sucking on his side so i immediatley took the plec out of the tank. after i took the plec out of the tank he started to look a bit stressed, his tail curled at end and he semed to be at the top of the tank then when trying to swim to bottom cudnt keep there, the floating stopped after a couple of hours, but were the plec has sucked on him it looks like his skin is peeling and is coming off, it is not raw or red but just loks like he has sunburn and it is peeling. ive read on here and was not sure wether to give salt bath ( due to not kowing wether it is classed as open wound) however i have gave him 2, 1 today and 1 yesterday but only put the tiniest amount of salt in until i could get some advice. ive also fridged him as i am scared it will get infected. could anyone advise if i am doing the right thing. he is now in his second day of fridging and i think his skin looks a little better but he is still not eating and hasnt for aproximately 3 days now, please help i feel so guilty!!he is 9 years old and his name is toothles btw. :smile:

I'm also some what new but I don't really think any salt baths or any worry should be needed Axolotl's have extremely unique ability their like a super hero they heal extremely fast and regenerate also pretty fast, and its very unlikely that you're axolotl will be really affected by the plec just sucking on him if anything the salt baths that weren't really needed might have caused the sun burn look and the floating I don't think is strange because i've seen some at pet shops an they do that i don't know so much about the floating but the part were the plec sucked on him shouldn't be worried about although the plec might not intentionally hurt you're Axolotl but plecs have extremely rough skin an sharp spins on the armored like skin so there is a chance that the plec didn't suck him that hurt him it might be that when you tried to stop him one of the spins might have caused the skin to come off mine did that to my Axolotl it cut quite a bit of skin off but i don't think you should worry one bit about the Axolotl and the size of the plec also might cause something to worry about but the plec besides its spins is a perfect fish to keep with the Axolotl, Axolotl's let of a chemical its not very deadly but it's not really good either but plec are ammune to practically any harmful chemical in the water but the Axolotl might not be so lucky he might get hurt staying with the plec but its not impossible i keep my Tiger Salamander with my Axolotl they seem alot more happier together and the tiger Salamander wouldn't stay in his other home he would always escape an end up in the water with the Axolotl in her tank so i just keep them together cx hope I help

It sounds like you're doing the right things to help your axi heal better. Actually, plecos are very bad to keep with axolotls, specifically for that reason. They can attach to the axi and hurt him, plus with the rough skin and spines versus the axolotl's very soft skin, they're just a danger to keep together. The best thing is to house your axolotl alone or with other axolotls, as there are usually many problems associated with mixing species. It looks like you did your research on sick axolotl care, though, and I think with the R+R you've been giving him, he'll be well on his way to recovery. Just don't add the pleco back in!

Oh, also, fridging them slows down their metabolism, so he may have stopped eating for that reason. Usually when fridging they'll eat a LOT less or simply stop. He's probably also under a lot of stress too, and that'll affect their diet. Hopefully once he's healed up and is the only member of his tank, he'll be able to relax and eat and do all his axolotl-y things!