Shrunken Gills??

Hi, I have a 10 month old axolotl in a 36 gallon bow front and during the past month I have noticed a decrease in her gill size.

Change I have made in the past couple months - -

1) upgraded her from her temporary 10 gallon to her 36 gallon (we were in the process of moving from an apartment to a house)
2) changed her internal 30 gallon Cascade filter to a rated 50 gallon HOB filter.
3) added an aerator/decoration into her larger tank.

She is eating normally - 1 earth worm every other day. No discoloration of her skin, no curved tail, alert and inquisitive, she chases my finger up and down the glass like she always has...

Nothing else about her has changed except her gills are about 1/2 the size they were when I got her in April.

When her tank was upgraded I seeded her 50 gallon with the filter media from her previous filter and her readings are 0ppm Ammonia, 0ppm Nitrite and 10ppm NitrAte. Temp 67*F.

Hey. You have added new things to the tank which increse oxygenation in the water, like a bubble maker and a HOB filter. They stir up the water and put more oxygen in it. Because your water peramiters are good, i'd say its because she is getting a lot more oxygen that she used to so her gills are shrinking. This happens often with axies, their gills will get bigger if they get less oxygen, and smaller when they have enough. Its their way of adapting for optimum oxygen absorbtion.

It is nothing to worry about, its just a change in appearance

Thank you Rachel - that makes me feel MUCH better! I am quite attached to my little Reese and was panicking that she was going to morph...