Shrinking gills and peeling skin :(

I have no idea how this happened or even what to do to fix the situation. The picture shows what's happening. My wild type male that's paired with her has the same problems as my baby girl
The gills have nearly disappeared and the skin or I guess from what I've read, the coating is peeling off. I've had these guys for almost a year and this is the first time I'm having this problem. I'm completely redoing the tank that they're in, so they're temporarily in two seperate containers. Heck, everything was going so well they've even bred quite a few times already. Now I have no idea what's going on. The water temp never went over 68 F. It would always be between 64-68. Never any issues. Even now, the temp was the same range. So why their gills are disappearing and the coating is coming off is beyond me. Their tails aren't curling and they're breathing like normal, however they are starting to refuse food as well...Tried fridging, didn't help much if at all yet. Any tips?

Do you test your water chemistry? Ammonia and nitrite especially.

What is your setup like? Their temporary setup? the one the came from?

To be honest, I haven't tested it. I've kept many other salamanders before, including sirens, but I've never had any issues like this before. That said, never felt the need to get it tested when I've never had any tragedies like this. And even these 2 amazing creatures never had any issues until this issue started 2 days ago. Heck, she laid eggs and I still have the first batch she laid, and I'm raising them and they're doing quite well. I'm using water straight from the tap. Yes, I know, everyone says that's a bad idea because of the chlorine and other stuff in it. Again, never any issues, so I don't know why now. I've had them in the same water (aside from filling up the tank when the water evaporates a little bit) for half a year. The babies hatched in tap water and again no issues, as they're eating and pooping fine and growing perfectly. I changed the filter cartridge as needed as well. So I have no idea what's wrong. That said, my siren that I've had for a long time has no issues. So I don't know what's wrong. Maybe some ammonia built up in the water that the filter couldn't get or something...Also, since this started 2 days ago, I saw what looked like to be fungus some how building up, which is what made me get them out of the tank and redo everything. I guess whatever happened, it already got to them...but the pictures below is what it did look like before. All happy and healthy

"Changed the filter cartridge as needed" - - if you followed the manufacturers instructions about changing it every 4-6 weeks then sadly you have been dupped. This is a ploy to make you buy more cartidges than you need, and spend extra money on "remedies" such as ammo lock, pH control, algae bloom reducers etc etc. Every time you change your filter cartridge your are removing the bacteria YOU NEED in your water. Filter cardtridges should only be changed when they are literally starting to fall apart, and even then replaced only in sections to not loose the beneficial bacteria.

Research the Nitrogen Cycle for aquariums and cycling aquariums.

Chlorine, in your tap water because you do not condition, also destroys this bacteria colony.

Basically, your filter has not been filtering the ammonia or nitrite out of the water, it has just been moving the water around. You need the bacteria that can take up to 3 months to grow on the filter cartridge to mature enough to process ammonia and nitrite into nitrate which is not harmful in most dosages.

As your axolotls grow they are excreting more ammonia (waste). The build up over time from not having a filtered tank could be contributing to their illness and increasing the chances of their beginning to morph.
Even small amounts of ammonia and nitrite (0.50 ppm (parts per million) can be lethal over an extended period of time. An unfiltered tank, if water changes are done by-weekly, can get into the whole numbers (2.00...4.00ppm). This is extremely detrimental to the axolotls health.

Right now you should be doing multiple water changes on their temporary set ups to keep any ammonia level to a non-existent level. And use a water conditioner. API makes a great one and one bottle will last a while if dosed correctly.

Jenste said:

"Changed the filter cartridge as needed" - - if you followed the manufacturers instructions about changing it every 4-6 weeks then sadly you have been dupped. This is a ploy to make you buy more cartidges than you need, and spend extra money on "remedies" such as ammo lock, pH control, algae bloom reducers etc etc. Every time you change your filter cartridge your are removing the bacteria YOU NEED in your water. Filter cardtridges should only be changed when they are literally starting to fall apart, and even then replaced only in sections to not loose the beneficial bacteria.

Research the Nitrogen Cycle for aquariums and cycling aquariums.

Chlorine, in your tap water because you do not condition, also destroys this bacteria colony.

Basically, your filter has not been filtering the ammonia or nitrite out of the water, it has just been moving the water around. You need the bacteria that can take up to 3 months to grow on the filter cartridge to mature enough to process ammonia and nitrite into nitrate which is not harmful in most dosages.

As your axolotls grow they are excreting more ammonia (waste). The build up over time from not having a filtered tank could be contributing to their illness and increasing the chances of their beginning to morph.
Even small amounts of ammonia and nitrite (0.50 ppm (parts per million) can be lethal over an extended period of time. An unfiltered tank, if water changes are done by-weekly, can get into the whole numbers (2.00...4.00ppm). This is extremely detrimental to the axolotls health.

Right now you should be doing multiple water changes on their temporary set ups to keep any ammonia level to a non-existent level. And use a water conditioner. API makes a great one and one bottle will last a while if dosed correctly.

Click to expand...

I guess that's what it was then...I noticed some algae growing on the sides of the tank, although very little, it was still there. Thanks for the input everyone. Really appreciated. I guess all I can do is just try my best to get them back to good health. That said, is there anything else I should do aside from the water changes?

I am having the same sad problem I did fridge and do salt baths for a week straight and they looked better. I did a complete water change and cleaned all rock in bottom of tank. The skin peeling is back around one of their mouths and the gills of all three are skrinking. Should I do another round of salt baths and fridging again??

That is a water quality issue. You've destroyed your cycle by doing such drastic water changes and cleaning all your rocks. Test your water parameters (especially ammonia) and do 20% water changes as needed with cool, dechlorinated water to keep your ammonia as low as possible while your tank recycles. You may have to do daily or near daily water changes.