Tail is redder than usual

Well I was a little worried with tiny black markings appeared on the tips of his feet, I did ask a friend who said it was a sign of maturity. Now today, two maybe three weeks later my room-mate walks in and sees that he is floating and he is bright red. I run to take a look and his tail is actually redder than usual. I also noticed this large poop on the bottom. I come back to the computer to find some information on it, I saw posts about foating and all of them mentioned the Axolotl was floating vertical. I look at him to see he was back on the bottom of his tank. I am assuming that he is bloated but I am still curious as to what the redness represents. He is an albino.

The redness looks to be under the skin and just focused at the tail, kind og like our cheeks when we are sick.

His toes turning black that means he is not a boy any longer,you don't have to worry about it.

He maybe get hurt by himself,dash on the tank,or fight with other Axie.
There's still another possibility:he is really sick now.But I'm not sure,maybe you could tell us the details how you keep him,like "how many Axies do you keep","what set-ups do you use","how often do you change water","how often do you feed him","does he defecate as usual"......If we know the details,maybe we can figure out.

I only have him, I keep him in a smaller tank than what he has been used to. He did swallow gravel so I separated him from all the gravel and kept him without the gravel (he has pooped it all out). I have to drop the food pellets in front of his nose in order for him to eat them, he refuses to eat any other way.

He came from a research lab, where he was kept with several in one tank. The researcher told me very little and gave me a care sheet that talked nothing about what temperature, not to put too small rocks, and a few other missing details. It mainly just said their easy to care for and feed off shrimp pellets you can buy at wal-mart. What I do know, I had to research online.

As for how often i clean the tank. I do not know the average but I do not have any sort of filter so I hand clean it with just water every time it looks slimy to me. I believe this may be the cause, but not sure. I did only touch him one time and that was before I did a little more research on how bad it was to touch him. On how it removes the slimy layer causing sickness. After I learned that I simply scope him up with water in a small container during cleaning transitions.

Another cause maybe sudden change of temperature, i know me and my room-mate are at war with the temperature air conditioner. I try to keep it at least 65 degrees she will on occasion raise it somewhere in the 70's.


As for his attitude I only had him for three weeks, I think. He likes to stay on the bottom and will on occasion swim around, here is where your idea of him beating himself up comes in. He will constantly run into the sides of the container, I guess because it is much smaller than the huge black tank he was kept in?

Sorry, for taking a while to reply. I get really caught up in losing track of time, though I do make sure to feed him at least once every other day. At least two pellets. I will stop if he just refuses to eat them and create a small current from beneath him to pick the pellet up without touching him.


Also his tail was completely normal yesterday, but when i got back from Tyler today it was red again and I saw him floating the vertical way mouth at top tail at a triangle angle toward the bottom of the tank, showing the problem was completely gone. Tail red again.

Get a filter ASAP, it's hard to say without pictures and such, but bright red could easily be from ammonia burns - and they can die from ammonia poisoning. Get a turkey baster to remove waste as soon as possible. With no filter and a small container, you're looking at daily full water changes.

What size is your tank ? You want a 10 gallon tank minimum. I had a 10 gallon for a while, but once my axolotl hit 6-7", I felt it was too small and upgraded to a 20 gallon long and it's perfect.

Water temperature is more stable than air temperature. I wouldn't worry about changing a room thermostat, especially since it's not by much.

What are the pellets ? If you use pellets, you want carnivore pellets - like Hikari sinking carnivore pellets or their massivore pellets (the latter are pretty big, and before my axolotl was an adult, I had to cut them up). Earthworms are also great for them.

Alright I will look into a way of helping the Ammonia, I do think the water quality here is bad. It has a slimy super unnatural soft feeling to it. Not to mention I have been told there is arsenic in it. Hey wait, how can Turkey Baster help?

As for the tank, it is about 10 gal. Kind of a college student that moves around a lot.


Pellets Shrimp pellets, sinking kind. They have to sink and hit his nose directly.

*checked on him again less than a minute ago: He is no longer red, still floating a tad not by much 1cm from the bottom. After that he appears fine once more. Will attempt to keep this updated. Photos... I may be able to get sometime... next week tops?*

I will go buy some Earthworms and see if he likes a bite of those.

An adult axie needs at least 30*30 sq.cm space to survive,and the depth of water between 15-20 cm will be fine. Gravel or sand isn’t necessary, and gravel is dangerous for axies.

The smaller tank maybe not the reason why he get hurt,I think the oxygen content of the water was too poor，that made him hard to breathe.

Since your tank is small, you should often change the water to ensure that oxygen supply,Otherwise you should set up an air pump.

If an axie lacks of oxygen serious,its body will be hyperaemia(not only tail),floating,and its gills will turning black,that’s terrible.

They love to stay still on the bottom of the tank,swim up to take a breath occasionally,if the oxygen content of the water is poor,they will do that very frequent.

They can only see moving things.I usually feed them loachs,worms and prawns,they
will hunt when they are hungry.Prawns may hurt them, so I must cut their heads off. Sometimes I feed them some pieces of chicken liver, pieces of lobster,and I have to wave it in the water for attracting them.

About the temperature，10-18 centigrade degrees will be fine,axies love cold water, just don't freeze,warm water will kill them.

Basically the water need to change in a fixed period, don't do it when it looks dirty, that will cause a lot of problems.Dirty water contain many bacteria, that will make your axies get ill.

Clean water can help your axies keep healthy and make their gills more beautiful.

Axies can’t alive without water, and your body temperature will make them feel uncomfortable, so you’d better not catch them unless they need to change water.They are not kittens or doggies after all.

I did not think that oxygen was the problem seeing as he rarely went up to get water. I will try to clean the fishtank frequently possibly twice maybe three times a week?

When I catch him{ water and all} it is more of a scope in a meduim container the Lab people gave me. It is about half a foot in depth and very wide. The tank I keep him in is a bit over than a foot, water content about a foot may occasionally go over.

He appears totally fine right now. Red tail on appears only on one side, in a more darker shadow white with a tinge of red color. The other side is perfectly bright white and looks normal. May be the light coming in hitting the white side.

Gingerfrost.. If your not using a filter u must change that tank every day or every other day. Also, the turkey baster will be an easy way to pick up his poop it has suction.. kinda like those bugger suckers moms use on new born babies to get their boogers out of their noses.. I would recommend a filter at once.. His poop can kill him.. The earthworms that my axie likes is Nightcrawler earthworms. those are the kind u can find at like walmart in the fishing section.. My axies wont eat earthworms (red wigglers) the earth worms u will want to rinse off in cold water to get the dirt off then (i use) a shish kaboob stick to poke through the earthworm and then lure it down to the axie.. make sure if he is small to cut it in half or thirds.. earthworms are really good for them.. If it gets warm in the summer where u live u can clip a clip on fan to the tank to keep it warm.. Also if he is floating putting him in the fridge for a day in a container with plenty of air and water can help him burp up the air in his tummy. Also make sure to always have the temp UNDER 72 degrees.. right now mine is at 65.3 also, getting a digital thermomter will help and read more accurately

Yep, turkey basters easily remove waste so it's not sitting in there, poisoning the water.

Get a sponge filter. They are REALLY cheap and easy to transport. I had (and have) one in a 10 gallon tank just fine. It's very easy and will decrease your work-load greatly !

Have you noticed any 'man muck' on the floor of your tank?
My leucistic goes very red when he is dropping spermataphores (sp) I used to catch him late at night looking suspicious and very very red. I believe it was when this was happening.
This could be happening in your case as i would doubt ammonia burns would be gone again the next day only to return.....

I would still listen to the advice above though.

Mel