Urgent help needed

Have had bertie for a week now.

when he first came home he ate a minnow that was in his tank. (adviced to put them in to help cycling now realise big mistake)

temperature kept creeping up to 23-24 degrees (managing to keep it down now)

ate one good meal of bloodworms

have had to do a few water changes as ammonia and nitrate levels were high
stopped eating

skin and gills started to turn dark and blackish

read up on frigding which is were he is now and has been for three days

started to notice cotton like stuff on his body which i think is fungal infection so have been treating him with salt baths

yesterday he started to regurgitate a cricket he ate this week

tail has started curling round and top and bottom inwards.

checked tank levels last night even after a big water change still levels of ammonia and nitrate

water seems very slimey as blocking air pump after 20 mins being in there.

advice please

You should be doing water changes 2-3 times a week on a new tank, and daily on fridge tubs. How big is your tank? The fungus is almost surely from heat stress.

the tank is 2 foot. 2-3 times a week? the guy in the pet shop told me to change 25 to 30% once a week. personally i dont think he knows what he is talking about. the temperature in my tank is currently 21 degrees. is this too warm?

fridge is being done daily. fungus is improving. i have read about tap safe do you think we could be using the wrong chemical and thats why he is turning dark? and do you think the minnow could be stuck and thats why he is regurgitating? he did it in his salt bath.

Fridging is a continuous thing; you put them in the fridge and they live in there for a few days to a few weeks. You shouldn't be taking him in and out of the fridge.

Do you know if your tap water is chlorinated? You should be using as few chemicals as possible. It's best if you can get a detailed report of your water, available by request from your water supplier.

It's not uncommon for animals in thermal stress to regurgitate food, especially if you're fridging. It's the body's way of ensuring undigested food doesn't rot in the gut.

maybe i wrote that wrong, i meant he is having 100% water changes whilst he is in the fridge, hes not in and out. have test kit at home and store say the same levels still to high. using a water conditioner as we have very hard water. he is looking so much better now.

In addition to what others have said I'm going to advise you to leave the axolotl in the fridge until you are certain your tank is cycling properly. I've a lot of experience with fish aquaria and the starter fish fish can tolerate a decent anount of nitrates and other waste build up, so your minnows would show no sign of stress from this as they are hardy fish.

Do you have sand or plants or ornaments in the tank at all? These will help to quickly build up a biofilm in the tank, the more surface area: the more 'good' bacterial colonies grow. If you haven't landscaped your tank yet or purchased any ornaments or plants (real or fake) adding them now will help speed up the process a little. Also many shops sell tank starter bacteria, often labelled as safe start liquids. Many shop keepers will tell you that they are rubbish and don't really work but there is a product called Tetra Safe Start and this one does work quite well. Try to find it if you can. Don't bother with any other brands.

Also, do you have a filter? I use a small, cheap filter in my tank just for keeping a good colony of bacteria. If you have an old one from a fish tank or want to buy a cheap on (you can pick one up for £10) then this will also boost cycling.

Keep the axie in the fridge until the cycling gets to normal and he/she is healthy.

Your temperatures are a little too high still I think. Try bottles of frozen water to keep it cool as an easy and cheap short-term fix.

Hope you succeed.

The same thing happened with our axolotls and they didn't make it... I wish you the best of luck!

im sorry to hear that, i love my little dude and can imagine eveyone else does theres to. he is on the mend thankyou.

Keep your head up!! One thing I'll point out about frozen water bottles is you HAVE to change them every 45 minutes, as they defrost very quickly-especially when the heat's high. It's also a good idea to sink them where possible to cool the tank more completely.
If you can, a better method is to get the largest fan available and point it at a 45 degree angle onto the water's surface- for me this managed to knock off (In a 4 foot tank during the Australian Summer) 5 degrees celcius- once I removed it (and the axies ) and moved in some guppies, the temp easily hit 27-28 degrees.

we bought a fan but it does 2 degrees if we are lucky, wish we could afford a cooler.