Illness/Sickness: Front toes half missing/bitten? or is it a type of rot/fungus ?

Hi, This is my first time posting on this site, and Im so glad I have found it.
My teenage daughter came home one day with 2 pet axalotls from a pet shop.
I know nothing about keeping them but have tried to research as much as I can since aquirering them.

To cut a long story short, Ive had them for about 6 odd weeks now and I think the grey one is a male and the albino is female, and are both approx. 25cm long.
I keep them in a (I think) a 45lt tank with only large pebbles for substrate, a couple of aquatic plants and some tunnels to hide in.
I do live in a sub tropic climate and Im trying to keep the water as cool as I can on warmer days using both ice cubes and freezer bricks (the type you put in your kids lunch boxes for school)

However (to get to the point of my post) Ive notice for about a week now the front toes of the grey axalotl were 'fury' looking, I didnt pay too much attention at first, but upon closer inspection I noticed his toes were a lot shorter than his back ones and that of the albino one.
His back toes look normal, its only his front ones.
Not only this he hasnt been taking to food for about 2 weeks now.
I thought it might have been the 'turtle' food cubes I was giving him that he didnt like so I went out and bought 3 new different variety of frozen foods to alternate.
I decided to take him out today and have a real good look at him as he often hides behind things and is hard to get a real good look at him.

I took him out and put him in a white container with water which gave me a much better look at him given his dark skin colour.
Upon doing this I could see the extent of his toe errosion (?) I could even see what looked like bone on one missing toe, and when I placed his foot onto the tip of my finger there was a trickle of blood that came from his foot or toe.
Now this has got me really worried.

Not once have I seen the other axalotl (same size) attack it or have a go at it. She is doing fine, feeds well (I hand feed them to know they are both eating as I know not to leave uneaten food in the water) she is active has no visable signs of anything abnormal what so ever.
And as I was able to have a much closer look at him I could also see that his skin on his main body has some pale whitish blemishes over his body (Im guessing this is fungus ?) I also noticed when I had a second look at him he has a small blood spot on his bottom lip/jaw.

As I said his back feet and toes look normal enough its only his front ones that are eaten/erroded away and look maingy looking. Even to the point that his feet/toes look fleshy.

Ive taken some pics, I have no idea how they will look as I dont have a very good cam with a micro zoom or anything, but I have to locate my cable to upload them onto my laptop first.

As I type this I have him in the same bowl with a salt solution.
I have also just finished cleaning out the entire tank, and removed a piece of drift wood that I bought that has been leaking tannin and staining the water and causing me to change the water once a week as a result.

Ive had a quick scan over the other topics in this section, but it will take me days to go through the many pages and info to see if something similar has been posted.
So my appologies in advance if this has been posted before, but I really feel sorry for my poor axalotl and want to help him ASAP as I hate to see him suffer.

I am new to this, so please forgive any ignorance I might have posted here, but am very welcome to constructive critisism and advice/help you can give.
Having an axalotl isnt a pet I would have gone out and bought for myself, but my teenage daughter thought it would be a good pet to have, and has since moved out of home and left me to care for him.

Help !

Ok, I managed to get some pics, sorry they arent any better, but its hard to take pics without an assistant.
But I hope you can see what Im seeing, or at least part of.
Ive taken a few pics in the hope you can get an overall view of his condition.
You can see blood stained water in a couple of the pics, the white blemishes on his skin, and missing toes.
I am begining to wonder if the female has been nipping at him during the night, as isnt this when they are more active and it might happen when Im in bed ??
There is definately bone that I can see on at least one of the toes.

But how do you explain him losing his appitite, and also one other thing I forgot to mention is he seems to regularly come up for air, something the albino only does so often, but the grey axalotl comes up for air a lot more frequently.

I hope someone can have a look at the pics and give me some advice,

many thanks in advance.

That's definitely fungus and i would say he's been nipped at some stage. Whats your water quality like? And possibly some photos of your setup would be great

I think you are right to start salt baths as the toes do look to have a bit of fungus. I would carry on doing twice daily baths and keep him in a nice cool area. It may be worth looking for Indian almond leaves too. This link takes you through it step by step :-
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...axolotl/72698-salt-bath-picture-tutorial.html
I am wondering if this may have been caused by a quality problem. The problem of having had the rocks is tthat all sorts of gunk gets trapped under the them and this may have upset the water quality. This link below is very helpful
Axolotls - Housing in Captivity

Hi and thanks for your quick reply.

I did post some pics of the day I got them in the thread below this one (gallery) titled Meet Salt and Pepper. You can see part of the tank set up in this pic.

As of today I removed most of the pepples, only left in a few to put around the plants to hold them in place.
So they have something to grip on Ive put in some of that anti slip rubber matting that you buy in small pieces or in rolls (its very grippy) as I read somewhere that they can slip on the floor if they dont have something for their feet to grip onto.
I hope this is ok? its only thin grippy rubber with lots of holes in it.

Prior to this I used to change the water every week or week and a half due to the tannin coming out of a piece of drift wood that I bought. (but now fully removed)
And periodically I would syphen out about 20% of the water to keep it fresh inbetween full water changes.

I did give him a salt bath while I was changing the tank.

Should I remove him from the tank altogether and away from the other axalotl while he isnt well ? However its been about 2 weeks since he has been sick and I cant detect anything unwell about her so far *touch wood*

I would get your water tested asap. Take a small sample to your local aquarium and get them to test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, that way if there is a problem it can be quickly fixed.

thanks again guys.
I have a PH testing kit but I might as well buy the amonia testing kit as well. I noticed they are dearer but will be money well spent.
I also have a gold fish tank and I change their water less often and they are doing great guns !
I also never leave uneaten food in the axalotl tank and only hand feed them so I know who is and who isnt eating.

Does anyone know if tannin can upset axalotls ? Im wondering if the drift wood I put in when I got them has upset him, but just weird that the albino is doing just fine..

Oh Im soooo sad, yesterday my poor axie died Woke up to find he had passed away.

I feel I did all I could to save him, but maybe he had something more going on with him than I could see or know of.

Keeping a close eye on the albino... still feeding really well and very strong in the water.

thanks for all your help guys, at least I can say I tried

That's so sad to hear *hugs* It's okay, sometimes its all out of our control. On a positive note, you have probably learnt a lot more about these creatures (like i did when mine got sick) <3

Is there a fish tank filter in the tank? It could have sucked in his foot. Cover it with a filter sponge if you do. Cut a hole in the center length wise about 3/4 of the way through and slide it over the filter tube. Almond leafs and salt baths are perfect. Make sure you do weekly water changesof 20-30%. The turtle cubes will foul the water. His foot will heal and regrow. That's the magic of an Axolotl.

It died I think you'll find reading useful

Sorry to hear of your loss, it sounds like you were very dedicated and did everything you could to save your axolotl. You should be proud of yourself that while he was with you he had such a caring owner. :happy:

How is the albino doing?

Just one thing, and I'm just curious. Does anyone know if the rubber in the grip mat that Jas put in her tank could upset water quality or contain harmful chemicals? If so, could this have caused anything? I've never heard of rubber grip mats being used in a tank before, so quite curious as to what more experienced owners think?

Hi guys and thanks for your kind words.
The poster who mentioned the use of a fish tank filter, there is no way I can see how a foot could get sucked into it. Where the water gets sucked in there is a sponge directly behind it and its not a very strong filter anyway as I did read on a website to not use one thats too strong due to them not liking water movement too much.

As for the rubber matting Im using, I put that in the day I posted the pics, he already was sick and going down hill.

So far Salty (albino axie) is still going really well.
And I do keep up with the water changes frequently.

And as I do hand feed them (her) I dont ever leave any food in the tank at all, so I cant see how the turtle cubes can foul the water if she eats it straight away.

I have been giving her brine shrimp cubes as an alternative but Im finding as soon as it defrosts it makes a mess of the water straight away.
So wont be buying these again once they run out as it means more cleaning more frequently.