Stressed Axol?

Hey, I'm still kinda new here, and new to axolotl keeping, but I'm kinda worried about my 'lotl. I got my golden albino almost 2 weeks ago and he was fine the first few days. Lemonsnout ate a decent amount and moved around the tank quite a bit. Now he's barley leaving his hide hole and his gills are turned forward. There's no curles in his tail and, when I can coax him out of his hide and into a jar so I can move him to a feeding container, he eats a fair amount (I feed him blood worms and soft krill pellets he was raised on by the store), but he still won't come out of his hide and his gills are turned. He's flicking his fins every 4-7 seconds, which from what I've read so far is mostly normal?
Lems is in a 10 Gallon tank (kept at 16 celcius. That's 60 I think) that I do a 50% water change to twice a week to. I use a baster and remove any poop from as soon as I see it (I check twice at least a day) and when I'm giving him a pellet in tank, I use the baster so I know he gets it. I use 5 gallon botteled water (our municipality adds ammonia to the water so its not safe).
He's still a litttle one, no more than 3 inches. I planned on getting another 2.5-3 inch 'lotl in a few days, but with Lemon still showing some signs of stress, I'm wondering if I should wait? I'm considering doing a 50% water change and tank scrub every other day as well as a ground vacume and minor change (~10%) on between days. Will this help?

hey, i am new here too. I have no answer for your questions, BUT, go chat in the pond, couple peoples are online now, they will give u the best answer.

To be honest, most of that behaviour sounds very normal. A well-adapted lotl will often laze about most of the day - I would be much more worried if Lemon wasn't sitting still! (By the way, great name - if I got a really dark yellow Golden with yellow eyes I was going to call him Lemon Pop, but mine is a white chocolate colour rather than a yellow colour!)

As for the curly gills, some axolotls have curly gills even when not stressed. Toothless, my Wildtype, has very 'bunchy' gills, very tightly feathered, which curl forward a lot - it seems some just have curly gills.

Saying that, can I ask a few questions about your tank, just to be sure?

1) Have you checked your parameters - PH, Nitrite, Nitrate, Ammonia? What was your most recent reading, if so, what did you do it with, and when?

2) How strong is your filter? Strong filters with a powerful flow can also cause stress and gill curling.

3) You say Lemon eats well. Does he/she eat well every day? Is he/she pooping regularly?

4) Do you have a bubbler/air bar? Axolotls flick their gills for a number of reasons - because they have been physically active, to remove carbon dioxide or oxygen from their gills or because they are a little stressed. They generally flick them less the more chilled out they are.