Lenny's not looking too good...

I have my 2 axolotls, had them for almost 2 months, I think they're from the same clutch and are a few months old, 4-5 inches. The WT has grown by leaps and bounds and is always very active, but the leuc is a little smaller and less active. It's been hot here, I have a fan on the tank 24/7 and the thermometer on the side looks like it's below any readable temperature, so that's good. My Leucistic, Lenny, has been very quiet lately, more than normal. He sits under the filter intake or one of the hides close by and doesn't move, the last few times I fed them I didn't see him go for the jar. I don't see any rocks in his tummy, they're on play sand and some of the grains are a bit larger, but nothing would obstruct I don't think. He's pale and his gills aren't as pink, a few days ago I saw some of his toes were red? Like they were bleeding, but I don't know how that could have happened, maybe his brother/sister Karl took a nip or two when they were feeding. I've watched and made sure he didn't get infected and it doesn't appear so, but he's acting very unwell anyway. Any answers for this? I'll test their ammonia in a second.

Update: Just caught him and got him in some tupperware, going to give him a bit of brine shrimp and see if he'll eat. his toes look ragged, I can see the veins on some. They're all still there though. His tank mate is still fat and sassy.

Ugh, ammonia tested at .5ppm. The tank has been running for 2 months. Lenny's got half a cube of brine shrimp in his container and he's chowing down, which is good. His toes still worry me, they just don't look right. I'm thinking of keeping him in the fridge until the tank's ammonia goes back down, Karl seems fine. I'll start daily 5 gallon water changes (it's a 20.) so hopefully that helps.

Guys. Help. I'm thinking it's red leg, someone let me know I shouldn't be scared, this is bad.

Your axolotl is stressed.

What are you using to test your water? What were the nitrite and nitrate readings? What is the ph?

Do you feed them solely on brine shrimp? How big are your lotls?

My advice until you answer these questions for me is keep your lotl in a tuperware container with fresh dechlorinated water and do 100% water change daily. Also a picture would help a lot. I know when my leucistic got sucked in the siphon all his veins showed really bad for only for a few hours(i knew what happened and knew how to help him)

First we need to know whats wrong before making any decisions on what to do. But red veins i find are a sign of stress

Fidget said:

Guys. Help. I'm thinking it's red leg, someone let me know I shouldn't be scared, this is bad.

Click to expand...

How long has he been in the fridge? In my opinion fridging is last resort because the low temps can be stressful. Do you have a thermometer in your fridge in the water to make sure it doesnt go under 6C ? You dont want any colder. This could make whatever is wrong worst. But if he has been there a while i wouldnt suggest taking him out just yet because taking out and putting an axolotl in the fridge is also stressful.

Our goal is to try to avoid anymore stress while we try to help your lotl!
If its only been an few hours i would take him out of the fridge, any longer keep him in for now

First things first: A photo would be great in helping us to diagnose any illness.

Secondly: Can you tell us all your water parameters? Not just ammonia. We also need to know nitrite and nitrate and pH. If your tank has only been up and running for two months it is possible it is still cycling. What do you use for treating/aging water?

If you haven't yet put him/her in the fridge, don't just yet. Fridging may be useless depending on the illness and will only cause stress which will make any illness worse.

It's only been a bit, I've taken him out and put him next to the fan so it's still cool. I'll put one of my frozen water bottles next to his container so it's not that shocking. I'm going to try and get pics of his toes to get some second opinions.

The fridge, I'm not sure about temp, it's set on the lowest because my boyfriend's worried his insulin is too warm without it being so low.

I'll run to petco and get more testing supplies tonight, I just got a job and money again so I can afford more than ammonia tests.

The water is treated with aqueon dechlorinator and sits out for at least 24 hours before I change it, filter is baffled and correct size, some java fern in the tank. Pics coming.

Remember to buy the liquid test kit and not the strips!

I have a few theories on what could be wrong but i dont want to make assumptions until i know for sure.

How big are your lotls? And how much/often do you feed them brine shrimp?

They alternate brine shrimp and blood worms every day (or every other). I took him out and he was still very pale, but his toes were still red.

Size around 3 inches, Karl's about 3.5

Sorry for potato camera

http://i.imgur.com/OI11JgV.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/gPA7LJ5.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/O9N3MVX.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/bItJgAr.jpg 1/2 weeks ago, normal toes.

I just heard him make some noise and checked, he was squirming around until I looked at him then he played "sick" and stood still.

Why is he orange looking?

The old picture of him is pink but the rest he is orange...

Anyways it looks like possibly an injury. Doing a black tea bath may help keep fungus away and help heal it.

I would steep about a cup of black tea per gallon of water, let it sit until it cools down, add to a tuperware container and Add axolotl for 15-20minutes.

But im wondering if its just the lighting of the pictures but ive never seen an orange leucistic!


Edit: also dont put him back in the fridge under amy circumstance! They are to small. Keeping him in a tub of water doing 100% water changes daily with a few black tea baths and keeping him in as cool of water as you can(as long as it is kept consistent, a fan and the tub on the floor or in a basement) until he starts to get better


Edit again! I forgot to mention i would remove that substrate and either keep the tank bare of add sand to the tank. That gravel can get stuck in your axies gut and can kill them

He's orange because of the lighting, he's in a purple container and the lighting is funky. He's really white, I swear!

That's good, I'll pick up a test kit and tea tonight. Not a tea drinker, but my animals are *shrug*

Thank you for your help! I hope he gets better, maybe he's just stubbing his toes or something.

Trust me if there is one tiny tiny thing in the tank that they can injure themselves on they will find it somehow! Mine will freak out and cut themselves all up on god knows what. I use black tea whenever one of my lotls gets hurt. It helps the healing process and helps prevent fungus.
Remember just plain black tea! I know im not a tea drinker neither and i have tea i my house for my lotls lmao.

I mean he looks healthy, good size, nice gills. The veins are normally a sign that they are injured/stressed. Keep an eye on him. Give him a day or two and if it doesnt improve or gets worst we will have to think of other scenerios, though i will say that substrate is dangerous looking! And i would not put him back in until the gravel is gone.

I'll sift out the big chunks, I figured since it was smaller bits of rock it wouldn't be a problem. Tank needs a makeover anyway!

A week or so ago he was swimming up and got a gulp of air and the boyfriend said his toes were red, so I looked and thought it was just he was flushed from swimming, and it was only his right side limbs. Then today we looked after we noticed he was sticking to one side of the tank and he looked like that.

At 3" even the smallest rocks and sometimes coarse sand can lead to impaction.

I have my tank bare bottom and have 5lotls and they dont seem to mind, plus i love it because it makes cleaning the tank so easy!

Bare bottom may be a good idea until they are bigger. Ive even heard of sand impacting small axolotls.

I dont know what else that would cause red toes except poor water quality, injury or ph level. This is why its so important to test everything(andwith a liquid test kit sorry i cant stress this enough) strips are inaccurate. Either way keeping your lotl in cool fresh dechlorinated water replaced daily will reassure you that the water is clean.

Nitrite is 0, Nitrate is around 40ppm, ammonia is still .5ppm

pH is about 8ish or 7.4, hard to tell.

maybe bear bottom is a better idea, i have a bear bottom and my axie doesn't seem to mind, it will also stop irritation from the sand

Okay so im going to say then it may be injury. Just keep an eye on it to make sure its not a viral or bacterial infection which will need a vets assistant to get rid of.

I would not suggest adding him bacl to .5 ammonia in his condition. Its not terrible but may just make an injiry or illness worst.

It looks like you have something in your tank rotting, if your tank is cycled but you are getting an ammonia reading is not right. I would remove substrate and also gove the tank a good clean(maybe 50%) water change.
Do you have carbon in your filter? How often do you change it?

It's an Aqueon 20, so it has a carbon filter, which needs changing in a few weeks. The java fern isn't exactly thriving, probably prefers its water brackish, so that might be causing the ammonia spike. I think I'll take it all out and put it in my betta tank with some salt (and curses, I forgot my aquarium salt at my parents 100 miles away today, gah). Then I'll try and take the sand out and give the tank a good once over. I think Karl will do good in some tupperware too, or maybe pop him in the 4 gallon betta tank while I cycle it for the betta I plan on getting.

Just wanted to update, I did the first tea bath last night, I used about a gallon and a half of water with a half mug of tea and left him in for 20 minutes, this morning I look and his toes are noticeably better already. I did a 25% change in the big tank and I will start trying to get the sand out, not sure how to effectively do that while leaving most of the water in, but I'll try.

Im glad to hear this

It shouldnt be to hard, shovel it out with a cup or a strainer or something. I hated the sand so i decided to go bare bottom and i just shoveled it in a cup and dumped it out! What a pain! Lmao
I took out the carbon in my tank and replaced it with sponge and biomass because i was finding it was leeching out into my tank and causing my tank cycle to crash. But it was to expensive to replace every 4weeks thats just crazy talk.

Lets keep hoping for a speedy recovery when put in ideal conditions, cool clean water they normally heal up quite fast. The tea just helps soothe them(like if you got a sunburn and put aloe vera on it) and it also has a small antimicrobial effect so it helps avoid fungus growth