Illness/Sickness: Gills look... crumpled?

I checked on my axie this morning and her gills look... strange. They're usually fluffy and full, but this morning the "feathers" looked sort of... crumpled, crimped, stringy. It's the best way I can describe it.
I don't see any fluffy white clouds that might indicate fungus, but I want to check with the experts here before I panic or think about doing a salt bath. If it is fungus and I do go through with a salt bath, is pickling salt ok? It is not iodized.

I plan to do a partial water change regardless, because I just tested the water (a test strip, I don't have a kit) and the nitrate is rather high.
Nitrate is somewhere around 80? It's hard to tell with these dumb strips, but it's concerning.
Nitrite is 0.
Hardness is around 100.
Alkaline is maybe 300.
PH is maybe 8.5?

Not a good reading, which is startling because I just did a partial water change last week, and I'm always diligent with keeping the bottom and filter cleaned.

Here's a picture. I'm running to get a new filter (since he needs one anyway) and will do the water change when I return.

Sounds like a water quality issue to me - get the water change done sooner rather than later.

If you ever need to do a salt bath the best type of salt is sea salt or marine aquarium salt - pickling salt will do, but don't use table salt.

If you're not running a filter you should have been doing water changes anyway - if you haven't that may be why you have a water issue.

The test strips should be for a rough estimate - you've already figured out they're not that good - I'd get some liquid test kits too.

auntiejude said:

Sounds like a water quality issue to me - get the water change done sooner rather than later.

If you ever need to do a salt bath the best type of salt is sea salt or marine aquarium salt - pickling salt will do, but don't use table salt.

If you're not running a filter you should have been doing water changes anyway - if you haven't that may be why you have a water issue.

The test strips should be for a rough estimate - you've already figured out they're not that good - I'd get some liquid test kits too.

Click to expand...

I just finished a half water change. I do regular water changes and everything, but every time I go to suck up her poop she startles and ends up swishing it around in the water - she's a pain in the butt, I tell ya. The pump has been running, but the filter was old and needed replaced. I'm hoping everything will be a-ok now, but I'll keep a vigilant watch on her.

I know I need a better test kit, but I'm kind of on a tight budget. I've just been kind of eyeballing it and cleaning and rinsing the filter, etc. Seeing the test strip in such dangerous levels was pretty startling.

I told my mom to look at her today without mentioning her gills and she said they also looked weird, so that's when I decided something had to be done about it. Thanks for the second opinion! This is my first axolotl, so it always helps to have some experienced opinions whenever I encounter a "first."

What's the water temperature at?

It's usually about 20-24 C. I have to turn on the light for the plants for a few hours, but try to keep it cool with ice bottles during. Her gills are doing much better after the water change, by the way. Back to being their regular fluffy selves.