Slurping for air every few minutes, lost interest in food

My wild type axolotl has been slurping for air every few minutes for the past day and a half. She is with a pink lecuistic and he is not doing this. Her gills seem to be even larger and fluffier than normal, tho her gills have always been quite impressive.

I just moved them back into this tank from taking them home for thanksgiving break and she started doing this.
Sometimes mine will do this once in a while but hers is annoyingly constant. I also offered her a worm and she wasn't interested.

I also felt that she seemed a lot more round/bloated?/ wider than she normally does.

Also a few times last night she was scratching at her gills, which she will sometimes do after eating a worm every once in a while but last night she probably did it 3 times that i saw and then quit very shortly

Another thing i'm not sure which axie or if both pooped but there were a few bright brown/brick red poops last night i sucked out, they seemed less dark out of the tank but still seemed dark for being inside.

*** on a side note my Aqueon filter has stopped working since they have been back in their tank I don't know why and have yet to call the company

Large gills could be a sign that there is not very much oxygen in the tank - I've read elsewhere they grow to compensate for oxygen in the water - which would explain the gulping. An airstone would remedy this - I always make sure my axxies have one.

The fact your girl is plump may mean she is preparing for baby making season (they become plump before laying, if I remember) or it may be she simply needs to poop or has trapped wind.

I am also concerned about the filter. You might need to check your water quality with a liquid testing kit for us to be sure though. Sometimes they go off food if the water quality is bad because it stresses them out.

Hope this helps!

AshSeek said:

My wild type axolotl has been slurping for air every few minutes for the past day and a half. She is with a pink lecuistic and he is not doing this. Her gills seem to be even larger and fluffier than normal, tho her gills have always been quite impressive.

I just moved them back into this tank from taking them home for thanksgiving break and she started doing this.
Sometimes mine will do this once in a while but hers is annoyingly constant. I also offered her a worm and she wasn't interested.

I also felt that she seemed a lot more round/bloated?/ wider than she normally does.

Also a few times last night she was scratching at her gills, which she will sometimes do after eating a worm every once in a while but last night she probably did it 3 times that i saw and then quit very shortly

Another thing i'm not sure which axie or if both pooped but there were a few bright brown/brick red poops last night i sucked out, they seemed less dark out of the tank but still seemed dark for being inside.

*** on a side note my Aqueon filter has stopped working since they have been back in their tank I don't know why and have yet to call the company

Click to expand...

Your filter being broken makes me think that lack of filtration may be leading to reduced oxygen in the water, axolotls will often surface breath and grow larger gill filaments to adapt to low oxygen levels. Get the filter fixed or replaces, consider getting a spray bar to reduce the flow so they don't stress if you don't already have one. They may be refusing food due to stress.

They have each taken worm or two yesterday and the day before my pink one had a worm so i also added a tank heater (which i KNOW the colder the water the better), in my dorms it averaged about 70-72 degrees and they were perfectly fine but i have it set to 68 degrees and i wonder if even that little amount of 2 degrees cooler helped slow their metabolism a bit and maybe don't feel the need to eat as much. also they are about 8 inches long now and wonder if since they are getting older they don't need fed as much.

My green axolotl (i assume female as she is much wider and shorter while the pink is very long and more slim, plus he has a huge sack between his back legs like enormous testicals while the green barely has a bump at all. sometimes you don't even see it.) but i have noticed she seems to be getting wider? if female would she be laying eggs not quite a year old yet? and would she still get wider? she is still slurping about the same not as often but quite a lot and when she does she will go up quite a few times within a short amount of time.

Also i will attach some pictures but look at the frill on her gills (please note her gills have always been about twice as long and fluffy as my pink, what i presume to be, male.) but even for her they seem very long and fluffy and the fluff part (sorry idk what its called) each strand seems to almost be splitting at the end to become wider? like still skin in-between so not fully split but like branching out? i don't remember her being that way before.


The first picture (please ignore her shorter gills on her right side i believe, her tank mate ate two off a little over a month ago, and they are growing back nicely) so you can see how long and big her gills are i'm not sure you can see so well the branching of the fluff or not.

The second pic, you can compare their gills

The third, look how wide she is, it doesn't even show as well on her right side because she's against the glass but especially while she hasn't been eating a whole lot idk why she's bloating if its because of no filer or she's going to lay eggs?

My pink axolotl has gone for air only a few times but he is not bloating at all. and my green one makes super loud slurping noise while she does it but you don't hear him slurp air at all..

anyone have any other ideas? sorry for it being so long

Cooler temperatures do slow the metabolism which will slow the feeding.

I do not know enough about breeding to tell you if they swell before laying eggs but I can tell you the large bulge is the male's cloaca.

So I'm not real sure why no one has replied to you, but I think you may just be looking at natural differences in you axolotls with the width. Weight and size and sex. I am by no means an expert but I don't see anything obviously wrong with them. Breathing from the surface is something they do when the oxygen levels in the tank are low, the gills grow longer when they are in a lower oxygen environment. Larger axolotl probably needs more oxygen, hence the bigger gills and more frequent surface breathing.

Keep me updated on how they are and if she lays eggs!

They look in good condition, large gills are not a problem

Hey guys for an update:
I have not got a filter yet i'll have one today or tomorrow... where i'm going to school at, they don't have a pet store and the closest place is 2 hrs from there so i'm home for the holidays now and will be able to go purchase one.
My green gal is still slurping tho she started eating a bit better too. my pink one has started slurping more.
I brought them home and have them in a smaller tank for the holidays.
I agree my male has a harder time putting weight on than my female. he is a very aggressive eater tho while my female is not.
Yes i always thought gills where healthy when they were long
Still no eggs.
However this morning my pink male was quite pale which happens once in a while but the very top of his longest gills were especially white and the tips of the frills on the top too... i fed him and color returned fairly quickly but it still looks a bit odd... does anyone have a link or pictures to early stages of fungus?
My green female looks fine no white on her anywhere... but i would like tog et them separated asap if it is fungus and get a head start on his salt baths.

Also, before you go any further down the fungus route for your boy, please try the Torch Test. Many paler colours get shiny iridophores that often grow on the tips of their gills - these are completely harmless. Shine a torch at the area that worries you. If it shines back, it's iridophores and harmless. If it's cotton-like and seems to fall off as they move, it might be fungus.