Red limbs

My axolotl had white on its gils so I fished her out and gave her a salt bath. Shes a white axolotl but now her legs are blood red as is the very tip of her tail.

I can't tell if the salt has aggrevated her or moving her out, or whether this is a sign of infection. Could the salt bath make her red? Shes in a separate tank now getting rest, iv given her some blood worms but she isnt eating them yet. She looks a bit skinny too.

Will post a pic if my phone lets me.

Heres a picture. Theres a curled up blood worm on her side which you can ignore.

The red legs could be a symptom of a systemic infection. The overall condition is very concerning and I would strongly encourage you to seek the expertise of a vet immediately. I don't see your axolotl getting better on its own or even surviving longer than a week without treatment.

Thanks as expected then. Vet appointment booked. Should I take a water sample with me to rule out bad water?

I don't know if the water current is stressing them or what. I have a spray bar pointing at the side of thr tank to diffuse it. Nothing seems to be pushing around the tank, they are both able to sit still for hours. Temp is 17.5 nice and cool - I got a fan last week when my other axie had a fungal infection, she has overcome it and looks nice and big, I guess despite my best efforts to clean the tank the white one has succumbed to the infection too.

Slightly concerned that the vet can treat them but isnt an expert. Il say no iodine etc but anything else to warn them of? I don't want to pay them to accidentally kill her!

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The redness of her limbs has clamed away suddenly although the tip of her tail is red. Still taking her in as there's a fungus infection for certain, most of it came off her gils in the salt bath but itll return. Shes obviously still skinny but had a nibble of bloodworm. I think this is more like the start-middle of the illness and catching it now should make a difference.

Salt can absolutely burn the skin, eat away at the slime layer, which will lead to infection, and/or make the blood vessels look bulgy and red. It is quite easy to overdose on the salt, what was your salt to water ratio? It is much safer to do a tea bath or even let it swim around in chlorinated tap water for 10 minutes than do a salt bath. Also your axolotl looks much too thin, and if I were you I would be much more worried about it starving than a little fungus on the gills. Get it healthy, fatter, and distressed, and it will be much less likely to succumb to fungus.

I agree that vet treatment is needed in this case. I don't think bloodworm is sufficient and would suggest offering earthworms to help gain some weight. Earthworms are far more nutritious than bloodworms and I would suggest switching to earthworms permanently.

What are your water parameters - ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? Fungus often occurs when there has been a breach to the slime coat. This could be from injury or often due to water quality issues.

Salt can certainly irritate the skin especially if the ratio of salt to water is too high but so can chlorinated water so either treatment for fungus can cause irritation to the skin. A tea bath could help to soothe the skin.

She gets a mix of bloodworms and earthworms, im not sure how she got so thin as she was eating fine at the weekend. I used to feed them every day or two and someone here told me 3-4 days is better, is that wrong? My other axie is a chunky size.

I think I used too much salt then hence the red. We're leaving for the vets now hopefully they'll give some meds for infection and I can focus on fattening her up.

I would bring some earthworms or pellets along in the event your vet wants to try force feeding and doesn't have anything better on hand.

You may want to consider bringing both axolotls if the other is also showing signs of illness.

How long/old are the axolotls? What substrate are they on?

Salt is irritating, if you make the solution too strong it will irritate and possibly cause slime coat damage.
I would also say 'she' is actually a he..... and rather skinny. More worms (earthworms) should fix that.

Ther are plenty of other remedies for fungus: see thread here

Poor little one!

Was the vet able to help?

Hey guys,

Thank you for all of your advice, I just wanted to update!

The vet took a look at Nemo and by that point the redness had faded considerably. She asserted that it was most definitely a salt overdose that made her limbs go so red and that some of the skinniness was down to this also.

She gave me proper salt:water ratio figures and said that the fungal infection is usually a sign of an external or skin infection and that the best remedy would be the salt baths (albeit with the right ratios) as this would kill the infection and then allow Nemo to fight the fungus off also. She said that salt baths don't generally kill the fungus anyway, they just kill everything else that is causing the distress.

Anyway, it has been days since the event and Nemo is eating much better than before, he ate a chunk of raw salmon straight after we got home from the vets and another the next day, I have some worms and pellets coming through the post tomorrow. I've upped their feeds to every other day and that seems to be going well. My other Axolotl, Ash is fine - her fungal infection is seemingly gone, they both seem to be out and about more with long straight tails and happier looking gills which is nice to see.

My only question now is that the vet suggested if I *wanted* to I could use another salt:water ratio and have a mildly salty tank which would act as a permanent salt bath which would aid the axolotl in becoming hardier and help fight disease. Is this something worth looking into or is it only a temporary measure and I've misunderstood?

If I did do this (I think it was roughly 1 to 3 g salt per litre) would it wreck my filter? Or is the idea that you turn it off during these periods? I probably wont bother as a salt bath is easy enough, but figured I'd get your opinions.

Salt would irritate your axie long term and may affect their slime coat, salt in the tank is usually recommended for fish as they have a better tolerance.

If you want longer term fungus prevention try indian almond leaves. They turn the water slightly dark, but would be kinder to your axie.

Do they have any kind of "use by date" at all? I have a pile of them that I got last year, they're in the cupboard under my tank. I stuck some in the tank when Ash was unwell, but took them out after a couple of days as I'm never sure whether they've got to be done in moderation or what so I kind of do it as long as I can bare to.

Also while I am talking to folk - how reliable are these ammonia readers I see online where you can stick them to the side of the tank and they give you a years worth of readings automatically?

Eg this one - Seachem Lil' Alert Mates featuring Barry Cuda | Swell UK

Or these on ebay Ammonia Alert: Fish & Aquariums | eBay

I have been using a liquid tester since day 1 and I always feel uneasy because it's constantly yellow! Which just seems unlikely - I know it's meant to be yellow, but I mix the 8 drops of each bottle into the test tube, shake vigorously, then wait. A strong yellow colour is the result, which they say is 0 ammonia. This doesn't seem likely every single time - I've never seen it remotely green.

Is there anything realiable I can have setup in the tank? I don't think my wife would let me spend more than 20-30 pounds without asking questions

Those stick-on ammonia testing things are **** and not really to be trusted.

The liquid test you are using is THE MOST ACCURATE you can get and if you're doing the test correctly and it says 0 ammonia, then there is 0 ammonia in your tank.


Why is having 0 ammonia so surprising to you? If your tank is cycled, your readings should always be 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and a reading of nitrate.

rb6k said:

I stuck some in the tank when Ash was unwell, but took them out after a couple of days as I'm never sure whether they've got to be done in moderation or what so I kind of do it as long as I can bare to.

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The Indian almond leaves need to be left in the tank for at least a week. They only start to break down and release their tannins and other goodies after a couple of days, so they do need to be left in the tank. Check some of the web references on how to use them.

Kaini said:

Those stick-on ammonia testing things are **** and not really to be trusted.

The liquid test you are using is THE MOST ACCURATE you can get and if you're doing the test correctly and it says 0 ammonia, then there is 0 ammonia in your tank.


Why is having 0 ammonia so surprising to you? If your tank is cycled, your readings should always be 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and a reading of nitrate.

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I guess I just didn't think I'd be able to get it working right, if it's been a week or so since their last water change and it's still 0 that seems odd no? Or am I mixing up nitrates etc with ammonia here and ammonia should always be 0?

rb6k said:

I guess I just didn't think I'd be able to get it working right, if it's been a week or so since their last water change and it's still 0 that seems odd no? Or am I mixing up nitrates etc with ammonia here and ammonia should always be 0?

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I think you are a little mixed up then! Ammonia should always be 0, it is toxic.

The nitrogen cycle goes like this:


Ammonia -> Nitrite -> Nitrate

Ammonia and nitrite should always be 0. Nitrate is the final product of the nitrogen cycle and is acceptable in freshwater tanks in levels under 40 ppm.