Illness/Sickness: Fungal infection, skin peeling, gills shrinking etc.

I'm back again guys
I sold my 3 axolotls & set up to my neighbours at the start of the year, & all had been going well until they went away on holidays for 3 weeks.
They had someone coming in to feed them apparently, but there was absolutely no light (light off, blinds shut) for the whole 3 weeks. I was not informed about any of this until yesterday.
I was absolutely horrified at the state of my big girl, well not so big anymore.
As you can see in the photo's her skin is peeling & looks very dry & worn, her gills have significantly shrunk & one of them is bent. My little boy charlie has a fungal infection i believe, the white fuzzy spots in his gills. Charlie also has an raised section on his neck
Neither of them are eating.
Ph was quite acidic which would explain the skin pealing i believe, been doing water changes & altering the ph since, not drastically mind you. All other water parameters
are normal though the temperature is sitting at 19 C, which is a little high even with the chiller on. Taking steps to cool the tank further now
I think the main problem was lack of lighting, but either way if any one has some suggestions on what i could do to help these guys that would be very much appreciated. Tea baths for her skin i'm thinking but again, i'm not sure.
I attached a previous photo of the orange girl before all of this, just for comparison's sake.


An interesting side note to all of this is that my morphed axolotl, Mustang, has not appeared to have suffered any ailments at all, & is in fact looking fatter & livelier than ever.

I guess the tank wasn't cleaned nor the water changed during those 3 weeks? So the water could've been pretty bad after that which would explain pretty much everything that's wrong with them. What are the water parameters now?
19 C is fine for them. If it stays at that temperature without fluctuations I'd stick with it. Any fluctuations might stress them even more. I'd also add some indian almond leaves in their tank to sooth their skin. The wild type's skin doesn't look the best either so I'd see if the indian almond leaves help with the fungal infection and only do salt baths if that doesn't work.
What do they usually eat? They look pretty skinny so it's important to get them to eat something so they can heal. If they won't eat earth worms at the moment you could try blood worms just to increase their appetite a bit. Once they start eating those switch to earth worms.

They look pretty skinny whoever was feeding them looks like they weren't doing the best job...and maybe I misunderstood but shouldn't the morphed axie be out of the water..? shouldn't he be in like a terrarium like a morphed tiger salamander type environment? (sorry I know this isn't really relevant but having another big salamander dirtying up the water certainly isn't helping water quality which seems like the main issue with the other guys)

allied123 said:

They look pretty skinny whoever was feeding them looks like they weren't doing the best job...and maybe I misunderstood but shouldn't the morphed axie be out of the water..? shouldn't he be in like a terrarium like a morphed tiger salamander type environment? (sorry I know this isn't really relevant but having another big salamander dirtying up the water certainly isn't helping water quality which seems like the main issue with the other guys)

Click to expand...

Yes, I'm also confused as to why the morphed one is in the aquarium with the others. I think we need more info to be able to advise on what to do next.

Sorry for the late reply but i passed on all the info to the owners & am monitoring whether they actually do what i've relayed to them or not. Especially considering the neglect while they were away, would have been very simple to ask me to help, i'm just next door. :/
If i'm not happy with their progress in the next few days i'll be taking them back into my care.
Thanks for the replies guys

Also, with the morph, i've tried keeping him in a terrarium set up, a vivarium set up & now an aquarium set up. He would not go on the land & would wiggle back into the water if i placed him on land. He eats, swims up for air, & has quite a personality. I know that supposedly morphs will die underwater, but i've had him for about 2 years now (well nextdoor does now) & he's never had a health problem. He is much happier in the water with the other axies, hahah, he always has land though so if he needs it he can use it.
He is a curious creature!