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Illness/Sickness: New Axolotl, Sick, What to do?

alindlaiyne

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I recently recued a small leucistic axolotl. It is maybe 5 in long but scrawny and missing all his feet. I purchased him from someone who was selling the babies for her friend who had been in an accident and couldnt take care of them anymore. So most likely due to lack of knowledge or space, these babies werent in the best of care. Shipping took 3 days, which I guess I didnt realize, because I thought it was a sort of unspoken rule that overnight shipping is a must. When I got him he was in very little water, the water was extremely dirty from waste, and I dont know the exact temp. But it was definately not cool enough.
Hes very spiratic and stressed most of the time, bumping into walls, extremely frustrated trying to walk with his nubs. But I am mostly worried about his skin. He has tiny red dots everywhere and his tail is very veiny and looks rashy. His skin also looks slighlty yellow but Idk if it just looks that way because my other axie is much more pale.
In the course of three days he barely ate one bloodworm cube and doesnt seem too hungry. Hes pooed at least once a day since Ive had him and doesnt seem to want to eat much. Also, idk if its because he so scrawny, but his chest area looks a little swollen. His gills look less full than my other axies but dont particularly look bad. The have good colour, though veiny, but thats usually notmal for leucistics.

Some other info that may be needed. He is in a 2 gallon tub and gets daily water changes. I started him on a dose of furan-2, half of recomended dose on the box (in proportion to his container size of course) and his params are all good. The ph in my tap water is pretty high, 8.4-8.6, so I have catappa leaves coming in the mail today. I also, just bought black tea bags but was waiting to see how he does. Right now hes in the fridge, put him in there last night and he calmed down. When hes not in the fridge, my house stays at an even 65 degrees farenhiedt, and the tub water usually stays at 63.

These are photos I took a couple days ago, but I am currently stuck somehwere away from hom for a few hours due to snow rn, so I will have to get more recent photos later. I am wondering if there is anything else I can do that I am not doing. Id rather avoud salt baths at all costs and Im not sure theyd help in this situation anyways. Sorry rhe lighting is wierd, also, the furan tints the water.
 

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Hayleyy

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He doesn't actually look too bad. The legs should grow in with the clean cool water. The gills could be genetic but they may get bigger in your care.
The behaviour I will guess is just the stress of travel and being in a new environment. It's not unusual for them to have barely any appetite when first brought home. Keep him in a nice dark place so he can settle. Offer a few types of food to see what he likes.
There doesn't look to be any fungus so salt baths aren't needed. The leaves should help any skin issues, and don't worry about using black tea if you have the leaves. I'm not absolutely sure about the dots but I have seen them before and they may not be anything to worry about.
Unless anyone says otherwise I'm not sure if you really need to use the furan-2 any more.
 

alindlaiyne

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Thank you for the response! Atari’s skin and gills look much better and he ate almost a whole bloodworm cube earlier. He needed coaxing. Im not sure he knew it was food. The only other concern I now have is hes got this dark colouring around his mouth and in it? Could it be some kind of fungus? Sickness?
 

Hayleyy

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See if you can get a photo of the mouth so I can see. Happy to hear he seems to be getting better!
 

alindlaiyne

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Sorry for the late reply. Getting ready to move along with finals week. Ugh.
Anyways, Atari is nothing like my other axolotl he seems more agressive. I am hoping he will calm down by the time he is big enough to share the tank with aengus. Right now hes in a “quarentine tib” because I was told he was going to be much bigger than he was when I got him so I dont want him with Aengus yet. So the picture isnt the greatest due to the tub being not completely clear. He has had this dark colouring in his mouth since he arrived. Im not sure what to do about it. He is very agressive when he eats but I think thats most likely due to the overcrowding he was exposed to before I got him (I figured this because he was missing all of his feet when I got him (growing back nicely they are though))
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Hayleyy

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Hey is there another way you can attach the photo? I am not able to open that one.
See if you can get a video of Aengus' behaviour. In what way is he acting aggressive? Some axies are more active than others so it may just be that.
 

alindlaiyne

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Hes in a tub alone but seems to think he has to fight for his food. When I feed him him (I feed with long forceps) he whips around like he has to pull the bloodworms away from me but Im not holding onto them. Also, every now and again he spins around and it looks like hes nipping at his own tail or back foot (which may be because all of his feet arent grown back yet so he may just be uncomfortable) but it seems odd to me.
The dark stuff is all around the inside ring of his mouth. Can they get any kind of infection or fungus in the mouth?
 

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Giuseppe

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I wouldn't worry about his "aggressive " eating, two of my axis eat that way and one is much more gentle I think it's just a personality thing. As for the ring around the mouth, my leucistic has that as well and I'm pretty sure it's just pigment. As long as it isn't spreading, becoming red, white, fuzzy or causing him to refuse food I wouldn't worry too much about that either.
 
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