Very sick Axolotl. Please help.

Hi,
I have a young axolotl, and he is VERY sick.
He has redish slpotches on his skin and he is VERY skinny as he refuses to eat. I have changed the water and lowered the level (it was pretty high before). The water temp was at 20'C, I am freezing a bottle of water to put in the tank. I am going to try to feed him earthworms and i might try a salt bath.
Am i doing the right things?
Should i put him in the fridge?
Please can anyone tell me what is wrong with him, or any things i could do that might help him.
Thankyou heaps.

Pop him in the fridge with some clean dechlorinated water, cover the container with something dark to reduce light and temp fluctuations.
Pop a bottle of dechlorinated water in there with him for water changes.
You need to provide a bit more info for people to be able to help further though.
What is your set up like? i.e
Substrate, filter, plants, and most important water parameters.
With this information we might be able to help more.

Azriel (my axie) is in a 3ft tank(about a quater full), with gravel (waiting to buy large pebbles or sand. which is better?) with some plastic plants and an artificial tunnel. He had driftwood in there as well but i took it out, thinking that it might be part of the problem, as it had already been in a tropical fish tank. The filter is 200l per hr. Is this too strong? The ph seems fine. I have been looking up diseases, and his symptoms seem similar to amonia poisoning. should i still put him in fridge and give him salt baths? I'm going to buy an amonia test tommorow morning.

I wouldnt give him salt baths unless he has fungus, just fridge him fornow abd get your water tested.
Ammonia= 0
Nitrite= 0
nitrate= 20-40.
The important ones are ammonia and nitrIte.
If these read above 0 you should do daily water hanges of 20/30% until they drop.
I would also put more water in your tank axies dont mind deep waterand this also helps dilute their waste.
Once your tank has cycled and the readings are ok weekly checks should be fine with about 10% water changes.
I would definately leave him in the fridge until he is better, and please remove your gravel before you replace him sand or bare bottom are fine and easier to clean.
As for you filter it is the strength it flows back into the tank that can be a problem, once again ore water in the tank will reduce disturbance, it can alsobe deflected by spray bars, plants, or simply directing itto the side.
Hope this helps some, good luck.
=

Hi
I removed the gravel from my tank and just have feature rocks and plastic plants it is so much easier to maintain. I agree with having more water in your tank; I have a 30cm deep tank and keep it 3/4 full. The deeper water also keeps the water cooler. My axi Moreton had the same symptoms as your axi and then he got fungus later. One thing seemed to clear then something else went wrong. The vet gave me baytrill which I made up as a bath for 2 hours a day. He had to have a repeat script. I kept him in the fridge, then he had salt baths when he got fungus. It was pretty nerve racking and it was a long process BUT he is fantastic now. He is eating earthworms (even catching them before they hit the bottom of his tank) putting on weight and his digits and gills are growing back. He would only eat tiny slithers of raw prawn meat when he was sick. Be patient and keep on this site. I found it so helpful. Good luck

Hi tanyalee
Follow diggers advice and it should help.
At 1/4 full your tank probably has less than 10 gallons. The more water , the more stable it will be ( temp and parameters ) so I would recommend filling it up ( 5-10cm from the top ).
The most common causes for high ammonia are an uncycled tank and leaving uneaten food in the tank .
Hope this helps Azriel
meow heheheheheeeeeeee ( something like that , its hard to type cat noises )

Thankyou so much everyone

Thanks to everyone for all your help. I have taken everyones advice and Azriel is getting alot better. He is now eating regularly and puttting on weight. It was quite scary there for a while, i really thought he wouldn't pull through. But thanks to all of you he is looking better every day.

Glad to hear things are looking up, long may they continue.