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Sick axie - not sure what it is or what to do

Taebocraig

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Hello! I got a couple of axolotls last summer from a local person. He had bought them at a trade show down south about 5 years ago and brought them up here. He did not take care of them at all - infrequent water changes, water too hot, 4 adults in a 20-29gallon tank, full of algae... Anyway, it was awful. I'm giving this background info in case something in those terrible conditions triggered something.

Anyway, I got 2 of his 4 axies - turns out it was 1 female and 1 male. (I couldn't even tell the genders they were so skinny). The female is healthy, chubby, fluffy gills, leucistic. The male is albino and has been healthy so far, until recently.

He is turning red, and black patches are appearing. One of his feet is turning black, and his cloaca. There is also black around his mouth, and when I shine a light on him it looks like there is some black on his side. His veins are quite visible throughout his tail, and he is obviously red. He used to be as pale as my girl, but there is an obvious difference now.

His gills are still fluffy, and he tries to eat. He doesn't float all the time - I would say about the same as he normally does - but when he does float he leans to the side.

I'm not totally sure what to do for him. Someone said his legs look puffy and it could be kidney failure, but it doesn't look puffy to me. I'm not really sure. My female in the same tank is totally fine.

I will post pictures when I figure out how... Thanks

Am I allowed to post Imgur links?
https://imgur.com/gallery/m5zVyLU - in these pictures his colour looks more normal, but in real life is is definitely more red than he should be
https://imgur.com/gallery/J1gRJBG
 
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Giuseppe

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It sounds like it might be columnaris which means he would need medication to treat it, there are threads regarding that on here that can help you more than I can if you search it. I would separate them to make treatment easier and to hopefully keep from spreading, but watch her closely for symptoms as well.
 

Taebocraig

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Thanks, y'all!

I did some tea baths, and he looks to be on an upswing. Not totally better, but on the way there. I ordered some meds, but i live in a "remote" area so they're taking forever. Very frustrating. But he's active and eating. The black is still there, but he seems less red.
 
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