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Gills small/missing

wremmrg

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I am a new axolotl owner with three axolotl. This morning, I noticed that one of them has gills that are much smaller than the other two, and one seems to be missing. Is he sick? If so, is there anything I can do to help him/her? Thank you for any help.
 

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Hello Wremmrg! I’ll do my best to help you out :) I would recommend checking your water parameters. Often shrinking gills are the result of bad water, or an ammonia/nitrate spike. Also take a look at your water temps. The ideal temperature for axolotls is between 60-64° F (16-18° C). The size of the gills can, in some cases depend on your oxygen levels. What type of filter are you using? What have you been feeding you axolotl?
 

wremmrg

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Been using an external canister filter ( med clean 30 for a 29 gallon aquarium). Temp has been around 66 - 68 degrees. For food it's been mostly frozen blood worms. Been trying to give him night crawlers but he won't go for them. I will get a water testing kit after work to check nitrite and ammonia. Btw I have been draining 2- 3 gallons everyday and replacing with water conditioner and 5-10 weekly if that makes a difference. If it is an ammonia or nitrite spike, what would you recommend?
 
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If it has spiked, I would recommend continuing to change your water—though not quite as often, 2-3 gallons a day is a bit much for an axolotl. The continual water changes could be what caused the gills to shrink, especially since it prevents good bacteria from developing in your tank. How long have you had the tank for? And when did you start the water changes? Another possibility is if you got him recently his gills could still be adjusting to the new home.
 

wremmrg

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I have had this axolotl for seven or eight weeks. But I moved him and my other two Axolotls into a bigger aquarium last week Tuesday after a two week cycling period. Before the transfer he was barely eating, but his appetite improved greatly after the transfer. Also, on Sunday I put in an Indian almond leaf, but took it out last night after reading from two different people that they had issues with ammonia spikes while the leaf is in aquarium. I also looked at a picture I took of him same day (Sunday) and his gills looked fine. So this happened in the last three days.
 

Kingfisher

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Have you been cycling your bigger aquarium for only 2 weeks before placing your axolotl into the tank? If this is the case, your tank my not be fully cycled and you probably have either too much ammonia and/or nitrites.
Are you using the filter from your smaller tank in you bigger tank?
 

KumquatSquats

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sounds like you need to be doing larger water changes (if you are only changing 2-3 gallons in a 29 gallon thats only a 10% water change and most recommendations are 20% daily in uncycled tanks), id try one 50% change then increase the water change volume to 20% and be sure to test the water you are adding BEFORE just in case something funky is happening there.

(others free free to correct me but as far as im aware thats the safety protocol for uncycled tanks experiencing a spike)
 

Kingfisher

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With those parameters, I would suspect your tank is going through a cycle. If your filter was taken from a previously cycled tank I would think that your filter does not have enough bacteria to keep up with the ammonia being generated. I've never cycled a tank with animals in it, so I wouldn't know what to recommend. You need the ammonia and nitrites to complete the cycling but at the same time you don't want it at levels that will harm your axolotls.

On another note, did you say you had a 29 gallon tank? As a rule of thumb, axolotls require around a 20 for one axolotl and 10 gallons for each additional axolotl. It may get a little crowded for 3 full grown axolotls if they get up to 12" long. You're better off with wider shallower tanks.
 

wremmrg

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I changed about 10 gallons (about 1/3), and replaced it water and water conditioner). Dropped the ammonia to between 0 and 0.25 ppm. I will keep checking the levels.
 
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