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Axolotl turning red, refusing to eat, gill feathers turning white. Any suggestions?

JonJorda

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Hi, as the title describes I'm having some issues with one of my axolotls. I keep two of them together and they are both young adults or just entering maturity now. I have a golden albino in a leucistic. It is the leucistic one I'm having trouble with, the golden albino showing no symptoms of anything and eating regularly.

I cannot get him to eat, it's been about 11 days. I try nightcrawlers every other day. I used to do the salmon pellets but honestly they do not eat them and at this point it's just contributing to water quality issues.

The leucistic axolotl has been lying on his side pretty much looking dead. I will have to give him a poke just to see if he's still with us. Additionally he is turning red. I'll include a few pictures but honestly I'm not the best when it comes to taking pictures of a moving axolotl. This redness is largely located on his tail and legs. There was absolutely no redness here about a week ago. Additionally I noticed that the tip of his gills, the feather part only, is turning pure white.

As far as water parameters go I did have a small ammonia Spike because I forgot to change water one week. I believe it maxed out at 2 PPM and is currently somewhere around 0.5 PPM with 10 to 20% water changes every night or every other night depending on where the numbers are.

I suppose my question here is is this just stress because of the ammonia Spike or has stress lead to an infection of some sort? I'm mostly concerned with the complete color change and the playing dead Behavior. I've had him for a few months and I can tell the difference between him just sitting and relaxing and laying on his side looking like he's dead. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much
 

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Hayleyy

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My guess is it is lingering affects of the ammonia spike. What you could do is tub the two of them until you get it under control. It should help your leucy recover and start eating again.
What temp is the tank?
 

JonJorda

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My guess is it is lingering affects of the ammonia spike. What you could do is tub the two of them until you get it under control. It should help your leucy recover and start eating again.
What temp is the tank?

My water temperature fluctuates just a bit during the day. It is usually in between 63° at the lowest and 67 at the highest. I know that's not ideal but it never gets higher than 67 so I assumed it was okay. My nitrites and nitrates are well within normal levels, right now ammonia is showing at 0.25. This tank has been set up for about 6 to 8 months not exactly sure so it is fully cycled. Do you think you'll be necessary to fridge both of them? The golden albino is completely normal and eating with no difficulties. It's just the leucistic leucistic one which seems to be suffering. At this point the gills are back to normal, just the redness and behavior

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm not too experienced when it comes to these little guys being under the weather so I will take all the help I can get
 

Hayleyy

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Unless they are having digestion issues (or you can't keep tub temps low enough) you don't need to fridge them. Just have them in a little tank/tub with daily 100% water changes. I would tub the healthy one just as a precaution, but if you are only able to tub one then the healthy one should be okay as long as you are doing regular water changes.
If the tank was cycled it could have crashed from uneaten food or poop which wasn't found. With axies in the tank you want to change a bit of water every day or two. If you can tub both you can just let the tank fix itself without doing water changes. Maybe add some benefical bacteria to help it along.
Read through some of the posts with similar issues as you might find some great info I've forgotten to include :)
 

JonJorda

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Unless they are having digestion issues (or you can't keep tub temps low enough) you don't need to fridge them. Just have them in a little tank/tub with daily 100% water changes. I would tub the healthy one just as a precaution, but if you are only able to tub one then the healthy one should be okay as long as you are doing regular water changes.
If the tank was cycled it could have crashed from uneaten food or poop which wasn't found. With axies in the tank you want to change a bit of water every day or two. If you can tub both you can just let the tank fix itself without doing water changes. Maybe add some benefical bacteria to help it along.
Read through some of the posts with similar issues as you might find some great info I've forgotten to include :)

I absolutely will. Thank you so much for the advice. I was worried that this was something more serious like an infection or fungus. I appreciate all your help thank you.
 

NexSocius

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I’m having the exact same problem with one I rescued. I got her Monday, got her eating (she hadn’t eaten for 2 months) and now she won’t stay still.
Her swimming seems to be getting more and more erratic, so I’m getting concerned. She did have some ammonia burn from her old home, but she shouldn’t be getting it here (I use prime).
Her tail is red like the pic above, and so are her legs. Her gills are actually improving though.

Starting to think I should use water from the big cycled tank instead?
 

Hayleyy

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I’m having the exact same problem with one I rescued. I got her Monday, got her eating (she hadn’t eaten for 2 months) and now she won’t stay still.
Her swimming seems to be getting more and more erratic, so I’m getting concerned. She did have some ammonia burn from her old home, but she shouldn’t be getting it here (I use prime).
Her tail is red like the pic above, and so are her legs. Her gills are actually improving though.

Starting to think I should use water from the big cycled tank instead?

What are the parameters of the axie tank and the other established tank?
Which conditioner are you using for the water?
 

NexSocius

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0 ammonia,0 nitrite and low nitrate. I use priime.

I decided to just keep using my normal water and added in an IAL (daily water changes). After watching her behavior, I’m actually starting to think she might have slight impaction or is constipated, although she doesn’t have floaty bum. I have no idea if she was on substrate, but I have had her a week and feeding her 1 - 2 times anday, and she still hasn’t pooped. Yesty she was doing the poo body language but nothing.
She came to me malnourished, so I have to hold a cube above her head until she can finally take a bite - it’s like she’s had to remember how to do so.
But I have to say, her gills are growing fluffier and beautifully every day :)

(Sorry for ramble, it’s like 2:20am lol)
 

Hayleyy

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If you have a chiller on the tank you could lower the temperature a bit to help digestion. Otherwise fridging is an option.
What foods have you got for her? With a new axie who is not eating right away it's good to try a few options. Mine have always needed an adjustment period where they hide and barely eat, but the frozen axolotl food you can get at almost any aussie pet store has worked most of the time for me.
 
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