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Looking for opinions on my unhealthy looking axolotl

megan24

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I've had my axolotl for over 4 months now, and shes seemed perfectly happy ever since she first arrived. However, in the last few days, her gills have suddenly started to curl slightly and lose all the little feathery bits.

I'm also currently struggling with a problem as the water is full of tiny white creatures, but that seems to almost be over now.

I'm changing her water often, and she seems pretty much okay apart from going to the surface from time to time. Last night she wouldn't eat but I'll try again a bit later and see what happens. Any suggestions on what could be wrong and how to fix it.

I have no idea about what the water levels or pH or anything are by the way. I'll try to add some photos in a bit.
 

mystiknitelite

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could you share some current pictures as well as water quality from a master test kit? dont forget pictures of the white things you mentioned, so you can get an identification on them.
 

mystiknitelite

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If you dont have a way to test Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, PH, GH and KH i would suggest tubbing your axolotl and do daily fresh cool dechlorinated water changes... and get a master test kit to test those things... or find a way to get the water in the tank tested. the lose of the gill fronds really looks like there is something off with the water quality..
 

megan24

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If you dont have a way to test Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, PH, GH and KH i would suggest tubbing your axolotl and do daily fresh cool dechlorinated water changes... and get a master test kit to test those things... or find a way to get the water in the tank tested. the lose of the gill fronds really looks like there is something off with the water quality..


Thank you, I've been thinking of maybe fridging her for a few days and changing the water a lot whilst she's out of the tank so Ill probably do this tomorrow. Thanks for your help!
 

aalysaz

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If there are a lot of little white things in the water, they could be isopods - that could mean that your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels are too high. The spike could be because they are all feeding on the food (fecal matter) that your axolotl is producing.

You can buy a pretty cheap testing kit here

Some ways to lower the levels are to:
Establish a stable nitrogen cycle
Add plants (they will make use of the nitrates and turn them to gaseous form)

Something to keep in mind (just because I had not realized that this was the issue with my tank haha) - beneficial bacteria will often establish colonies in your filter media, so when you change your filter, be sure to keep the old one in for a while as well (most filters have two slots for two sponges).

Hope your axie gets better!
 

Wyvell

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Those gills do look pretty rough, I would take a bit of water in a bag to a Petco or talk to your LFS and see if they do water tests. Petco will do them for free if you bring some to them.
 

megan24

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All of my water tests have just come back completely fine which is strange. I've been advised to put her in the fridge for five minutes to allow her to start healing and then to put her back into the tank. Is this a good idea?
 

mdtaylor

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Are you sure it's 5 minutes in the fridge? Or 5 days? I'm not much of an expert, but my little juvie had bad gills when I got him and couldn't stand upright and would end up on his side often. I hesitantly put him in the fridge (religiously following the fridging guide from this board) for about 5 days and he seemed to get less stressed, more balanced, and started healing. I suspect days are the right unit of time; putting a lotl in the fridge for just a few minutes seems (to my novice opinion) like it would just stress him or her out by rapidly cooling and then warming the water again.
 

mdtaylor

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Also... to respond to your question about whether fridging her is a good idea...

I'm hesitant to say yes, definitely, especially because I'm relatively new to axolotls (newer than you, actually). If nobody else replies though and it seems like her condition is deteriorating really fast, your two options other than waiting are probably either fridging her or taking her to a vet. I imagine the vet will need to be experienced with caudates for that to be a good idea; the trip itself will probably stress her out quite a lot and it would be tough if the vet doesn't have a solution.

Otherwise, if she seems ill but not agonizingly so, just tubbing her as recommended and keeping her cool and dark, with plenty of clean, dechlorinated (but not deionized) water probably couldn't hurt unless she seems very stressed by the change in environment.

When I brought my lotl home and realized after a day just how sick he was, I looked online for a long time, learned about fridging, and signed up on this forum. In the hours between when I requested membership and when it was approved, he had finally rolled onto his side, was gasping a little, but otherwise unresponsive... at that point it felt like waiting wasn't an option. Fortunately it worked in his case, but obviously it's no guarantee. If she gets to that point where you feel like she's on her way out, fridging her would probably at least buy you some time to find out what's wrong, if it's something in the tank. At best, it might allow her to heal, and you can keep a close eye on her when she goes back in the tank. They usually don't eat much if anything while they're cold, but their metabolism slows down and she also doesn't look rail-thin.

Long story short... I'm new to all this, but it saved my little guy when there wasn't any more time to wait. Mostly I just feel for how hard it is to watch your little friend in a rough state without being sure how to make it better. You aren't alone though; it sounds like we all have that moment at least once, sooner or later. Hopefully the other experienced members of the forum will be able to help you sleuth out what's going on, but in the meantime, you're the expert in her body language and behavior, and you'll make the best choices possible.

Good luck, and hang in there, both of you!
 
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