Doesn't eat, blood red gills

L

luis

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Stinky (one of the axolotls) has terribly red hair, doesn't eat for more than a week and mainly stands at the bottom. Sometimes jumps very fast to the surface, grasps for air and then falls down again. A few days ago he was so red (could see all the blood veins), we got worried and put him to the fridge. Since he looked much better, we took him out today, but he came back to the same. All started when we where taking anchorworms and he started to bleed quite a lot. Can't measure the level of amonia, because can't find anything to do so, but our other two (Greyish and Pinkish) are fine and happy. Also, in the day when he was bleeding our Little died, after a very long time being ill and loosing weight, have no idea what from. Can anybody help?
 
What is the temperature in the tank water (not air)? How large is the tank?
 
Bleed from under the gills. The temperature has been rising in the last week, from some 18 to 20/21 C. Tank is some 40/50 litres.
 
So do you have 3 or 4 axies in that size tank? What are the measurements, sounds like it may be too small if they're all in the same tank; and if that's the case it may definitely be an overstock/ammonia problem. Do you have a petshop/aquarium that can test a sample of your tankwater.
 
They used to be 4 but now just 3
sad.gif
. Actually, at this moment 2, because we put Stinky back to the fridge (he looks better, again). The tank is 65x40 cm and 25 deep (that is some 25x15 and 10 inches deep). The substrate is a layer of some 6 cm (around 2 inch). We were planning to get a bigger tank, but for now they are still not very big (the biggest is just under 20 cm). I don't think petshops can test me for amonia, since they don't even sell the tests, but I'll try the local aquarium.
 
try buying a test kit off of ebay. either that or if you have a pay pal account i will post you one tomorrow when i go into town.

can you post a picture?
 
what is your substrate - sand, gravel or rocks? How often do you waterchange your tank and how much?

If the aquarium does test, see if they can test for nitrite as well. If any of the results for ammonia or nitrite are higher than 0, then you'll need to do a 20-30% waterchange every day or two days to keep any toxins low so your axies can live safe enough in it. Don't add any chemicals to the tank to fix ammonia or nitrite. If in doubt ask here and someone should be able to help
 
Luis, that tank is barely big enough for one axolotl!!

You definitely need a bigger tank if you're going to keep three. Your tank needs to be at least 90cm long.

My guess is your ammonia and nitrite levels are sky high, and that's causing the bleeding and irritation.
 
Thank you all for the advise. I guess I'll do daily water changes until I'm able to buy a new tank. And thank you, shelly, I bidded for a test kit in ebay. Nitrite, I tested, and it was above 0 (not sure how much, because I lost the scale). The substrate is all three things, gravel mixed with a bit of sand under, then gravel alone, then a few stones on top. As for Stinky, I think I'll keep him in the fridge for some days until he looks better (he actually does, already, but just to be safe...) and the tank is in better condition.
 
Kapo - I sent you an e-mail about a week ago, and didn't get a reply. If you didn't get it, can you please contact me?

Luis - I'm sorry about sidetracking this thread to contact Kapo. You are getting good advice from Kapo and Kaysie. The only thing I would add is to try to keep the temperature as low as possible. This article might help:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cooling.shtml
 
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