Stressed or sick axolotl

Hello, I replaced my axolotls filter yesterday with the next model up as it works for a larger tank and the last one I had only handles up to 30 gallons. I have a 40 gallon tank. I also cleaned the sides with the magnetic cleaner (scum buildup). When my son went in last night to feed her (Mimi), she had her gills pushed all the way back and would not eat. I adjusted the filter so it would not do deep water aeration. It seemed like her gills went back up shortly after I did that. We also noticed that she had some white fluff on her gills. I had this happen to a fish once and it died within a day, please help! I cooled down the tank as usual with a fan as it was at 19.5 degrees and left her overnight. I am wondering if she may have been frightened from the slightly noisier filter and whether she has something else going on, with the white fluff. I've attached a picture but you can't see the fluff and her gills went back up by that time.

Do you have a water test kit? It looks like there might be ammonia burns on the gills, though that could be fungus. See if you can get a closer pic of the gills. Tea baths or indian almond leaves in the tank should help with healing.
Did you add any of the old filter media in the new filter?

Thank you for the reply, I went to the pet store and got her some API Pimafix. She actually looks slightly better today, and I do mean slightly. She was never red/brown before. When I put the new filter in, I just used the items they sent (charcoal and white filters), which is what we did with the last one. It is a fluval U3 filter, we had a U2 before. I don't quite understand how I can do the tea bath. Can I do it at the same time as treating her with Pimafix? Or is that the same thing? This is the description:

API® Pimafix is an all-natural, antifungal remedy for fish fungal infections, with a formula derived from the West Indian Bay Tree – a proven natural antifungal.

Any info you can provide is appreciated, I really don't know what I'm doing. I'll check her chemicals but I'm thinking that the Pimafix might throw the results off.

Heidi

Hi again, I checked all of her chemicals and the only one with an issue was her nitrates. It was pretty high. All others were completely perfect including amonia, ph, nitrite.

What level are the nitrates? Anything up to around 40ppm is perfectly fine. If it's higher then water changes and live plants will reduce it. Ammonia and nitrite were 0 then? If you can I would also test water hardness. I've recently started testing for this and have been increasing it as it was low. My axies are looking a lot better now.
The new filter wont be cycled if it's all new media, make sure to test the water a few times a week to see how it's going. You might see a crash soon.
I'm not sure about pimafix, whether it's safe for axolotls or not. I tried to look it up and most things I saw said to avoid it.
I'll link the tea bath tutorial for you, just scroll down a bit. http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/illness2.shtml

She is improving tonight! She’s been moving around, which she was not doing a day ago. The shop owner told me that the Primafix is the safest one for her so I’m going to stick with that for now. I hadn’t thought of testing water hardness, we just moved to this city in December. I’ll have to look for a kit. When you say I’ll see a crash soon, do you mean all my test levels will be off? The nitrate was at about 80 ppm. Ammonia and nitrite were at 0 and ph was good.

Glad to hear she is improving! You may be able to google your local council for hardness results, but once you start adjusting it you'll need a kit to keep track of it. I use the API GH/KH test kit.
If the cycle hasn't crashed yet that's actually really surprising haha. Crashing is when all you results are off after being cycled. You must have a lot of bacteria in the tank! When you install a new filter, with all new media, the media wont have any bacteria. If you're then removing an old filter it'll take away all the bacteria in the filter. This is what can cause a cycle to crash. Glad to see it isn't! If your nitrates are 80ppm then you'll want to do a normal water change.
Keep me updated.

Hi, she still will not eat, no interest whatsoever! But yesterday she pooped, which really surprised me. Her colour is good but her gills are pretty dark and shrinking, I’m thinking that can’t be a good sign. I’m considering fridging her?? Not sure. Will try another water change today. Thank you for replying to me, I can’t seem to find much help in this new town I live in via pet stores. I’m still giving her the API stuff in her tank too as they said to do it for a week.

I saw a couple of posts saying primafix can cause liver issues in axolotls so if you can stop using it, it may be causing her to not eat. Some water changes would be needed to get it out of the water.
Pooping is a good sign! What colour is it? Hopefully it will trigger her to start eating again.

Hi, I was one step ahead of you. I stopped using it, called the very much trusted store I used to go to in Calgary for advice (we moved from there) and got her some Metroplex. It should work quickly apparently. She does look almost normal today and we only gave her the meds yesterday. I have not tried to feed her yet. Crossing fingers tonight is a good night! Her poop the other day was the same colour as normal, dark brown/black. But it was quite substantial in size LOL

I haven't heard of that stuff, hope it works!
Brown poop is good. I'm a little proud when I see a big poop, ahahah! If it were green then it indicates a bacterial infection, which can lead them to not eat.

You really know your stuff! Good to know about green poop. She still won’t eat, we noticed she’s looking pretty skinny now. This med is our last hope. I don’t think putting her in a fridge will do much??