Illness/Sickness: Vader is spotty!

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Missbikealot87

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Hello :)

I've acquired/rescued two axolotls recently and one, an albino female, (Willow) is doing fine just needs fattening up however the black male axolotl named Vader has come to me extremely under weight ,having been fed just once a month with one block of blood worm, with a curled tail and white patches on his face:

mgd98h3n5


Sorry about the dark photo I'm not putting light on them at the moment.

The tank conditions the axolotls were kept in was pretty dire with rotting food and poop at the bottom of the tank and a very fluffed up filter. I don't believe the previous carers ment them harm just ignorant perhaps.

If anyone has any advise I'd very much appreciate it.

Thankyou
 
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Is your tank cycled? What is the temperature?

Are you using dechlorinator?
 
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Temperature would be ideal between 16-18C, especially when the Axolotl is not in good condition.

The patches appear to be from heat stress, so cooler water will benefit healing.

Can you post the test results for Ammonia, Nitrite, NitrAte, and PH?
 
PH 7.2
Nitrate 1
Nitrite 5
Ammonia 5

I'm guessing the ammonia is a tad high because the sand that came with them (I've tried to clean it lol)

Right ok well what I've done is I've put the "sprinkler" on the tank which should cool the water a bit. I've been meaning to get a fan for the tank.
 
If those readings are correct then your tank is not cycled.

For the tank to be cycled beneficial bacteria needs to be present to convert Ammonia to Nitrite, and then the Nitrite to NitrAte. Once strong colonies of this beneficial bacteria are present they will fully convert Ammonia and Nitrite to NitrAte. So for a fully cycled tank you would be looking for test results of 0ppm Ammonia, 0ppm Nitrite, and up to 40ppm of NitrAte.

I would remove the Axolotl and place it in a large container with cool dechlorinated water and perform daily water changes, this way it will not be subjected to the toxic Ammonia and Nitrite. Then you can finish your cycle using either a food source that will degrade in the water and create ammonia, or liquid Ammonia.

You will need to read up on the cycling process:

Caudata Culture Articles - Water Quality
Caudata Culture Articles - Cycling
How to Cycle a Fish Tank
 
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Have done now :)

As for feeding. Considering they've not been fed properly how would you suggest I go about introducing more regular food and also what food? At the moment I have prawns and blood worm. You mentioned earth worms but I'm presuming not ones from the garden??
 
You can feed earthworms from the garden if you do not use and pesticides or other chemicals. Though it is safe to just purchase worms, I buy dendrobaena from bucketofworms.co.uk

Buy Live Fishing Bait from Bucket of Worms

You can also feed pellets, but I only use pellets as a back up if something goes wrong with my wormery.
 
I use slug pellets so I best not feed the axies from the garden XD a wormrey sounds a great idea though!

Tank update:
Temperatures down to 19 degrees C

:)
 
Temperature is okay at 19 degrees.

But you'll have to finish cycling your tank until you can keep both your Axolotls in there.
 
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Looks like 0.5 Ammonia, 0.25 Nitrite, 0.25 Nitrate.

So the biofilter (bacteria) is doing a full conversion of Ammonia to Nitrate.

What are you putting in your tank to create Ammonia now that your Axolotls are removed?
 
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I put the old filter back in with the new one :)

When do I put the axies back in and when am I likely to see the spots disappear?
 
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