Illness/Sickness: Black Toes

Ok like you know i am inexperienced to all of this.

I have had my axies for just over a week now. I began with a 2ft tank, large stones on bottom, waterfall filter, 3 elodia, 2 tunnels & 2 axies (1 golden male & 1 white female). Under the advice of fellow forum goers. I was setting up a 4 ft tank for them, to give them more space.

2 days after I set up I changed to a 50/50 bare bottom and stones & all was well.
On friday after work (they were fin in morning) I noticed a black/purple mark on the right side of her face just in front of her gills (from the top looks like a ditch like a bite mark).

His First 2 feeds he threw up, every other one (bloodworms) has been fine, Though he won't eat earthworms, he tries to eat pellets but just spits them out. He ate a small amount of chicken liver on thursday.

He seems to have a small dot of white on front and one on back of his gills (very hard to see as he is white speckled anyway and is only very small).

When I got him he was in a bare tank with a gravel floor he had black tips of toes now has black toes and slight discolouration on his lips (just read the other thread thought i'd ask the questions again). Saturday I bought second tank and filter aswell as sand and seperated them on sunday when I put the sand in his tank I closly inspected the white dots and it definately seems to be a very small lump of something (tried to wipe it with clean cotton tip).

He refused worms and chicken liver tonight but ate a small strip of $90/kg Wagyu (expensive top of the line low cholesterol beef) rib fillet steak with a marble score of 9 (spoilt axies I know). They loved it she had 2 nice little strips.

Anyway was wondering if anyone had any ideas on things, I am very very worried. Will have photo's as soon as I get batteries for the camera.
cheers nat

Im sorry Nat but I'm having a bit of a job deciphering your post. A bit more punctuation might help if you could add it next time, or just pop in some paragraphs.
So are you saying you are worried because your axolotl is regurgitating his food?
He may have swallowed some gravel from his previous tank and be trying to pass that. Fridging can help if an axolotl has swallowed stones.
The marks you describe may be markings developing. It would be really great if you could post a picture, it makes it a lot easier to tell.

I edited my original so hopefully it is more understandable. I'm worried as he has black toes and a black line on his lips that have grown, 2 little white fluffy like spots on him around the gills. Some of the plants in his tank seem to have a red brown scunge on the leaves that has developed in the last two days. He is very skinny and is off his food, at first he regurgitated his food. (He was also constantly floating in the shop I got him from).

He seems to have bitten her so I seperated them for this reason aswell. Thanks for the advice guys keep it coming please.

I do have pics of them in the gallery under nat and her axies, although you can't see the fungus or black toes but you can see how skinny he is.

Ok Nat, how are things going with cycling your tank. Did you do it before you put your axies in the tank?
The fluffy spots may be a small amount of fungus or it may be something floating around the tank that has got stuck on the gills somehow.
I'm thinking at the moment that your water quality may be the issue here.
Have you managed to test your water for things like ammonia, nitrite and nitrates?
Its fairly common for axolotls to nip each other so don't worry too much about that, quite a few of them bear battle scars.
I don't think a spell in the fridge would do any harm at the moment. It will help to inhibit any fungal growth if it is indeed fungus and it will give you a chance to sort your tank out. Axolotls in the fridge will usually refuse food as the colder temperature slows down their metabolism and puts them into a restful state.

How often are you carrying out water changes and how much water are you removing each time?

No the tank wasn't cycled, it's cycling at the moment obviously. Both tanks are one is a little more ahead of the other though. His gills seem to be shrinking today on inspection.

I do water changes daily 20% and I test for amonia, nitrite, nitrate, hardness and ph. I can give a daily report if you like but it dosen't seem to be anything out of the normal.

His belly looks to be all bumpy along the sides like lumbs under skin. Sorry but photo's won't show anything I'm talking about i've tried photographing him (yes in a tub with flash and without flash, no luck).

Anyone have any ideas at all please help me save Sexy Rexy the skinny, bumpy and shrinking gills golden albino. The little man needs some advice please guys (yes begging here. he's my baby and i don't want to loose him)

little high said:

His belly looks to be all bumpy along the sides like lumbs under skin. Sorry but photo's won't show anything I'm talking about i've tried photographing him (yes in a tub with flash and without flash, no luck).

Anyone have any ideas at all please help me save Sexy Rexy the skinny, bumpy and shrinking gills golden albino. The little man needs some advice please guys (yes begging here. he's my baby and i don't want to loose him)

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Shrinking gills are usually caused if there is a lot of oxygen in the water.

You mentioned in the previous post that he was on gravel. If he is regurgitating his food and you can feel lumps on his belly - I would say he has impaction.

Popping him in the fridge will help him pass any obstruction and will also inhibit fungal growth if he has fungus as Becky advised previously.

When fridging him, pop him in a tub of fresh dechlorinated water and put just enough water to cover his back so he can touch the floor but can not float. The water will need to be changed 100% each day. Keep some dechlorinated water in the fridge as well - this will be used for the water changes to ensure Rex does not get temperature shocks.

OK Rexy went into the fridge last night at 6 degrees, Checked on him this morning and he was just sitting there all sad looking still.

Checked him this afternoon and well my o my impaction was the proplem, three nice chunks of gravel in bowl and well it wasn't pretty in that bowl he did a poop alright. (sorry for the discription guys) I hope it that was all his proplems and he'll start to improve. I changed the wtaer 100% and offered him a worm but he didn't eat it (obviously the cold).

My question now is how long do i leave him in the fridge for?

and what's the best way to get adjusted back to the tank temp from fridge? It currently sits at 19degree of a night, (but I have just built mesh tank lids to help with the temp and was looking into a fan system aswell.)

If the obstruction has passed, you can put Rexy back into the tank. Just put the container he is in somewhere safe so that the water temperature returns to room temperature. Then you can gently return him to the aquarium.

Congratulations on your successful medical treatment!

-Eva