Illness/Sickness: Help please! Afraid my axie is ill!!

I am brand new to axolotls, Joe is my first, he is pretty small, about 4 inches long and I've had him for a little over a week.

For the first few days of having him, I know he must have been kinda stressed out. I live in Hawaii and do not have air conditioning so I know his water was too warm, around 25 degrees celsius. So for a few days, I was using ice bottles to keep him as cool as possible. However, 3 days ago, I managed to hook up a water cooling system which keeps his water at a pretty consistent 20 degrees celsius.

Now about my problem; a day or two after getting him, I noticed a small white area on the tip of his tail, I thought it was just part of his color pattern and it stayed the same for a few days so I didn't think much of it. But over the last day and a half, it got really bad looking. The whole tip of his tail has flaked and this morning I watched horrified as he frantically chased his own tail around and around trying to bite it.

So I have been looking all over this and other sites to see what it could be and decided that his symptoms seem most like that of a fungal or parasitic infection, probably caused by stress from his few days in too warm water. The most recommended cure is a salt bath so I mixed a little less than a teaspoon of natural non-iodized sea salt with 1/2 litre of cool water and dipped him in it for about 5 minutes. 10 minutes is recommended but because he is young and I know the salt is damaging to his gills, I wanted to play it safe.

Now for about the last 2 hours he has lay completely still in the same spot on the bottom of his tank, only moving to flick his gills or do that yawn thing a few times. I am very, very worried. I'm afraid I've shocked his system or that he's more sick than I thought.

While I've been typing this, he has moved about a little, but looks sluggish.

I do hope someone will be able to give me some kind of response, I'm very worried. Sorry, I don't have a camera and cannot provide a picture.

Thanks, Jenilea

Hi,

I think you are a good owner. You did your research and followed up with a logical and systemic approach.

Elevated temperatures of 25 degrees are a definite cause of stress in axies. Cooling the tank down is a good solution but you have to make sure the cooling process is gradual and the temperature remains stable and consistent. Fluctuations in temperature are equally stressful. You can also contemplate fridging or using a similar device such as a wine chiller.

Unfortunately, without a photo, it really is quite difficult to ascertain if your axie does have a fungal infection and warrant salt baths.

What you can definitely do though is to ensure water quality. Have you checked your water parameters?

Thanks so much for the quick response!
I haven't checked the water parameters. I've been home all day trying to figure out what's wrong and have slowly been figuring out what I need to do. Unfortunately I haven't been out but will get a water testing kit first thing tomorrow.
The cooling system I have is home made and is basically a mini fridge with a container of water in it, which I did first age. That has a tube to pump the cooled water into the tank. It's hard to describe. With my computer's built in camera I have managed to get a photo of the set up, which looks messy, only because I've been fiddling with it. Basically there are two tubes, one pumping cold water in and another letting warm water out. The pump is quite weak and I have it running down the side of the tank, I don't believe the water flow is too strong for him.

Also, Joe decided to come out of hiding and I got a rather blurry picture of him as well.

Hopefully you can see what I'm talking about. The rest of him seems ok. I don't see other patches of flakey or fungus-y looking stuff.
Thank you so much. And yes, I try to do the best for my pets.

I see you use those large rocks for substrate. They can allow detritus to accumulate between them and make cleaning difficult. Consequently, the trapped detritus can lead to water parameter problems. If you want to use the rocks, you have to be extra vigilant with siphoning up debris even between and underneath those rocks.

Yes a good water test kit is important. Get those that are colourimetric solution based.

will do. And yes, I was thinking of switching to fine sand. I first went with large rocks because my friend's axolotl accidentally ate some little pebbles and caused lots of trouble.
thanks!

I finally managed to get test kits today. Unfortunately, all of them together were quite expensive, so I could only purchase the nitrite, ammonia and pH test kits, but not nitrate, phosphate or some others. Maddeningly, the nitrite kit I got is expired! It gave no result. However, I have found that the pH of Hawaii's tap water, and thus that in my tank is about 8, maybe slightly lower. My tank's ammonia level appears to be between 0.0 and 0.2, so I just changed some of the water. I also have a siphon so I also cleared up some of that detritus under the rocks.
Joe's tail looks about the same today, although there is a small red spot I don't like the look of. I'm not sure if it's fungus or not so I'm afraid to give another saltwater bath. I know they are supposed to sting and I don't want to put him through anything unless it's necessary. Maybe I'll stick him in the fridge for a bit and hope he can clear it up on his own. But I'm no expert.

To be honest, the tail does not look too bad, and I wouldn't be terribly worried about it. (I'm not a vet though). As for your axie being lazy and laying around, that's what they do. Actually, I would be worried if my axies were constantly on the move, and it is rare that I see mine move besides when being fed. It is their nature to remain still, and it is entirely common for an axie to remain still for hours and hours. As for the substrate, the large pebbles are difficult to clean, and as you said, smaller pebbles can be inhaled by the an axies enormous gulp. That is why most people use sand or barebottom tanks, as there is no risk of consumption, but also no risk of waste and debris getting trapped. I would say your temp was your issue, and once that issue is resolved and his conditions return to an appropriate level, his tail will probably heal itself and he'll be a happy little axie. Good luck, and I would recommend some changes to your setup, but temp is your main issue.