Illness/Sickness: Hurt toe

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daremo

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Hi

I got some pictures of my axie, I changed the substrate of the tank from bare bottom to this fine gravel a week ago

He seems to be fine, eating like crazy, swimming, standing on plants, everything as usual

is not the first time I see his fingers bloody, it happened before with the bare bottom too, but I am afraid he's hurting himself with the gravel, is it possible?

And also, I think there is little fungus growing in one of the fingers, I cleaned it yesterday night with a Q-tip but I guess not all of it, it's very little though

And last, I think it's a "she"? I have it since december when it was about 11 cm and now it's about 17... can we tell the sex or is it too early?

mg3076.jpg
mg3077.jpg
mg3087.jpg
mg3089.jpg
mg3090.jpg
 
Is that the bone of his toe I see sticking out? It looks more like something nipped/sucked the skin off to me - is your axolotl the only animal in the aquarium? I don't think the gravel would cut skin, but I guess you never know. One of mine used to cut his tail on plastic plants all the time, until I removed them.

I don't see anything like a fungus, unless the white spot in the second picture is what you mean?

How old/large was the axolotl when you got it in December? If it was a larva, it might still be a bit too early to sex.

-Eva
 
it's not the bone but it looks like a part is missing, once the same happened and I could see the bone, but it grew back.

He's alone in the tank, so nothing that could bite him ...

There is little fungus, yesterday a friend added blue methylene in the tank... I was worried but it seems to be alright, I do hope so...

when I got it in december the axie was about 11-12 cm, a juvenile and not a larva I guess.. it's about 17 cm now but his fingertips are not yet black
 
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Please refrain from the blue meth usage. For fungus, a salt bath works much better.

Is there anything in the tank that has a sharp edge? I would suspect there's something since it keeps happening to his feet. Axies have super soft skin (as you probably already know) and even something minor could cause damage - a sharp edged rock, an ornament, even the plastic base of a plant.

At 17cm, he/she is probably still be a little young to sex.
 
umm I don't think there is anything with a sharp edge, there's the fine gravel in the picture, some large rocks but they are rounded, the PVC tube (that I softened the edges just in case) and live plants...

I guess I will have to give him a little time to check if the gravel is the problem, but he used to hurt this way without it too...

Also, he's been slowly growing now, although eating a lot, but I haven't seen any poop in days, is that normal? or maybe I just don't see it... he's hungry all the time and acting as usual

For the salt, I don't like the blue meth but I cannot find suitable non iodine salt either, and we have non working days until wednesday here now grrrrrr

I read that kosher salt is ok, I'll try to find that.

I was already thinking it was a she, but I guess I'll have to wait a little more :)
 
I'm kind of leaning towards female, but yes, we will have to wait and see. ;)

There is a log of some sort in a couple of the pics, how rough is the bark? My apologies, as i am sure you mentioned your type of filter, but take a look at that too. Our little critters are often curious and put themselves in precarious positions!

As for the poop, it turns into a kind of dust after a bit, do you see a lot of "dirt" sometimes? This was probably poop.
 
haha when I cleaned the bottom to add the gravel there was a looooooooot of dirt, but I thought the pellets were the reason...

I have a filter the kind that goes into the tank, I don't like it much because I know it produces more heat, but its the only option I have, actually I am not even sure it makes a lot of a difference but I am unsure if I should remove it now, since I don't want to kill good bacteria either...

the log is a fake one... I also softened the edges but who knows... It's there to "house" a plant, but now that I have substrate I guess I could take the plant out of it and "plant" it in the fine gravel...

I am still unsure, because all else was there and the guy was alright until a couple of days ago, and a week ago I added the gravel... but at the same time I saw this happening before with no gravel or substrate of any kind...
 
Daremo. I run my Repticlear 350 with the powerhead almost all of the way out of the water. It really helps with the heat. Luckily it draws from the bottom and pumps out the top.
 
I would put money on your axie being a female.
 
hehe
And I named it "aristarchus"... oh well...

quick update, I can see the bone in the hurt toe now :'(

I just hope he is not hurting, is there anything I can do to help it cure faster?
 
here's new pictures of the hurt toes, could this be caused by the gravel??
He has another bloody toe in the other feet, and the one that was worse lost the flesh and I can see the little bone now :(

I don't know what to do, remove the gravel for good or could it be anything else?
I am also attaching a picture of the tank, maybe you can see something else that I am missing...

mg3139.jpg
pata.jpg
 
maybe if you run your hand over evreything in the tank and see if you can feel anything sharp.......im pretty sure you could fridge him and that helps healing but please wait for someone else who has more experience with this type of stuff.......you will have to do 100% water changes while he is having fridge holiday and this will giv eyou the chance to really have a good look and feel around his tank
lea
 
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