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Question: Axos not active/barely eating

aeri

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After moving my axos to their new tank about 2 months ago, my axos have not been as active (with the exception of 1 wild type). After a few weeks, my leucistic ones started to eat less and less, and I'm starting to worry as one of them is getting noticeably skinnier and its gills are getting a smaller and pinker.

Any suggestions/ideas what it could be? Stress from moving into a new environment even though it's been 2 months? My water params are normal, there is little to no water flow as I'm only using sponge filters, and the temperature is between 17C-19C. I see no signs of fungus, aggression, or any physical defects.

Eating-wise they would go for it when I first drop it in, but it's only one bite and they stop. They're always in hiding too, barely moving, with the exception of my wild one which is often walking/swimming around and eating normally.


Another thing that I've noticed is that one of the leucistics has started to develop a darker patch around its head where the gills are attached to (temple area). They're symmetrical on both sides but it was never there before. Is this something I should worry about?

I've attached 2 pics.
1 - a comparison between the healthy wild type, and the skinny leucistic (used to be just as fat as the wild)
2 - the right axo is the one developing the darker patches, the left axo is pretty much what it used to look like. the patch is not as dark in pictures.
 

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Kaysie

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Activity in axolotls decreases as they grow. Adult axolotls aren't very active at all. I think if I dropped food in front of my guy, and cleaned poop out the other end, he'd never move. Too much activity is a sign of stress.

Your axolotls all look healthy. Your substrate is a good consistancy. If you could get a shot of your axolotls' naughty bits, your wildtype could be female. That would explain why it's larger, as females carry eggs.

The dark spots on your axolotl look like they could be blood vessels. These should be lighter-darker depending on the activity of your axolotls, just like the gills.
 

aeri

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Thanks Kaysie for the response.

All my axos are from the same batch, so I'm wondering why there's these inconsistent changes. The wild type wanders around and swims slowly, but all the others lie around. Is she stressed (I believe the wild type is female)?

However, the one that is smaller actually used to be the same size as the female/wild type. He/she got skinnier after a long period of not eating much.

That's good to know that the dark spots are fine. I was mainly concerned because of the inconsistent changes that were happening with my axos.
 

Kaysie

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Not all siblings are the same! There's lots of variation between individuals.
 

aeri

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Thanks :)

Do I need to worry about the axo that got thinner/not eating/lighter gills?
 

Kaysie

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If it's not eating, you could try offering different types of food. It could just be 'bored' with that food.

The gills look fine to me. They'll be paler when the axolotl isn't moving as much. Then they'll get darker/brighter when the axolotl is active, such as during eating.
 
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