Gills are gone?

[Christie]

Hi Everyone,

I got a new axolotl yesterday for a friend for my current lotl.

He was given away by someone who moved and couldn't have anymore.

He is very skinny and his gills look like they are gone. He hasn't eaten since we got him (only the second day) so i am not too concerned with that yet.

I currently left him in his own tank to quarantine him before he is introduced to our current one.

The water levels are all good very slight amonia, I did a water change yeterday when we got him.

The temperature is around 17-20 C,

When I first got my other axolotl she got very sick but she is now awesome and fat, we had to giver her antibiotics in the water which helped.

any ideas for his gills as I don't know too much about his conditions when we got him. His toes look a little weird too all crossed like maybe he is trying to re-generate. (he had no tank mates when we got him)

 

[Ashlimarie83]

He was given away by someone who moved and couldn't have anymore.

He is very skinny and his gills look like they are gone. He hasn't eaten since we got him (only the second day) so i am not too concerned with that yet.


any ideas for his gills as I don't know too much about his conditions when we got him. His toes look a little weird too all crossed like maybe he is trying to re-generate. (he had no tank mates when we got him)

Could be a few reasons, such as:

1. Genetics. Some Axolotls are just pre-dispositioned to have short stumpy gills, tails, toes, ect either from their parents also being stumpy or mutation that happened while the were developing. Ask your friend if your axolotls gills were always this short if you are still in contact.

2. Filter snagging or filter stress. It is a little harder to believe that ALL the gills could be caught up by the previous tanks filter, but it is a possibility. Also, if the filter was putting out to strong of an output it could also flay and fray the gills making them easier and more more likely to be torn of by an axolotls bumping into ornament and such. However, filter snagging would also explain how his toes might be deformed if they had gotten sucked in and he is growing them back.

There could be other things but these are the top of my opinions of what it could be.
With lots of TLC I'm sure he can have some nice fluffy gills to brandish soon.

 

[auntiejude]

The most common cause of gill damage is nibbling by something else, but if he's been alone it can't be that.

The next option is bad water conditions - usually a dirty or uncycled tank. Are his eyes cloudy? That is another indictaor of poor water quality.

Is your quarantine tank cycled? If not you'll need to do big water changes on a daily basis to give him the best change at recovery.

 

[jewsif91]

Hi guys,

Christie is my partner.

So we didn't buy him from a friend and we bought the tank he was in there. The tank was cycled and we did clean the tank because it smelt horrible.

The previous owner's filter was a small out of water one so I doubt it was from that. There weren't any small enough stones in the tank when we bought it just a big rock. We have put ur own filter and ornament from a previous tank that has been cycled previously.

Day two and still not eating, seems interested but yeah not biting. Looks like he is struggling with not having many gills and is constantly trying to manipulate his gills to get water flowing on them. Problem is he doesn't really have stems at all never mind the gills.

His tail is curled at the moment so obviously a little stress, how long after he moves should he calm down and not be as stressed. He has a hiding place, good water temp and condition and we have ensures that there is no strong water currents.

He kind of has like a white stringy poo half hanging out his anus, about 3cm long.

It is a hard one because we haven't been able to monitor his change in behaviour or to see what is normal for him because we just got him.

When do we start considering putting him in the fridge or what ever?

we are just hoping that at the moment it is a bit of stress from being moved and into a new environment so it will go away soon.

We have tried a variety of food including live worms, frozen heart & prawn tablets (which is what he use to eat) and sinking pellets. The past owners were scared of feeding him so they used a fork (we were worried he would hurt himself on the prongs!) but we are trying to hand feed him so maybe he just isn't trained to accept food from a big smelly hand.

Just a little worried about the little fella.

 

[Skudo09]

from the photo he doesn't look to be in good shape. What are the actual water parameters-ammonia, nitrite, nitrate? If the tank he was in was very smelly before cleaning it I would be inclined to think there may have been some water quality issues. Keep persisting with food. Earthworms are far more nutritional than the frozen heart and prawn tablets so if you can get him eating worms it would be ideal. Have you tried blanching the worms? Run the worms under hot water for a second and then immediately cold water. This will kill the worm and stop the worms excreting a defensive secretion that axolotls don't like the taste of much.

 

[xxianxx]

Your temp is fine so there is no need to fridge him. Axolotls do make good recoveries if treated correctly, just maintain clean water, add some plants as cover, feed worms and he will probably be ok. I wouldnt be overly concerned about it not eating for a while, its body mass is low but its not emaciated and could survive for weeks without food, just give it time to adjust to its new environment. Also be aware that gills damaged by poor water quality do not always grow back, they generally do if they receive the right care. Have you a pic of the axolotls bum ? would be usefull to see whats hanginng out of it.

 

[jewsif91]

Have you a pic of the axolotls bum ? would be usefull to see whats hanginng out of it.

Here is a pic (sorry for bad quality) of the 'poo'. It is a bit stringy and hard to see its consistency in the picture.

 

[xxianxx]

Hard to tell from the pics, if it's permanently attached it may be a prolapse or a fungal infection o the cloacae

 

[Ashlimarie83]

The previous owner's filter was a small out of water one so I doubt it was from that. There weren't any small enough stones in the tank when we bought it just a big rock. We have put ur own filter and ornament from a previous tank that has been cycled previously.

Looks like he is struggling with not having many gills and is constantly trying to manipulate his gills to get water flowing on them. Problem is he doesn't really have stems at all never mind the gills.

His tail is curled at the moment so obviously a little stress, how long after he moves should he calm down and not be as stressed. He has a hiding place, good water temp and condition and we have ensures that there is no strong water currents.

They had a small hang on back filter?
Then I would probably agree with auntiejude about the poor water conditions. Especially if you got it and the water was smelly. Since axolotls are super sensitive water chemistry it could be a good chance that this was the way he was presenting illness.

Luckily, gills do grow back (Hooray to the miracles of Axolotl regeneration!), and even then he should be okay as long as there is plenty of oxygen in the water. This way he obtain oxygen via cutaneous respiration, or if he is really not feeling it, he can always gulp little bits of air from the surface with his rudimentary lungs.

He probably was stressed already from his bad water conditions, and if you have been doing things actively in his tank, like changing the water and getting new filters and such, he's probably just not used to all the attention since his last owners might not have done as much! Hopefully he should settle in in a few weeks of good care.

Unfortunately, that does not look like a good healthy poo to me at all. I second the prolapse or fungus idea. It doesn't look "wormy" does it? Wormy like the parasitic variety?

 

[jewsif91]

So a few more pictures.

It is a bit hard to see if there are any air bubbled sticking out. He keeps looking like he is gulping/trying to swallow but hasn't eaten anything.

As you can see he is starting to arch as well, He didn't do it yesterday so I guess it is a new 'symptom'.

Not sure if the poop is stuck or just taking his time due to not eating much.

Sorry for the poor picture quality.

 

[Christie]

I tested the water today too. Nitrate, nitrite are 0. Ammonia is 0.25 only tiny bit, I don't know if the tank was cycled because we got that too but I changed most of the water as it smelt and it's all good now. The filer we have is cycled from our other fish tank.

 

[Petersgirl]

My male axxie and female axxie both had very short, stumpy gills. They were bitten and nibbled by the fish they were originally kept with. With worms and clean water, they grew back small gills complete with frills, but I don't know if they'll ever be luxuriant because of their previous damage. Plus it may be genetic as well. This may be the case with yours, but good clean water and good food are the way forward

As for the white substance, I am tempted to believe he has some kind of infection as a result of his previous trials. I would be thinking of a vet personally. Although Nai Live is right - it could be prolapse or infection of the cloaca - I don't have the confidence to tell you which it is.

I am a bit worried that your nitrATE is 0. It's good that your nitrite is 0, and ammonia at 0.25 can usually be rectified to 0 with a small water change (say 20%) assuming a healthy bacteria culture in your filter. You should have a small NitrATE reading as that's the final product of cycling. Is it possible your tank is mid-cycle? If you are at all concerned that it is, it might be worth placing him in a hospital tank (a small tank reserved for sick axxies or quarantining) and doing 100% water changes daily on the hospital tank while you cycle his 'main' tank. If I have read your post wrongly and you have a Nitrate reading, apologies, and please disregard this paragraph.

Good luck with him! I hope juicy worms and good water can help him to pull through.

 

[jewsif91]

Things not looking good.

He has more white stuff sticking out and is now struggling to stay down. He can't keep his back legs on the ground.

I am thinking he either has an infection and prolapse or he has something blocking him from pooping causing a constipation.

We currently have him in the fridge with him just covered with water so that he can touch the floor and not stress him out.

A vet has also been called in relation to the suspected prolaps/infection. Maybe get some antibiotics.

Not 100% sure if it is a prolapse because all the pictures online show them as a fed colour where his is just this white stringy stuff.

Fingers crossed that it is just a blockage and he poops it out in the fridge and then we can take him out and start working on the whole eating thing.

Hope we can sort this out.

 

[Petersgirl]

Poor little guy. Floating is often a symptom of constipation and you may be right, but you have done the right thing by putting him in a shallow container of water and in the fridge.

Please let us know how he gets on.

 

[jewsif91]

Unfortunately little Gomez passed away last night.

Just wanted to thank everyone for their help

From Aaron & Christie.

 

[Skudo09]

I am sorry to hear the sad news