At a complete loss with one sick axolotl

[katietara]

Hi all,

I really hope you can help me here. I have two axolotls, both just over one year old. The two have always lived together, one (white albino) has always been healthy looking and had no problems. He is a fair bit bigger than the other (gold). We cycle the water regularly and check the PH regularly too. All fine as far as we know. There is no substrate used in the tank and both axolotls have healthy diets, as in we watch them eat, to make sure one is not going hungry.

However, over the last few months the gold one has declined in health. He has lost weight and his gills have shrunk down. We took him out for about two weeks and kept him in the fridge, gave him salt baths etc. We put him back in and he seemed to be getting on fine and looked healthier. The last week he has stopped eating as much and has now developed a fungal infection (I believe) on his gills. He is also quite pink and has a large red vein come up on his foot. His health and general appearance began declining near the start of summer so we did all we could to keep it cool in the tank. But I'm not sure he has ever fully recovered from whatever the problem here is. It's absolutely doing my head in. Can't seem to win with the little guy. The other axolotl is fine, has long, full gills, is a good colour and quite plump. As I say, they have both been eating as we monitor this quite closely.

Any advice would be greatly received.

Thank you!!

 

[katietara]

Here are a couple of photos of the little guy. He got significantly pinker after I took him out of his tank.

 

[keiko]

What do you mean you "cycle the water regularly"? Cycle means there are bacteria in your tank and filter that convert ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate ie. take care of your axies wastes. What are your exact water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, temperature)?

What do you feed them?

What was the concentration of the salt baths? How often did you give them and for how long at a time? When was the last time you gave one to the axie?

I can't really see fungus on the gills in the picture, but the gills do look bad. Salt baths and bad water quality can do that to gills (as well as the body).

If the axie has been getting worse for months now then I'd suggest taking it to a vet. He might have some disease that has caused him to slowly get worse and not be able to handle stress as well as the other one (like higher temperatures in the summer, possible water quality issues etc.).

 

[katietara]

I use a turkey baster to suck out waste and when I say cycle the tank we take out about a third a week and give it a complete clean once a month(ish). We use water safe but do not add anything else to the water. I don't know what the parameters are exactly I use the testing strips with the colour gauges. What kind of testing equipment would you recommend?

They are fed blood worms and small pieces of prawn. Salt baths he has had about three and we have kept him in for about 30 minutes at a time then he has gone back into spring water. He had a salt bath about three months ago. After a closer inspection I'm not sure it is fungus on his gills this time, I was panicking.But you're right, his gills do not look good.

Maybe the vets is the best option?

Thank you so much for getting back to me.

 

[keiko]

What you do weekly is just a partial water change, cycle is a different thing. A weekly water change is good.
When you do the monthly cleaning do you clean the filter? It can affect the cycle and lead to bad water quality if you clean it with untreated tap water for example (kills the bacteria taking care of the cycle).

Liquid test kits are often more reliable than test strips (you have to be very careful when using the strips to get accurate results). You can get for example Api freshwater master test kit on Ebay. It has all the most important tests but it's still pretty cheap.

You could also add earth worms to their diet. They are more nutritious than bloodworms. Many people have good results feeding only earth worms.

30 minutes is very long for a salt bath. Usually 10 minutes a day is enough. That could seriously damage the axie's slime coat and irritate gills and skin. Also only do salt baths when there is visible fungus on the axie. But if it has been three months since the last salt bath then I'd expect the skin and gills to be better already

I'd suggest the vet, just to be safe. Meanwhile you could add Indian almond leaves in the water to soothe his skin. They are also mildly anti-bacterial and anti-fungal in case there is some kind of infection going on.

 

[katietara]

Hi again,

Yes, I always clean it thoroughly and change the disposable part too. I have been using plain, untreated tap water. Might it be an idea to rinse it through with tank water?

I will look into the liquid test kits and the earth worms too. Indian almond leaves as well! It's good to get some new advice. I also read earlier today that having too strong a filter can damage the gills so I am going to look into something else.

Once again, thank you for all of this. It's very much appreciated. My poor little guys!! Hope they get better soon :-(

Kate

 

[auntiejude]

By washing your filter medi in tap water you are killing all the good bacteria that convert toxic waste (ammonia) to less toxic compounds. You need to rinse your filter sponges or felt once a month in dechlorinated water.

Salt baths should only be givem if you are sure an axie has fungus, and only for 10 minutes at a time. Salt bathing for too long or at too strong a concentration will 'burn' the filaments off the gills like a chemical burn. As Keiko said, it also damages their slime coat.

You really need to go and read up on tank cycles, get your head around the chemistry and understand what you are testing for and what it all means.

In the short term you axie would benefit from some tea baths (look it up).

Food for an adult axie should be earthworms - bloodworms are low in calcium, and prawns are too salty. Occasional portions of bloodworms, live shrimp, white fish, maggots or insect larvae are ok - about once a fortnight.

 

[HitmanSougo13]

If you can't pinpoint the problem. Pick up your axie and look closely at its body for signs and other injuries. There appears to be some sort of bacterial problem with the gill, but don't do a 30 minute salt bath. I worry your axie's skin is now too thin. You may want to either use indian almond leaves for try the antibiotic route of going with a vet or something.

The thing with the prawn is it is a whole prawn with shell? I used to give my axolotl prawn with shell, I thought it would be soft enough when I pre soak it but a part the shrimp scratched the inside of the throat of one of my axies and she got a giant lump of infection.

 

[keiko]

Yes, I always clean it thoroughly and change the disposable part too. I have been using plain, untreated tap water. Might it be an idea to rinse it through with tank water?

You don't have to clean the filter very often, I for example clean my canister filter maybe 3 times a year, but that depends on the filter and how dirty it gets. The main thing is to only rinse the filter media in old tank water and don't change any parts unless needed. Some instructions say you need to change the filter media every time you clean it, but that's just to get you to spend more money, it's fine just to rinse them unless they're already falling apart. When you do change the filter media you should only change 50% at a time to make sure you don't destroy the cycle. While cleaning the filter it's actually better to do a bad job than clean it too well. If you clean it too well or change all of the filter media then you destroy the good bacteria taking care of the cycle which leads to bad water quality. Bad water quality is the most common cause for any illnesses with axolotls.

 

[katietara]

Thanks once again for all of this.

It's quite frustrating, because I have read so much conflicting advice and information both online and in books. Both books I own mention nothing about water quality, it's nuts as it's clearly very important!

The salt bath was a while ago now, probably longer than 3 months ago. The time I had him in for was as per the salt bath tutorial on here, so if it says ten mins it would have been. That was off the top of my head when I said 30 mins. So he shouldn't have been damaged by the salt bath.

I will try cleaning the filter with dechlorinated water. Thanks.

The prawns are always out of the shell and cut into small pieces so I doubt it's damage from that.

I'm guessing it's the water quality. Although I just don't know why the other one looks so healthy! Maybe he's just stronger? I am ordering some indian almond leaves as we speak.

The filter thing is interesting. I gave them a real thorough clean just over a week ago and he seems to have gotten worse since then I think. I'm going to have a good read up on cycling the tank and keeping the PH levels in order. I just hope I'm not too late :-(

Thanks again

Kate

 

[katietara]

Thanks once again for all of this.

It's quite frustrating, because I have read so much conflicting advice and information both online and in books. Both books I own mention nothing about water quality, it's nuts as it's clearly very important!

The salt bath was a while ago now, probably longer than 3 months ago. The time I had him in for was as per the salt bath tutorial on here, so if it says ten mins it would have been. That was off the top of my head when I said 30 mins. So he shouldn't have been damaged by the salt bath.

I will try cleaning the filter with dechlorinated water. Thanks.

The prawns are always out of the shell and cut into small pieces so I doubt it's damage from that.

I'm guessing it's the water quality. Although I just don't know why the other one looks so healthy! Maybe he's just stronger? I am ordering some indian almond leaves as we speak.

The filter thing is interesting. I gave them a real thorough clean just over a week ago and he seems to have gotten worse since then I think. I'm going to have a good read up on cycling the tank and keeping the PH levels in order. I just hope I'm not too late :-(

Thanks again

Kate

 

[katietara]

One more question (sorry) are freeze dried worms okay? Or do they need to be live? Cheers!

 

[keiko]

The filter thing is interesting. I gave them a real thorough clean just over a week ago and he seems to have gotten worse since then I think. I'm going to have a good read up on cycling the tank and keeping the PH levels in order.

I think that would point towards water quality issues as a part of why the axie is not looking so good. When you clean it very thoroughly you upset the cycle. It's not only about pH level, that might stay at a good range all the time. But the problem is ammonia and nitrite. Those are very toxic to axies and can rise quite quickly if the cycle is not in balance. When the axie is in the water it produces wastes -> ammonia. That's where the cycle starts. The good bacteria take the ammonia and convert it to nitrite. Then another colony of bacteria takes the nitrite and converts it to nitrAte. Nitrate is the end product of the cycle and least harmful of the three. Ammonia and nitrite should always be at 0 and nitrate should be under 40 ppm. In a cycled tank ammonia and nitrite stay always at 0 and nitrate is removed with weekly water changes. Get the liquid test kit asap so you can check those parameters.

Although I just don't know why the other one looks so healthy! Maybe he's just stronger?

Some axies are more sensitive than others. And it could be that the one doing badly has just had a bit too much bad luck. Like when you did a few salt baths that irritated the gills and slime coat (it's irritating even if it was only 10 minutes), then when he hadn't fully recovered yet there were some water quality issues. Once it started to get a bit better you once again cleaned the filter leading to more water quality issues etc etc. That way he never fully recovered and has been getting worse.

There are a lot of good sites explaining the cycle. Also google fish-in cycling. It's quite simple really once you just take the time to understand it and it'll definitely help your axies have a healthier life.

 

[auntiejude]

Live food is best, frozen is OK, dried of any kind is not recommended.

 

[katietara]

Okay, I have just bought a liquid test kit and I've been reading up on cycling the tank properly.

I really hope I can get him better!! Poor little baby :-(

Thank you Keiko.

Thank you AuntieJude too, I will find some live/frozen earth worms for them both.

I will let you know how they get on. Hopefully all is not lost

 

[allied123]

Sorry to bring this back up but actually from what I understand, any salt bath is damaging to the axies, they're really sensitive! but sometimes it's necessary to get rid of fungus, and pretty much ONLY to get rid of fungus. far too often it seems people think something is wrong with their axies and immediatly salt bathe or fridge while probably neither were necessary and the problem would have gotten better on its own in a clean cool cycled tank.