Axolotl injury

[Kodie]

Hi , this is my first post. i have owned axolotls for 3 years and not had any problems until i rescued a juvinile leucistic axolotl 2 weeks ago, with a missing limb and fungal infection, he has been quaranteened in a seperate tank to my other axolotls ever since. With salt baths and water changes the fungus has gone but 3 days ago i noticed a small chunk taken out of the front of his mouth, i assumed he ran into the driftwood that is now in his tank but im not entirely sure, i did not worry about it because it was tiny at the time and i assumed it would heal. Now i have noticed that his top layer of skin is slowly breaking away along with small bits of flesh that started on his top lip is now almost up to his eyes. Due to the mouth injury he has refused to eat for 3 days, usually i woud not be worried but he is already quite thin because he was in poor condition when i got him, before this injury he had a healthy appetite being fed everyday but was not yet putting on weight.

i have currently put him in the fridge, as he was stressing quite alot and doing more damage to his face, also his tank water was at 20 degrees , but my questions is am i doing the right thing fridging him and how do i deal with this injury? thanks everyone, i dont have alot of experience in the axololt illness department except for what i read on the forums. sorry i cant put up a photo at this time but i will try later, when i can. thanks

 

[CJ1981]

It's hard to tell without a picture I'm sorry. Keep him in cool, clean, de chlorinated water for now and put up a picture as soon as you can.

If you can please let us know your water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and temperature) and post a picture of you tank so people can have a look for anything that might be causing problems.

 

[Kodie]

Sorry for the quality, I took them on my phone. His tank temp was 20 degrees, now in the fridge it is at 7 degrees, ammonia and nitrates are fine. I'm pretty sure it was the driftwood as I have another rescue in with him the last couple of days and she is fine, eating and perfectly healthy as I ran out of tanks.

 

[CJ1981]

That looks nasty, can you get him to a vet?

 

[Kaysie]

Have his gills always been that small? Skin that pink?

I agree, that looks nasty.

 

[Kodie]

i cant take him to a vet as we have no one around here that deal with fish or axolotls unfortunately. Yer i actually rescued him a couple of weeks ago and he literally had no gills and floated on the surface to get air all the time, his gills have actually grown substantially since i got him and he has always been quite pink, but not this bad, i think it may be from the stress, but he is still in the fridge and looking a bit better.