Axolotl not eating / white blotches on skin

[luckywood]

My 5 year old axolotl has stopped eating - it's been about two weeks now! Ordinarily I feed her one defrosted shrimp every 2-3 days, mixing it up with the occasional worm, which she's eaten happily for years. But recently she's just started turning her nose up at it - I've tried other foods, including some axolotl pellets I bought online, and she's not eating anything.

Separately but possibly related, she's developed these white patches on her skin - one on her back, and one near her eye. I've attached photos for reference.

I have done a water test and found the levels of everything were normal except the ammonia, which is between 0.25 and 0.5. I'm doing daily water changes and tests to bring that down. So far though she's still not eating. I'm in the UK, it's been coldish here recently, so her tank temperature in recent weeks has been around 16 degrees.

Does anyone have any advice? Should I fridge her? I think the high ammonia has probably caused some disease - I'm trying to fix that but at this point I'm just worried I'm going to wake up one morning and find she's starved herself to death

 

[AMurry24537]

I'm not sure how to solve many of these problems; the one piece of advice I can confidently offer is to use SeaChem Prime to detoxify the ammonia. It won't get rid of it, but it will make it safe for your axolotl until the cycle kicks in.

 

[Newaxolotlmom]

I think that looks like fungus. I am currently dealing with that right now. There is a small cotton-like ball on his gills and has white patches on his gill stalks which is a sure sign of fungus. White patches are very common with fungus, mostly it shows up on gills but can start on other parts of the body. It also sounds like your tank isn't cycled which is similar to my situation. Stress and bad water parameters can cause fungus. The fungus is not just on their body it is all in the tank. I would suggest aquarium salt, melafix, and pimafix follow the instructions on the back for doseage. I am doing 75%-100% water change while using stability and prime. I double the dose of stability to promote beneficial bacteria growth and I triple dose the amount of prime for the amount of water I replace. For example, I have a 20-gallon tank and I removed about 15 gallons I filled up the tank then added the prime for 45 gallons (3x the amount I put in), then the stability, followed by pimafix, and melafix for the infection. The prime will not only dechlorinate your water it will bind to ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates which can be harmful to your axolotl. I am doing these water changes for a week and the same routine with the additives. Also, add the aquarium salt as directed it will aid in the healing process. Keep an eye on your axie's activity and appetite.

 

[Newaxolotlmom]

Also, try to cut up the worms maybe she will eat if the food is smaller. They can go up to three weeks without eating but that's definitely not ideal. I would not fridge her because that slows the metabolism and will not help her fight the fungus. Do you have any idea why you had an ammonia spike in your tank?

 

[luckywood]

I think that looks like fungus. I am currently dealing with that right now. There is a small cotton-like ball on his gills and has white patches on his gill stalks which is a sure sign of fungus. White patches are very common with fungus, mostly it shows up on gills but can start on other parts of the body. It also sounds like your tank isn't cycled which is similar to my situation. Stress and bad water parameters can cause fungus. The fungus is not just on their body it is all in the tank. I would suggest aquarium salt, melafix, and pimafix follow the instructions on the back for doseage. I am doing 75%-100% water change while using stability and prime. I double the dose of stability to promote beneficial bacteria growth and I triple dose the amount of prime for the amount of water I replace. For example, I have a 20-gallon tank and I removed about 15 gallons I filled up the tank then added the prime for 45 gallons (3x the amount I put in), then the stability, followed by pimafix, and melafix for the infection. The prime will not only dechlorinate your water it will bind to ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates which can be harmful to your axolotl. I am doing these water changes for a week and the same routine with the additives. Also, add the aquarium salt as directed it will aid in the healing process. Keep an eye on your axie's activity and appetite.

This is great advice, thank you. I'll do all of these things.

Can you do 100% water changes? I always thought never to change that much water at once as the changes themselves are stressful and could mess up the tank cycle. I've been doing daily 25% water changes, should I do bigger ones?

Do you have any idea why you had an ammonia spike in your tank?

I've been thinking about this - I think it must be that I changed to a smaller filter. The old one broke and I just thought, the tank's fully cycled now, let's get a small one that'll disturb her less. And my friend who also has axolotls says he doesn't have a filter on his tank, he just does water changes and they're fine, so I went with it. But I think his tank is bigger than mine (mine's 60L) so that must make a difference. The thing is, I changed the filter ages ago and it's not been a problem, but all I can think is maybe recently she left a bit of food uneaten and I didn't notice for a while and with less filtration happening it was enough to cause a spike. That's my guess.

 

[Newaxolotlmom]

This is great advice, thank you. I'll do all of these things.

Can you do 100% water changes? I always thought never to change that much water at once as the changes themselves are stressful and could mess up the tank cycle. I've been doing daily 25% water changes, should I do bigger ones?




I've been thinking about this - I think it must be that I changed to a smaller filter. The old one broke and I just thought, the tank's fully cycled now, let's get a small one that'll disturb her less. And my friend who also has axolotls says he doesn't have a filter on his tank, he just does water changes and they're fine, so I went with it. But I think his tank is bigger than mine (mine's 60L) so that must make a difference. The thing is, I changed the filter ages ago and it's not been a problem, but all I can think is maybe recently she left a bit of food uneaten and I didn't notice for a while and with less filtration happening it was enough to cause a spike. That's my guess.

I would highly suggest a filter because axolotls do produce a lot of waste, you can also offset it by having live plants in your tank that eat the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate that is harmful to your axolotl. I thought the 100% water changes would be an issue as well but that is where the stability comes into play adding beneficial bacteria and aiding the cycling process. If you don't have a sponge filter already I would suggest purchasing one, they don't pick up the poop so you will have to use a turkey baster to remove that, but it has a gentle flow and has great surface agitation. I have a 20-gallon long tank and I have a double canaster sponge filter. You can do a 75% water change for about a week and then check your parameters that will determine what you need to do next. When you do your large water change it is important to remove your axolotl since the water needs to be conditioned, and dosed with stability, melafix, and pimafix. I would just use a small clean tubbaware to get your axie out while you are changing the water. I would suggest feeding your axie in the tub or before the water change in the tank. Your filter is what holds a lot of the benefical bacteria which definitely could've been the reason your cycle crashed. And when you use the prime it will detoxify all of the chemicals harmful to your axolotl for 24 hours including ammonia. So when you do your water test and it shows ammonia know it is present but detoxified.

 

[luckywood]

I would highly suggest a filter because axolotls do produce a lot of waste, you can also offset it by having live plants in your tank that eat the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate that is harmful to your axolotl. I thought the 100% water changes would be an issue as well but that is where the stability comes into play adding beneficial bacteria and aiding the cycling process. If you don't have a sponge filter already I would suggest purchasing one, they don't pick up the poop so you will have to use a turkey baster to remove that, but it has a gentle flow and has great surface agitation. I have a 20-gallon long tank and I have a double canaster sponge filter. You can do a 75% water change for about a week and then check your parameters that will determine what you need to do next. When you do your large water change it is important to remove your axolotl since the water needs to be conditioned, and dosed with stability, melafix, and pimafix. I would just use a small clean tubbaware to get your axie out while you are changing the water. I would suggest feeding your axie in the tub or before the water change in the tank. Your filter is what holds a lot of the benefical bacteria which definitely could've been the reason your cycle crashed. And when you use the prime it will detoxify all of the chemicals harmful to your axolotl for 24 hours including ammonia. So when you do your water test and it shows ammonia know it is present but detoxified.

Ok great, this is incredibly helpful. Thank you so much!

 

[Newaxolotlmom]

This is great advice, thank you. I'll do all of these things.

Can you do 100% water changes? I always thought never to change that much water at once as the changes themselves are stressful and could mess up the tank cycle. I've been doing daily 25% water changes, should I do bigger ones?




I've been thinking about this - I think it must be that I changed to a smaller filter. The old one broke and I just thought, the tank's fully cycled now, let's get a small one that'll disturb her less. And my friend who also has axolotls says he doesn't have a filter on his tank, he just does water changes and they're fine, so I went with it. But I think his tank is bigger than mine (mine's 60L) so that must make a difference. The thing is, I changed the filter ages ago and it's not been a problem, but all I can think is maybe recently she left a bit of food uneaten and I didn't notice for a while and with less filtration happening it was enough to cause a spike. That's my guess.

Also, axolotls should be housed in tanks 20 gallons or larger (75L). If you have one axolotl a 20 gallon long is fine, but for two axolotls you need at least a 40 gallon tank.

 

[Newaxolotlmom]

Ok great, this is incredibly helpful. Thank you so much!

Absolutely! Let me know if you need any more advice! I am done with my daily 75% water changes on Wednesday and will get my water tested to see what I need to do next for my cycle. I work with a local pet store that is very knowledgeable so I will be able to help you on my journey since I am 5 days ahead of you in this process. If you have any questions please let me know!