Axolotl odd gills or normal?

[dlev878]

Recently bought a gold axolotl as a friend for my one. He was shipped really badly in a glass juice bottle and you could tell he was very stressed as there was bits of skin floating around the bottle maybe from where he was hitting the sides. On top of that, while my girls gills come out with furry bits all over them, he only has gills that stick out and is missing all the furry bits. Is this normal for a gold one or would you suspect they have been burnt off with people being stupid and pulling him out of the water or due to illness?

Thanks for any help!!

 

[Olivia97]

Photos would help confirm my theory but I would say he's suffering in some way. Poor water quality over time will burn off the gill filaments

 

[dlev878]

Here is a pretty bad photo but as you can see my wildtype has her furry bits and he is missing them

 

[Olivia97]

She doesn't look too bad although I would assume she has been kept in a tank with poor water quality for a while, could I see a photo from above as well? The gills will most likely regrow

 

[FX1C]

Did you put the axolotl straight into the tank with your other axie without quarantine 0.0 that's never a good idea!

Keeping the axolotl separate will give you the chance to truly evaluate the overall health without risking your ex dusting population.

Poor water quality or a high flow filter with lots of tank movement is probably the cause for loss of gills. But it could be parasites - I would still separate the new axie to another tank or Tupperware container until you can be sure it's issues are just water related.



<3 >o_o< <3

 

[esn]

I'd like to note that while the process of losing gills is a symptom of poor water quality, there are physical differences in axolotls. Fewer filaments is not always indicative of a problem unless they are losing them noticeably. It is entirely possible that their tank was just extremely oxygenated, requiring fewer filaments, or the axolotl has genetics that make it inclined not to have so many.

In this case, poor water quality is a plausible explanation, but it is not the only one. You may not see growth in the gills, and they may never be as fluffy as your axolotl's. That will be fine, as long as he is healthy otherwise. Just letting you know so that you don't expect the gills to grow back and they don't.

 

[Olivia97]

My axie has very short gills which won't grow back any longer or thicker so it's quite possible it's genetic.