Illness/Sickness: Baby Axolotl sick or stressed?

[Kolyric]

Hey everyone,

I recently got two axolotl. One is about a 4 inch juvenile and the other is 2 or 3. I have them in the same tank but with a divider.
The smaller one hardly moves. He stays at the bottom all day and I haven't seen him swim. He eats but I'm not sure how often he uses the bathroom. When I bought him he was in pretty bad conditions.

A couple days before getting them I looked at the lil guy at the shop and he was swimming but the water was 75 degrees F. The day I got them their water was at 85.

I introduced both of them gradually to my tank and new temperature. The bigger axie is looking good and healthy but the smaller one is in bad shape.

The day I got him the shop clerk even gave him to me at a discounted price because of the condition he was in.

I am about to check my tank parameters but the other one is okay and this condition seems to stem from the horrible treatment at the shop

 

[Kolyric]

pH levels are at about 7.6
Ammonia is between 0-.25. But the tank is relatively new and hasn't cycled fully
Nitrite is 0

 

[tundrabadger]

Am I not seeing his gills?




What temperature is the water at now?

 

[Kolyric]

Am I not seeing his gills?




What temperature is the water at now?

They're there. He's very small. And they turn red whenever he eats or so.
Temperature is at abouit 67 or 68 degrees.

 

[Kolyric]

Actually

If the gills are gone. I'd love to know how

At the shop he was isolated and I don't have any fish with him.

 

[NidiaNz]

If your tanks not cycled, that can explain the lack of eating and gills, it's best to tub both in separate tubs, change 100% of the tub water daily and cycle your tank before putting them back in, an uncycled tank can be very bad on adults, let a lone a sickly juvie.

 

[tundrabadger]

If I can add one thing, make sure you're doing that change with dechlorinated water.



have his gills gotten smaller since you got him? Given how you've described the pet shop you found him in i wouldn't be shocked if there had been some deterioration from those conditions. I have an albino too, her gills do the thing where they get more vibrant after she's eaten, but theyr'e still fairly obvious even if she hasn't. Granted she's an adult. Bur like NidiaNZ says lack of appetite and gill loss are pretty good indicators of stress, and the little ones are really sensitive, so i woild keep an eye on the gills and see if they get any worse.





It's good you're trying to help the poor little mite. Not to speak ill of the people at the store, i know they have to take care of a lot of animals with different needs, but it sounds wholly unsuitable for axolotls.

 

[Kolyric]

Yeah I think I'll try a water change. I honestly don't recall if the gills were deteriorated at the shop, but I'm sure that's where it started. He actually eats very well. He gets very active when it's feeding time. And he eats a lot. 2 times a day I feed them and he's willing both times. He doesn't over do it and overwhelm himself so that's good. I'm sure it's the cycle even though the other axie is looking pretty good.

Anytime I put water in the tank I made sure to use dechlorination solution.

 

[Kolyric]

It broke my heart seeing they had 2 more axies available at the store. I didn't want to buy all of them then end up being unsuitable to tend to all of them since these are my first. I reached out to locals to see if anyone would want them