Bad eye!

[shane_88]

Hey. im new to the forum and axolotls. ive just got a new axolotls she's about 6months old (so i was told) but i think she may be blind just in one eye. its cloudy like in other animals when u can see they are blind. i dont know if i should worry about it as their sight isnt that great anyway and mainly rely on their smell. it doesnt seem to be healing (if it was damaged somehow) so i dont know what else it could be. i wondering whether there is anything to worry about. im pretty sure its no fungus type of thing though. but on her gill ive noticed a white "thing". but i dont really understand the salt bath things and i dont want to give it one if its unnecessary. and if i do it wrong and eventually hurt it somehow.

ill try and get a photo of her eye. she's really really active, eating and looks pretty healthy so i dont know if im just overreacting lol. probably am.

has anyone else had blind axolotls??.

 

[joan]

Pictures would help. I don't think axolotl eyesight is that great. I know they detect movement, whenever I come near, they all stack up and beg for food. But they have a hard time differentiating between fingers and food. I'd keep an eye on it, and if anything develops, do a salt bath (the great people here can help you) or see a vet.

 

[anne-marie]

I have heard of there being blind axolotls but I have never personally seen one. Although, I think that rather than it being blind, it didn't have any eyes at all (I think?). I read it round here somewhere...

 

[shane]

Hey thanks for replying. ill try and get a picture soon. the bad eye is smaller than the other one... is that normal??. she doesnt seem to be bothered by it, well not that i can tell. so im hoping all is going to be fine. i was also wondering do axolotls are meant to have two pairs of three gills on either side of their heads?. because mine has three on one side but only two on the other. is it possible for them to grow back gills like they do legs?. i dont know if it just never fully developed or something happened while it was in the pet shop. is there anything i should be worried about?.(i need a name!)

yeah about those axolotls without eyes. ive seen pictures on here of them. they look strange. but if they are fine mine should be to right?.

thanks again for replying.

 

[brian]

A cloudy eye may be a fungus. That can happen to fish, but I'm not sure about axolotls.

 

[joan]

Gills grow back. The weird number could also be an abnormality. As long as it's not causing the axolotl problems, I wouldn't worry about it.

The eye, has it always been cloudy, or did it just start going cloudy? You say it's smaller than the other, so I'm inclined to think it was born that way, with one blind eye. As long as it eats and you take care of it, I think you'll be okay.

 

[shane]

Yeah she seems fine. eats well, swims alot. So I’m hoping her eye is just an abnormality. she is swimming heaps actually. is it normal for them to swim around so much? I’m not sure if its a good or a bad thing????. she runs into the glass alot too lol. might just be her eye. or do most axolotls do it? she recognises me when i walk into my room so her other eye mustn’t be so bad. So hopefully all is good. but she also seems to be floating, her back end. but i don’t have any gravel in the tank which is the only thing I’ve heard makes them do that. I’ve got sand that wouldn’t be the problem would it. when she sucks up food from the floor of the tank she also sucks up sand, she spits most of it out but would she actually eat any of it? maybe I’m just paranoid but i want to make sure everything’s ok. I love axolotls they are the best creatures.
Sorry my message is all over the place. Oh but I did manage to get some photos. sorry they are so big i couldnt find out how to make them smaller.

Her bad eye

In this one you can see how much smaller the bad eye is to the other. sorry its so blurry it was hard to get a closeup of it with my camera

this is how she's floating. is that normal?.

thanks for replying i appreciate it alot. i must go. thank you again.

 

[shane]

just another pic that shows it a bit clearer. and the gills too

 

[joan]

Looks like a birth defect. Mine run into the glass all the time too.

Mine sometimes get a rear-end float. I chalk it up to gas or fecal buildup (if they haven't pooed yet), as it usually goes away, and is never very severe.

She's very pretty, lots of yellow.

 

[shane]

Thank you heaps. i was a bit worried. she's my first axolotl and im still paranoid something is going to go wrong. im glad it doesnt seem to be anything severe. thank you again.