Cause of death?

[Quentari]

I got possession of my mother in laws axolotl, Captain. He was a white albino and Friday I took him out of my tank because he was looking skinny and very pink. I was trying to find a home for him but had to stop as he was sick.

I kept him in cool water, 15 degrees at all times. Once in the tub he was in fresh water every day but he gradually got redder and redder and didnt eat enough to get nice and fat, he wasn't overly skinny so I wasn't worried but today I went to do his water change and he was dead.

A dark dusky pink all over, but not much veiney-ness. Looks like he might have had a mild fungus on his gills but honestly I hadn't checked on him since lunchtime yesterday so it might have just been that he died shortly after the water change yesterday.

Double checked my water from the tap, all 0's and my pH is around 7. Even my tank water never gets above 19 (my guy axolotl thinks its awesome enough in there to try and breed!) but he hasn't been in there since Friday.

Stumped as to his cause of death. If it helps his limbs were darker than his body and he had a white patch on his chest where his skin hadn't darkened. Oh and his tail was getting slim. Any ideas??

 

[Quentari]

Now that I think about it, my lecustic Smiley died in a similar way a few months ago. Tank has been completely redone since then.

 

[Petersgirl]

The pink colour would suggest either some kind of chemical burn (i.e Ammonia, Nitrite, etc) but I don't think it is in this case. So, it would imply a bacterial infection to me, possibly picked up before he came to you and likely exacerbated by stress.

I'm very sorry for your loss

 

[auntiejude]

I'm sorry for your loss, I'm sure you did the best you could for him given the circumstances.

I would have to say if it's not water quality it's likely to be bacterial or viral infection.

Did you put him in your main tank with other axies? If so, I would change the water and treat the tank just in case, to protect your other axies. Unfortunately it means cycling your tank again but it's better than your others catching something nasty.

 

[Quentari]

Well today I pulled my copper out because he has a bad fungus on his gills. I've been meaning to put my nice new sand in anyway and with all the old media I had it only took about a week to cycle anyway. I'll be keeping a close eye on Thor and Fury but they seem okay, I'm guessing that somewhere between the pet store, the mother in laws and mine he's picked up something. Maybe the stress of him moving four times in less than two months has something to do with it. His old tank mate is fine, but I'll tell the in-law to keep an eye on him.

hi ho, it's off to re-cycle my tank I go.

Again.