Curled tail?

[Aristotlthelotl]

Hello,
I have two axolotls residing in a 150ish-L tank which they've been in for over a year now. There've been some ups and downs in their health, but lately they both seem to have been really healthy. Although, just over the past day or so I've noticed that both of their tails generally seem to be curled, and I don't know what the cause of it would be. :/ I've heard this is generally due to heat stress, but my tank seems to have kept a fairly cool and consistent temperature. I have an aquarium fan set up to constantly keep the tank cool, and considering it's been a bit hot lately in Brisbane, Australia, I've also been adding an ice bottle every day or so. Overall, the temperature doesn't seem to have risen above 22 degrees C - it's generally about 21.
If there's anyone who can offer some advice, that'd be appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[AxolotlChris]

Can you post some images of your tank and Axolotl?

21 degrees Celsius is on the high side. Optimal temperature is 16-18 degrees Celsius.

The higher the temperature, the higher the chance of stress and disease.

As I say for everyone in a hot climate, buy a chiller! Don't save money at the expense of animals lives

 

[LSuzuki]

If the "curled tails" are a small hook at the very end, yes, that can be very serious (personal experience here). Check all of your tank parameters (ammonia, etc), correct any problems, drop the temperature as much as you can AND see if you can find a qualified vet in your area.

 

[Aristotlthelotl]

Thanks for your help guys. Fortunately, it's not actually the tips of their tails that are curled. It's a bit tricky to get a photo up of them - they're hiding at the moment - but its just been their whole tails that have just curved themselves into like a C-shape or like a squiggle or an S sometimes, which they don't normally seem to do. I did test the water parameters, and it looks like ammonia is pretty much 0, nitrite is 0, pH is 8ish (I think it should probably be lower than this - does someone have a suggestion on how to do that), although nitrate is about 80. :S I think I can lower the nitrate levels when I do a water change, and the tank's pretty well due for one, so I'll see if that helps when I do that in a couple of days. Yeah, unfortunately I don't seem to be able to get the temperature below 20 degrees in this heat ugh. I have thought about getting a chiller, though I hadn't heard much good about them when I initially set up my aquarium, but I think now that it looks like one might help out, I'll probably look into it again. Thanks guys and any more help appreciated!

 

[AxolotlChris]

Yes the tail can curl in a 'C' shape or what looks like a ripple down the length of it.

Your Nitrates being at 80ppm is way to high, 40ppm is the limit. Do a 30% water change, then test your Nitrate again, if its not bellow 40ppm dpo another water change around 20%.

Your PH is okay, lots of keepers PH is around 8.

Chillers do work, just invest in a good name brand, make sure you go look at some in the shops then check some reviews online, then post on here to get some opinions!

Higher temps can cause stress and higher Nitrates can cause Nitrate poisoning resulting in stress and possibly death.

 

[Aristotlthelotl]

Okay yep, I'll definitely do a water change very soon! Thank you!

 

[AxolotlChris]

Also, what test kit do you use?

Can you post results for all your water parameters?