Illness/Sickness: Dark spots on Albino Gills?

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Astro

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Hello!

I've had my axolotl for over 6 months now, with little problems until recently

Today I woke up and immediately noticed he has some little black/dark spots on the top part of his gills- on both sides, on the same part of the gill (the side pictured is probably the worst)

Sorry for the absolutely terrible photos:
http://i.imgur.com/HT3Nn7V.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/CDrQ3z8.jpg
I hope you can see them anyway

He's eating and moving as normal, temperature was a high when i woke up (20 degrees C) but i'm bringing that down as we speak. He hasn't pooped in maybe 2 weeks? and I've been struggling to get the ammonia/nitrite down for a few weeks but i've been doing daily/every two days water changes with seemingly no stress from my axolotl. (i've also purchased a larger tank (17g) than my current one (10g) and cycling it now so hopefully any problems with ammonia in the current tank will go away when i transfer him in haha

The black part doesn't seem to be 'fluffy' like I've heard fungus to be. Could it be an infection? Or maybe some trauma like he hit them on something? Or should I fridge him?

Thank you for all your help!
 
Well I just fed him and he was very excited to eat and gobbled it up in half a second haha
 
(Sorry for the triple post)
I was also wondering about earthworms? I really want to get him on a diet of earthworms (he's currently on block axolotl food, beef heart blocks, blood worms and meal worms) but no pet stores around me sell earthworms, only home and hardware stores or fishing stores, and I'm not sure on how good their quality would be?
 
I think we need better pictures of the black spots.

Don't do anything drastic like fridging unless one of the real experts says to do so. Changing temperature like that can be stressful, so should only be done if really necessary.

How high is the ammonia/nitrate? That may be important.

Hopefully one of your country-mates can speak to whether bait earthworms are safe over there. Is it possible the pet stores are selling them as "night crawlers"?
 
Thanks for your reply laura!
I'll attempt to get more photos soon, he's currently resting in his little cave so I don't want to disturb him too much, I can't seem to find any images online of what his gills look like either so I'll keep trying!!

I've slowly got them temperature down to a more appropriate temp, so hopefully isn't too stressful for him

Ammonia was at .25 and nitrites were at .5 and nitrates were at 10ppm. Obviously ammonia and nitrites are higher than I would like but like I said I'm having trouble keeping them down as my cycle got all messed up when i went away. Temp is currently at 16C. He's showing no signs of stress like curved tail tip or forward facing gills

I hope so too! Perhaps I'll do another look for them under that name, thanks!!
 
Another slightly better photo, the top 'frond' of his gill has been short since I got him, so that hasn't changed, only the red/black bits
http://i.imgur.com/6nT4xfR.jpg
 
There is a chance the gill tip has just been damaged. Hopefully there's another user that has seen this before.

Since your tank isn't completely cycled your going to need to check your water parameters everyday. What testing kit are you using?

How large are your water changes? How did you get from 20 degrees Celsius down to 16?

Seems like your cycle is half way through now that your seeing readings of NitrAtes.

Beef heart isn't recommended, Axolotls don't eat cows! Blood worms aren't nutritious, and Meal worms have a hard exoskeleton which Axolotls can not properly digest. What brand of 'block Axolotl food' are you using?

Earthworms are the best food for Axolotl, canadian night crawlers (Lumbricus terrestris) are a great staple diet, or 'Red Wigglers (Eisenia foetida). You'll want to ask any bait shops or pet shops where they source their worms, if they are free of pesticides or any other contamination, be very specific that you only want quality worms. Perhaps you may find someone that can recommend somewhere reputable to purchase from.
 
Yeah, I have been testing every day, doing daily/every second day water changes. I use all the API liquid test kits. Daily i've been doing about 20%, today I did 50% as it was a bit higher than usual. I have a chiller, but it doesn't work very well, so I use frozen water bottles (one at a time, making sure it doesn't go down to quickly)

Ahh so many people have recommended me beef heart, I will throw that out. I believe the company is 'fish fuel co', it looks like this: http://cdn3.volusion.com/mvupl.lhrfv/v/vspfiles/photos/Axolotl-Food-2.jpg?1450364125

Yes, I've been searching for someone who sells pet safe worms as I know they're the best diet for them, but I really can't find anything that isn't bait or for a compost bin, no pet stores or aquarium stores sell worms. I will give some places a call and ask for their source! How exactly do you prepare worms to be eaten?

Thanks!
 
Okay that's all good! A chiller is the most consistent way of cooling.

The Axolotl blocks look good.

Worms for compost bins aren't a problem it just depends on whether the worms are sourced from land which uses pesticides or any other chemicals that could have contaminated them. Find out what type of worm they are, ask where they are sourced from.

Your Axolotl is of a size that it could handle a full worm, I myself would just cut them in half if they are particularly long. You can rinse the worms in warm water first, it depends on the type of worm, red wigglers (Eisenia foetida) excrete a foul smelling liquid which can put off Axolotls from eating so rinsing them helps to remove some of this liquid before feeding.
Then just drop in front of the Axolotl or use long forceps to feed by hand!
 
Yes, it was expensive but it does help when it starts getting to 40+ degrees C!!

Okay good, I will move onto only feeding him the blocks while I sort out the earthworms. I actually think someone I know was talking about how they sell red wigglers, but for fishing, so I might have to ask them a little bit more about it. Thank you very much for all your help!! I hope someone else know what happened to his gill, or that it clears on its own :)
 
No problem

Take some really up close clear images if you can. Perhaps find a vet that could give an opinion. Keep a close eye on it
 
Will do, hopefully he will come and show off at the front of the tank so I can get some good ones haha
 
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