EEEEK!!! Morphing Axolotl!!!

Yah its definitely not fluffy, looks like his slimecoats been getting a bit too thick, perhaps from being netted at the store yesterday?

Why would his gills be paler though? I got a good look at them, and they look quite odd, almost shriveled up, they still have filaments on them though, so they'd still be working right?
 
yeah they discolour/shrink normally when stressed ,bad water ect.
mine all have small gills due to aeration of tank.
 
I had a look at the thread, and the links given. If it's still there once I get rid of the fungus, I'll try a tea bath, but one of the articles mentioned tea baths can prevent the salt from taking affect, so just want to make sure the fungusy thing is treated first.
 
Hi Emma

Nice to hear you're taking care of him.

His condition does look similar to 2 of our adults that had been in bad water conditions for several months (owner didn't have the time to look after them anymore hence his selling them) and on pebbles/gravel for 3 years. Slightly bulging eyes, fatter legs compared to our juvies (which I put down to age/maturity), no gill filaments at all on gill stubs, patches on skin especially the wildtype.

The wildtype had similar patches in varying sizes particularly round middle of body, face and tail that didn't really look like the hairy fungus patches, but were a type of grey fungus. I didn't start treating her with saltbaths for fungus till a week or so after getting them and then only for 10minutes at a time as she was pretty skittish compared to our juvies. The gill filaments did grow back in eventually albeit a little sparse and tiny, more like men's regrowth after few days of no shaving! They also hung round alot at the top trying to climb on the filter till I added an airstone and a few stacked pieces of slate if they wanted to get higher.

Our wildtype axie gill stubs are actually grey under their gill filaments, similar to yours, and although we have 2 very dark/almost black looking wildtypes - if you look close at their heads they do look like little black/dark dot markings with slightly lighter colour contrast in between -
 
Well just finsihed changing the water in his tank again LOL, not too sure he likes it, he's sulking in a cave now. poor fella. I'm going to keep up twice daily water changes for a week or so, as they only take a minute to do, and I'm hoping the fresh clean water will do him good. Once he starts looking better and the fungus goes, I'll introduce a cycled filter and bring the water level up to its normal height (30-40cm as opposed to the 10cm in there now).

Thanks for that, I'm not so worried bout his funny gills, must be just some odd melanoid thing then. Will definitely keep an eye on it.

So assuming he isn't morphing, how long after he returns to full health do I need to wait before introducing him to Pendragon, my other axie? Should I wait an extra month just to be sure?
 
i would wait at least 30 days thats the reccommeneded quarantine on here.
then you will have to make sure they are of similar size or else they could attack each other think they are food lol.
i would try a tank seperater when you first put them in the same tank to get them used to seeing each other first
 
I would do an extended quarantine, if you've got the space. 60 days (or even longer) is not unheard of in zoos, especially when illness is present.
 
Yup got plenty of quarantine tubs hanging around, he can stay in his as long as it's needed. He's the same size as Pendragon at the mo, so hopefully they should both grow at the same rate.
 
Just did the first clean out/salt bath for the day. The gunk on his tail is looking different, like it's cracking up, might mean it'll fall off soon, well I hope so anyway.
 
Juts doing the second salt dip/water change now. Learnt something interesting as well, he is a she, Morpheus has the funny slightly paler fingernails I've read about which are meant to appear at sexual maturity, but a very small cloaca. If she's sexual mature, what age whereabouts does that make her? Shes about 7 inches long from nose to the tip of her tail.

Her gills are sitting properly again as well, standing out from the head rather then being flat against it.
 
Pale toe tips are not necessarily an indicator of sexual maturity. They're a sign that the axolotl is reaching sexual maturity, but aren't indicative.

At 7 inches, I'd say it's a young adult. But without knowing hatching date, there's really no way to tell.
 
Hey, do some axolotls just naturally handfeed? Morpheus loves being handfed and will eat and eat that way, though he'll eat food off the bottom as well. I just found it interesting as he'll snap at my hands when I'm moving things around food or no food.
 
Some will some won't! If they get given easy food in reach (ie handfeeding) then they tend to get lazy when it comes to hunting out their food and won't move round as much (as much as they seem to :D ), and will just wait for the hand that feeds them to come around!
 
LOl he'll be eating from a food bowl when he moves to a proper tank, but since the water level is low in the quarantine tank it's easier to handfeed him. Since if I drop it in he's over there waiting to be handfed in seconds anyway LOL.

Find it amusing though, I got him to eat some freeze dried whole shrimp which he seemed to enjoy.
 
Could anyone help with identifying the white patch on Morpheus' tail? I'm starting to think it may not be fungus. I can't get a better pic but heres a description

It's raised maybe half a mm and sits on the skin, it doesn't look to be part of the skin. It's made up of little white blobs, sort of cell like which sit there, almost like a cluster of eggs. They don't brush off, as I've tried that already and the salt doesn't seem to be helping, at first it looked like the cells were breaking part, but I've been watching him and as he swims the cracks come and go, depending on which way his tail stretches. It's not fluffy and the things are almost hard.
 
Uuuh axolotls aren't meant to blink are they? Morpheus just started doing it today, must say it's rather disconcerting. But I'm 99% certain that aquatic creatures have no use of eyelids

Help???? Please!!!
 
Sorry don't know about the hard skin crack on your axolotl. The marks I described on ours, I didn't touch at all as I tried to avoid handling them as much as possible as they were stressed as it was, and the fungus mark wasn't furry, but eventually came off! Axolotls don't really blink, but when they eat, especially the adults their eyes sort of pop in and out a bit which can be mistaken for a blink, if they're eating/swallowing or regurgitating food/something. I freaked when I first saw it happening as it wasn't noticeable with our first set of axies which were juveniles.
 
This wasn't when he was eating. I just fed him to check, and this was definitely blinking. The eyes didn't go in, they had an eyelid come down over them. When he was eating his eyes went inwards and sort of got smaller, but there was no change in the size/shape of his eyes. He just well blinked.

I think I'll leave the funny mark for now, as he's had 9 salt baths with no change.

One thing though, I was planning on filling the tub back to the top and adding a filter since it appeared that he'd just had a rough time, but wasn't morphing. But the whole blinking thing has me worried...
 
I would say that if the salt baths have had no effect, then it probably isn't fungus. The appearance is unusual - it doesn't look like the "usual" fungus, if it is fungus at all. I think if I were you, I'd stop the salt baths.

I've seen sals pull their eyes shut on occasion. As Kapo says, it's usually when they're eating something large, but sometimes they'll just do it spontaneously. I've never seen an axolotl do this, but it wouldn't surprise me that they are able to. I wouldn't worry about it.
 
Except it's not pulling their eyes in to eat, the eyes don't change shape, they have eyelids go over the top, the eyes don't change at all. It's like a human blinking, our eyes don't suddenly get pulled into the head. I know what the eyes going into the head thing looks like, and this wasn't it.

I've stopped salt baths and introduced a filter, his water level is still low, should I fill it up? or just leave it as is?
 
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