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First day - Leucistic Axolotl w damaged gill overnight

catstralnaut

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*edit* reposted thread in sick axies

I am a first time Axolotl owner and took home my first baby Leucistic yesterday. He’s just under 4” long and I’ve got him in a 20 gallon long tank with a sponge filter with an airflow valve, of which i have reduced to create the most minimal amount of bubbles. He’s got a cave, a big ol’ piece of mopani driftwood with some faux plants as well as live frog bit floating at the surface, some java fern, and a couple anubias that are glued to the log. I bought the live plants from a local seller who included some guppy fry. I added them to the tank solo last weekend to help kick start the cycle and offer the new dude a little treat upon his arrival.

I’m checking the water parameters daily since his arrival. Not producing any nitrates yet so I have done partial water changes both days so far to keep the ammonia under 0.25 ppm. I have yet to invent a diy plastic mesh panel on the backside of my glass canopy top to help with cooling when i’m away from home and don’t wanna leave the top open, but his water temp has been sitting at just under 20 degrees C. I’m hoping to do this tomorrow to ensure the temperature stays nice and cool for him over the summer when i am away at work during the day.

Upon bringing him home and introducing him to the tank, I noticed he’s not all that interested in the guppy fry so I separated the males into a different tank in case of breeding as i’m not set up to sustain that in the long run.

Here is a pic of him on day 1:
0C4DB18D-27A8-4DB0-84B3-69AC4DB2718F.jpeg

with his full, happy gills.

Here is a pic of him in the morning of day 2:
47D15AD7-08D6-4C57-9102-770173677AF5.jpeg
98CB70FF-2C64-4894-921C-E7BD1BD3BBC6.jpeg

with his pink tips missing from one of his gills. I’ve been monitoring him over the course of the day and it hasn’t changed much, but the white fuzzies are worrying me that it might be columnaris. If it were columnaris - will it spread to his other gills? My other potential worry is that the fry tried feeding on his gills overnight while i was sleeping. I haven’t removed the 4 females yet (they’re all only about 1/2” long rn) but have been watching them all day. They swim up to and around him but I have not witnessed them picking on him. They have plenty of their own food to eat as well as the uneaten blood worms, so they can’t be starving.

i know these little dudes can regenerate damaged tissue, so I am wondering what I can do to help him get better and/or possible suggests on what you might think is causing it. He’s eating all his blood worms, hiding out in and around his cave, and swimming up for gulps of air at a normal seeming rate. He did a little float down from a gulp of air today and landed belly first on a piece of the driftwood and something seemed to spook him and he took off in obvious fear (as it was the fastest i had seen him move since being here) then hid for several hours. I inspected the log and didn’t find any sharp bits but proceeded to file down some edges around where he freaked out, just in case.

what do y’all think? this is my new obsession and i guess there is no amount of research to prepare you for the helplessness you feel when you notice damaged gills. i don’t want to cause him any unneeded stress, should i just remove the guppies? How long, on average, does it take to start to see improvement? I just got him and don’t really want to fridge him right away, unless i have to.
 
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catstralnaut

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here is a pic of the full tank, for reference.
image.jpg

i forgot to mention i am cycling the tank with a bio starter as the pet store advised against the straight ammonia method. since i posted this, rizla has scraped the fuzz off by travelling from back to front under the driftwood. i guess i will continue to monitor whether the fuzzy growth returns, although i’m almost certain it will.
B9AA20DB-742F-4B21-BEDF-474F3D9AA893.jpeg
 
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AMurry24537

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here is a pic of the full tank, for reference.
View attachment 88882

i forgot to mention i am cycling the tank with a bio starter as the pet store advised against the straight ammonia method. since i posted this, rizla has scraped the fuzz off by travelling from back to front under the driftwood. i guess i will continue to monitor whether the fuzzy growth returns, although i’m almost certain it will.
View attachment 88883
It looks like fungus. I know you mentioned ammonia and nitrate levels, but what are your nitrites and ph? What kind of test kit are you using? And approximately what percentage of the water are you changing daily?
 

catstralnaut

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It looks like fungus. I know you mentioned ammonia and nitrate levels, but what are your nitrites and ph? What kind of test kit are you using? And approximately what percentage of the water are you changing daily?
i am using the api master test kit and tested for nitrites on his first day and it was 0. i didn’t test for them today because i mixed up nitrites and nitrates in my head since they were both 0 yesterday..
on his first day i did a 50% water change because i moved all the male guppies, and his second day (today) did a 20% water change. the ph tested today at 8.2. what type of water conditions cause the fungus?
 

AMurry24537

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i am using the api master test kit and tested for nitrites on his first day and it was 0.
on his first day i did a 50% water change because i moved all the male guppies, and his second day (today) did a 20% water change. the ph tested today at 8.2. what type of water conditions cause the fungus? could it be due to the fact that the tank is not cycled?
An uncycled tank can definitely lead to fungus. Fungus is usually caused by the buildup of ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates, or by insufficient cleaning and water changes. You will need to cycle your tank to prevent this issue.

Basically, when you cycle a tank, this is what happens: axolotls (and really all aquatic creatures) produce ammonia. In its basic form, ammonia is highly toxic to axolotls and can kill them. You want your ammonia levels to always be at 0. During cycling, however, ammonia builds up until bacteria grow that can eat ammonia and produce nitrites, which are also toxic and should be kept at 0. Until the bacteria can convert ammonia, you will not have nitrites. Once the nitrites build up, bacteria grows that converts them into nitrates, which are fine, as long as they are kept below 40 ppm.

Right now, you are probably facing a buildup of ammonia and possibly nitrites. You have a few options.

1. Tub your axolotl immediately in fresh, dechlorinated water and do 100% water changes every 24 hours (more often if you get any kind of ammonia result from a daily water test). I recommend treating the water with SeaChem Prime, which binds ammonia temporarily in a safe form. Purchase liquid ammonia and add it to your tank to help get the cycle going. Once it's fully complete (with ammonia and nitrites remaining always at 0) you can re-add the axolotl.

2. Keep the axolotl in the tank, add SeaChem Prime, and do at least 50% water changes every 12 hours. You can do more water more often, but this is the minimum, especially since you have a fungus situation.


You could also give your axolotl tea baths (there are guides on this site) or even add some tea directly to the tank. It must be 100% black tea (no additives), and should be brewed in dechlorinated water and the chilled before adding it to the tank. I personally recommend about 8 oz. of tea per 10 gallons. At this low of a concentration, you can just add it and once the water is clear again from all the water changes you'll be doing, you can retreat the water.
 

catstralnaut

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An uncycled tank can definitely lead to fungus. Fungus is usually caused by the buildup of ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates, or by insufficient cleaning and water changes. You will need to cycle your tank to prevent this issue.

Basically, when you cycle a tank, this is what happens: axolotls (and really all aquatic creatures) produce ammonia. In its basic form, ammonia is highly toxic to axolotls and can kill them. You want your ammonia levels to always be at 0. During cycling, however, ammonia builds up until bacteria grow that can eat ammonia and produce nitrites, which are also toxic and should be kept at 0. Until the bacteria can convert ammonia, you will not have nitrites. Once the nitrites build up, bacteria grows that converts them into nitrates, which are fine, as long as they are kept below 40 ppm.

Right now, you are probably facing a buildup of ammonia and possibly nitrites. You have a few options.

1. Tub your axolotl immediately in fresh, dechlorinated water and do 100% water changes every 24 hours (more often if you get any kind of ammonia result from a daily water test). I recommend treating the water with SeaChem Prime, which binds ammonia temporarily in a safe form. Purchase liquid ammonia and add it to your tank to help get the cycle going. Once it's fully complete (with ammonia and nitrites remaining always at 0) you can re-add the axolotl.

2. Keep the axolotl in the tank, add SeaChem Prime, and do at least 50% water changes every 12 hours. You can do more water more often, but this is the minimum, especially since you have a fungus situation.


You could also give your axolotl tea baths (there are guides on this site) or even add some tea directly to the tank. It must be 100% black tea (no additives), and should be brewed in dechlorinated water and the chilled before adding it to the tank. I personally recommend about 8 oz. of tea per 10 gallons. At this low of a concentration, you can just add it and once the water is clear again from all the water changes you'll be doing, you can retreat the water.
thank you for the great explanation of the nitrogen cycle!

the axolotl experts at the exotic pet store i got my little dude at advised highly against doing a “fishless cycle” with straight ammonia. they also advised that it would be fine to add the axie in along with regular water changes and beneficial bacteria which i have been adding daily after my partial water changes. it’s only been two days since he’s been in the tank, and 6 days since the tank was set up with about 12 guppy fry and some live plants.

i guess i am hoping that he was only susceptible to the fungus as he might have been stressed by the big move as the experts were very insistent that i should be able to cycle with him in the tank, but i will continue to monitor him and if it occurs again tomorrow morning i might have to try it to avoid stress for the both of us!
 

catstralnaut

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24 hour update!

i woke up and his gill hasn’t formed any new fungus today, thankfully! tested the water levels and went from 0ppm for ammonia (and nitrite/nitrate) after our 20% water change yesterday to 0.5ppm ammonia and still 0 for the others with a ph of 8.0. gonna do another 20-30% water change today and retest for ammonia - but i’m thinking the higher ammonia level due to an uncycled tank plus the stress of the move is maybe what gave the fungus a chance to grow. he almost caught one of the guppies in his food gulp, too! so i’m just gonna leave the 4 females in there and keep monitoring their behaviour to make sure they’re not picking on him.

new owner = excessive worry 😅 i just want my little dude happy and healthy. i realize keeping him in the tank during the cycling is maybe not the best for this, but i will just be sure to monitor the water conditions and perform daily water changes until we can get fully cycled. i do a daily clean up of the glass bottom as well since i’ve been feeding the guppies crushed up dried blood worms which is only adding to the ammonia levels, but as long as i’m monitoring them and performing my water changes i should be fine?

i’m just wondering now how long do you generally leave the uneaten blood worms in there? they no doubt will only add to the ammonia spike but i don’t wanna take them away because i notice he will generally find and eat them later. i’ve been feeding one frozen cube per day - defrosting it in some tank water and feeding him with a turkey baster but there are always leftovers at the end.
 

AMurry24537

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24 hour update!

i woke up and his gill hasn’t formed any new fungus today, thankfully! tested the water levels and went from 0ppm for ammonia (and nitrite/nitrate) after our 20% water change yesterday to 0.5ppm ammonia and still 0 for the others with a ph of 8.0. gonna do another 20-30% water change today and retest for ammonia - but i’m thinking the higher ammonia level due to an uncycled tank plus the stress of the move is maybe what gave the fungus a chance to grow. he almost caught one of the guppies in his food gulp, too! so i’m just gonna leave the 4 females in there and keep monitoring their behaviour to make sure they’re not picking on him.

new owner = excessive worry 😅 i just want my little dude happy and healthy. i realize keeping him in the tank during the cycling is maybe not the best for this, but i will just be sure to monitor the water conditions and perform daily water changes until we can get fully cycled. i do a daily clean up of the glass bottom as well since i’ve been feeding the guppies crushed up dried blood worms which is only adding to the ammonia levels, but as long as i’m monitoring them and performing my water changes i should be fine?

i’m just wondering now how long do you generally leave the uneaten blood worms in there? they no doubt will only add to the ammonia spike but i don’t wanna take them away because i notice he will generally find and eat them later. i’ve been feeding one frozen cube per day - defrosting it in some tank water and feeding him with a turkey baster but there are always leftovers at the end.
Given your currently high ammonia levels, I wouldn't leave uneaten food in there for more than half an hour. If you can plop it down right in front of their faces, most aquatic animals should eat their food within just a few minutes
 
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