Gills

[samthewhale]

Hey guys. I got two 4 month old axolotls on tuesday and I'm a bit worried about their gills. They are slightly forward facing and I'm not sure if it's to do with the fact they can't control them properly or if it's due to other reasons. They're in a 127 litre tank, at around 20-22 Celsius. They're eating their food fine too. I've turned off their water filter and will leave that off for a few days to see if their gills move back. The lady I bought them from were keeping them in awful conditions (2 fully grown adults in a 40 litre tank, 15-20 4 month old in another 40 litre tank) How long does it normally take for their gills to become more relaxed? Are the gills because of their old tank, my tank, or because they can't control them? Pictures can be provided if needed

 

[Axolottie]

I would provide some pictures so we could better understand just how far they're facing forward
One of my axies sometimes has 1 gill that curls and other days its "normal" so it could possibly just be that their gills are more curled than others.
It's sad how little room those axies had though! I don't know how people can look at a full grown axie and think it's small enough to just live in a tiny tank.. let alone 2..

 

[samthewhale]

Here you go! This is a pic of wasabi's gills, Sushi's are pretty much the same. Again they could be perfectly fine but I just want to make sure because you can never be too cautious. Also there is a lot of white stuff in my tank, but I don't know how to get rid of it. After adding fine sand it happened, and no amount of cycling has got rid of it. I've even replaced about 80% of the water. Any help with that would also be appreciated