Hello Axolotl keepers! please help!

[MuffinPeanut]

Hey everyone! I'm really worried about my little lotl (his name is Muffin) and I've had him for about 11 months now without many problems other than lots of ammonia which I have been doing water changes to fix (this is an ongoing problem but I love my little bubbies and have been doing so many water tests and changes to try and rectify this) but I've got a lot of concerns at the moment and I'm looking for any advice you experienced axolotl parents are willing to provide!



About a week and a half ago, Muffin didnt seem interested in eating much, and my partner and I noticed the tip of his tail was starting to curl up, which we know is a sign of stress. It gets real hot here in australia so i immediately thought it might be the temp (sitting at about 20 degrees and so I moved him to the fridge in a big ol storage tub . He still hasn't eaten since, but he seems to be getting a little bit worse and maybe I'm a hypochondriac but I'm super stressed and here are the things that are worrying me:

- hes albino and his little gills are bright red, seem smaller and are facing forwards now.
- his dorsal fin is shrinking and runs in a thin strip to the end of his tail but it's not as big as it used to be.
- his tail is still curled.
- hes not eating or even nibbling at my fingers when I try to feed him.... its so unlike him. He seems lethargic and keeps popping up for air, staying at the top of the tub for ages and I'm not sure why
- it looks as if hes got these tiny red veins all over his body and I dont know if those have always been there or not but they're concerning -
My second thought was ammonia burns or fungus but I have no experience with either of these and all I have to go off is pictures and over reading on the internet, and theres so much conflicting information


I changed the water in his little fridge tub this morning (which is sitting at 6 degrees and 0.25 ammonia- I know this is bad but not nearly as bad as it has been in the past )

The only other thing I could even consider was a very low ph (about 5.5 in the main tank) but that should have been rectified when I put him in the fridge. Have you guys got any advice on naturally raising PH levels (as I am hesitant to use pH up while my lotls are in the tank )

I am just at such a loss and I feel like an awful axolotl mother. Dont have any vets to go to in the area as they dont deal with lotls so I'm on my own here and so so so worried.

Please help! I just want him to eat and feel happy again.


Thankyou (+sorry for the long post!)
Emily

 

[Hayleyy]

Firstly the issue you're having with the ammonia, check the levels in your tap water before adding conditioner, if you haven't already. I live in Sydney and my local supply already has ammonia, I use a conditioner (seachem prime) that detoxifies it so it isn't harmful to my axies until the bacteria breaks it down. What conditioner have you been using?
Being in the fridge Muffin will probably not want to eat, so that could explain why he doesn't want to eat right now. While in the fridge the temps are cold enough to cause lethargy, so that is completely normal. What you could do is take his tub out of the fridge and let it get to 17-18 degrees and see how his behaviour is.
His gills being red is usually fine, it happens to light coloured axies when they are excited/moving a lot. I get it with my copper as he has red gills too.
Can you test the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in the main tank and post the results here? I'd imagine that is where the cause will be, especially since you're having trouble with ammonia. What do you have to cool the tank in summer, a fan or chiller? If you don't have a chiller I would highly recommend one especially since the next few months are probably going to be h o r r i b l e
For the pH you don't want to use those additives, I use little coral chunks in my tropical fish aquarium as it sits low. Any fish store that have saltwater fish should have some, they usually sell it by weight, and you won't need a lot. You can add a little bit at a time to slowly increase pH to where you want it. In my fish tank I just have it in a little terracotta pot (from Kmart) but for axies I would put it in a mesh bag or stocking so they don't accidentally eat any, either in the tank itself or wedged into the filter somewhere. pH can decrease if there is debris in the tank so check it over for anything decomposing- food, plants or poop. Or, if the tank hasn't properly cycled it can cause pH drops.
Don't feel like a bad mother, everyone has issues they encounter with their pets! You're trying to fix it which is what matters
Sorry this turned out a long response, but I hope it helps!

 

[MuffinPeanut]

Thankyou so much for your reply! Unfortunately we came home yesterday to find Muffin upside down in his little fridge tub and so we were about to bury the little guy when we picked him up out of the water he started squirming just a little bit! We rushed him to the vet and they told us he has contracted septicemia which is terrible but hes being fridged with an injection of antibiotics every 3 days at the moment and we are hoping so hard hes going to pull through.


As for the ammonia problems, we currently have some little zeolite bits in there in a stocking in the filter but in the main tank it's still getting to 0.4 which is so high. It feels like its been 11 months and the tank STILL hasnt cycled
Tested my tap water and it was pure 0ppm so I dont know what's happening to my poor bubbies, we clean all of their food and poop immediately with a turkey baster and do a 20 percent change weekly but still that pesky ammonia climbs like no ones business.

We use a chiller at the moment but it's not fantastic- it keeps them juuuust cool enough though. Might have to look into another one.

I use Fluval water conditioner


Also i love your little dudes names. That's adorable
Hoping that my bubby pulls through this with crossed little fingers!

 

[MuffinPeanut]

Update2- he is dead. I am heartbroken. Thankyou everyone for trying to help save him.
Heres hoping hes in a better place now.

 

[Hayleyy]

Oh I am so sorry, as soon as I saw the word septicemia my heart broke for you It's a really difficult one for an axolotl to pull through, most of the times I've seen they don't make it. You made the right decision getting to a vet. I'll attach a post from a while ago where someone had a bad septicemia outbreak, mostly because they have given instructions on how to sterilise the tank and everything in it. https://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=111821
Do you have any other axolotls?
Wishing you all the best

 

[MuffinPeanut]

Hi there, yes I have another lil dude called Peanut,he seems fine, behaving and eating normally, but we had been keeping them in a separate tub anyway just in case. Peanut's had his own tub in the fridge for about 2 weeks now. We need to pop him back in his tank soon (as I share a fridge with a housemate who is moving out and taking the fridge) this morning we made sure to do a total clean out and get all of our water out so hopefully there's none of the nasty bacteria left.
thankyou for your support and help, hayley

 

[Hayleyy]

No problem, goodluck with it! If you clean the tank out be prepared to tub the axie because the cycle will probably crash