Is my axolotl sick?

[EasternRomioi3]

Can anyone help me, I'm worrying so bad over this. I'm gonna attach photos that I took over the course of the week. The second to last one, with her poking her head out from behind the drift wood, she likes to chill behind it in the morning and when I come over she always swims out to greet me. That last one was taken last night, right before feeding her. When she swam up to take the worm, she sucked it in and pulled it down, real quick, and that stuff came off her. I've been checking her all night and her gills are spotless now. She's swimming around ok, her tank is at like 68 degrees Fahrenheit, best I can do with this heatwave. We're taking her water to get tested on Monday, I can't get to the aquarium store before hand because they close before I get out of a work and I work an open to close tomorrow. Several people on the forums have said she looks good and healthy, I just need to know. I am very upset over this, please, if anyone can give me a good, solid opinion on what that was on her gills, let me know.

We did have an incident last night, before I fed her, I was trying to fed her, and my mom's idiot cat fell into the tank. I got him out immediately before he could tip the tank, he didn't mean to fall in. Then I replaced the last water, covered her up, and went for a drive for an hour because I was too upset. I came home, fed her, noticed that stuff on her. Could it just be stress from the cat falling in? Please let me know. I don't want my axolotl to be sick or die, I need her. She makes me happy, she's my only pet.

 

[AlexisJG]

Hi. I don’t see much from the photos but I am going to comment to help best I can, I would purchase the API freshwater test master kit and keep it on hand. It isn’t cheap but it’s so worth it. She looks okay to me, it could be a slime film in the tank and there are articles on that, I don’t think it’s fatal but you definitely don’t want it in there long term. If you’re ever worried about her skin, I recommend a 100% black tea bath (make sure the ingredients ONLY say black tea). How to do it is you brew the tea and let it cool, put water conditioner in it and put it in the fridge over night, then take it out until it’s the same temp as the water the axie is in and then put her in there for 5-15 minutes. No longer than 15 minutes, I usually do 5-9 minutes because they don’t relatively like it but it’s way less stressful than a salt bath in my opinion. Best of luck, I am hoping the best for your baby

 

[EasternRomioi3]

Oh good, thank you, thank you. I've been up worrying so much since the cat fell in. Thank you.

Like I said, Monday, I'm going to get her water tested and I don't care if I need to use my credit card, I'll get her the kit she needs. We have a professional aquarium dealer in our area, his name carries a lot of weight, one of the oldest businesses in our town, so if he doesn't have it in stock, he can order it. Thank you for putting my mind at ease. I've been having a real rough 2 days because of all this.

And the black tea you say? You mean like Chinese black tea? If it is the Chinese kind I am familiar with, I probably have some, but I know where to get the real stuff.

Question about water conditioner. I have a packet of it, never used it because I had pre-treated water for her, my dad owns turtles and a larger, aquatic reptile/beast, and he keeps a large supply of fresh, clean, dechrolinated water on hand. We just put it in the fridge to cool it down since the beast needs her water above 80 degrees. So IF I need to add that to my axolotl's water, I NEED to remove her from the water, correct? I get so worried I'm gonna do something wrong, and then when I try to read up on it, I get super worried, get like, hypochondriac-like for my axolotls health. I don't get like that for my own health, just hers.

 

[AlexisJG]

Oh good, thank you, thank you. I've been up worrying so much since the cat fell in. Thank you.

Like I said, Monday, I'm going to get her water tested and I don't care if I need to use my credit card, I'll get her the kit she needs. We have a professional aquarium dealer in our area, his name carries a lot of weight, one of the oldest businesses in our town, so if he doesn't have it in stock, he can order it. Thank you for putting my mind at ease. I've been having a real rough 2 days because of all this.

And the black tea you say? You mean like Chinese black tea? If it is the Chinese kind I am familiar with, I probably have some, but I know where to get the real stuff.

Question about water conditioner. I have a packet of it, never used it because I had pre-treated water for her, my dad owns turtles and a larger, aquatic reptile/beast, and he keeps a large supply of fresh, clean, dechrolinated water on hand. We just put it in the fridge to cool it down since the beast needs her water above 80 degrees. So IF I need to add that to my axolotl's water, I NEED to remove her from the water, correct? I get so worried I'm gonna do something wrong, and then when I try to read up on it, I get super worried, get like, hypochondriac-like for my axolotls health. I don't get like that for my own health, just hers.

I understand what you mean about their health I am the same way, I’ve only had my babies for almost 2 months and have been going through it while learning I don’t think I’ve ever done so much research in my life but it’s all for my babies so I don’t mind. I use tap water so I use the PRIME water conditioner, if your water is preconditioned you may not need to but it’s not very expensive so I would still recommend keeping it on hand just in case. What I do is I have 5 gallon buckets and I just measure out how much water conditioner and treat it before the water change (luckily it’s very hard to overdose so if it’s not exact it will be okay) and I use clean Ice packs to cool the water to the same temp before pouring the water in. Also about the tea bath, it is just plain black tea in the tea aisle at a grocery/convenience store it’s like the cheapest tea you can buy just look on the back at the ingredients and it should only have “black tea” listed.

 

[EasternRomioi3]

Ok, so the ice packs, I use them to keep her tank cool. I have 6 I rotate in and out, I float them on the top so she doesn't bump into them, keeps her tank nice and cool. I also have a fan, to really help.

And I've done more research before in my life, all my years of college, yadda yadda, but this is the hardest stuff to go through. My mom's a mean vet, and she doesn't even know anyone who will see amphibians, let alone know what an axolotl is. I mean, my mom's a big animal vet, like horses and cows, she didn't even know what an axolotl was, and I was like "A mud puppy" and she was like "a what?" Which is hilarious because my area has tons of mud puppies that grow up into newts, she's seen these! She hates my axolotl, says she's ugly.

Mine is 2 years old, she was originally my best friends but she had to move like 1,200 miles west, and we agreed it would be best for me to keep the axolotl because a 3 day car ride would have assuredly killed her. She's only had one health problem in all this time, last summer, something startled her and she smacked into the glass and cut her face up. That's what the two bumps on her face are from, they healed just fine but are like little pockets of scar tissue it looks like.

Thanks again for helping me. I've been up way too long worrying about her. Thank you. What kind of axolotl did you get? Color wise, I mean.