is this fungus or natural?

[ryan3640]

Hey guys, I'm not sure if Albi (golden one) has a fungus or not. i've seen a lot of golden albino's with white marks but i just wanna make sure

 

[Blackhawk IV]

Hello, it looks to me as though it is natural, the white spots look quite like the skin pattern you get with axolotls

Blackhawk

 

[ryan3640]

Thanks for that. I was just worried it could spread to wilbur (he's hanging out in the plant in the photo) so i just wanted to make sure. thanks

 

[philbaker76]

Hi Ryan, yeah spots are normal. But, I'd consider changing gravel for sand - and maybe look at getting a bigger tank.

Cheers, Phil

 

[Saspotato]

As Phil said, you need to remove your gravel asap as your axolotls can ingest them and it can cause impaction. Sand or a bare floor are good substrate options. Also how big is your tank? It does look on the small side for two axolotls. Floor space is more important than height.

The colouring does look natural though. Fungus is kind of furry/fluffy like cotton wool.

 

[sharelkaye]

I agree you should get a bigger tank like a 20 gallon long or something like a turtle tank thats long and short cause these guys don't need alot of depth but length. like they said also sand is the best substrate if not alot bigger rocks bigger than their head so they can't eat it also the rocks can trap alot of left over food and debree so sad is alot neater and look at other threads to see how to change and add sand to limit the clouding and the spots look normal for a gold axie mine have them too and i asked the same thing. Good luck!

 

[ryan3640]

the tank is 65 litres (50x50x35cm). I know you guys have said its too small but my guys swim all over the place so they havent seemed to be stressed as they are using the depth to their advantage. also i feed them worms using tweezers so they havent really eaten anything off the gravel yet. should i still change it to sand?

 

[Kaysie]

It's not normal for adult axolotls to swim a lot. If they are swimming all the time, it's stress. The tank really is too small for 2 adults. I wouldn't put 2 adults in anything less than a 20gallon long (76x30x30cm).

If you don't think they're eating gravel, put them in a bowl for a couple of days, and see how much gravel they poo out. They're eating it, whether you think they are or not. Try doing a forum search for other people who have done this. Some axolotls have retained gravel for 2 years.