Loss of Appetite, Erratic Swimming, Digging, and White Gill Tips; Tank Parameters are Fine

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ThatHistoryGuy94

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Let's get the technical stuff out of the way.
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
<20 nitrate
7.4 pH
63F
29 gallon tank with sand substrate, HOB and sponge filter.
Axolotl is pooping normally (once every 5-7 days)

My 1 year old axolotl has recently been acting erratic. Two weeks ago it suddenly began refusing nightcrawlers (taking it in its mouth and then spitting them back out and swimming away). I gave bloodworms and pellets but they don't seem interested in those either. Yesterday night, I found them swimming erratically, making loops and sometimes snapping at its own tail. I came close to the tank and it calmed down and rested. This morning, I found it gently levitating against her hide (back legs on the hide and the front of her body floating over the side) and noticed that there was an area around her plant that was excavated and pellets from her dish scattered everywhere. I also noticed the tips of her gills turning white (see photo).

I did recently remove some PVC pipe from her tank she used as a hide as a juvenile to give them more space, but I've never seen them behave as erratically as last night. I'm beginning to enter panic mode as I'm worried they might be sick and don't know what could be causing the issue or how to calm them down and get them to eat.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 

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The problem sounds potentially neurological. Do you have a video of the behavior?
 
I'll see if I can get one. The behaviour tends to happen at night when the house lights are off.
 
If it's happening at night, it might not be erratic behavior either. A good video would definitely help - they are nocturnal, remember.
 
I am no expert by any means but mine recently went through a spell where it was swimming erratically ona few occasions and scratching at it's gills. He ended up having some fungus growing on them so I'd keep an eye out for fuzzy, cotton-like growths on the gills, body, etc. Mine acted normally the whole time with exception to the erratic swimming. He had a few tea baths, which caused the fungus to fall off very quickly, did some frequent water changes and added a small amount of aquarium salt to try to prevent the fungus from recurring. He's been great since.
Good luck.
 
So far I've not seen the spinning, but she's continued to dig and has been relatively active during the evening and mornings when I see her. Today I came home from work and found she had moved her food pellets from her food bowl into the corner, had tried to dig a hole in said corner, and eventually went into her hide.
 
ThatHistoryGuy94 said:
So far I've not seen the spinning, but she's continued to dig and has been relatively active during the evening and mornings when I see her. Today I came home from work and found she had moved her food pellets from her food bowl into the corner, had tried to dig a hole in said corner, and eventually went into her hide.
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Has she eaten anything from the dish or does she just knock it over???

This sounds like it could either be irritation from some minor fungal infection or just a very hyperactive axolotl during the night. They are notorious landscapers so digging things up is expected.
 
Autistic Catholic said:
Has she eaten anything from the dish or does she just knock it over???

This sounds like it could either be irritation from some minor fungal infection or just a very hyperactive axolotl during the night. They are notorious landscapers so digging things up is expected.
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She was on a regular feeding schedule of 1 nightcrawler every other day. When she started rejecting them I gave her pellets (she ate them as a juvie) and a block of bloodworms, rotating them every 2 days. It seems last night she decided to do some renovations and move all the pellets.

Part of me thinks that maybe she's reabsorbing eggs since I'm convinced she's a female. I've watched her diligently for fungus (inspecting her every day with a flashlight). I've just never seen behaviour like this, and I'm stuck between "axolotls are just weird creatures" to "my axie has a brain infection and I'm scared."
 
ThatHistoryGuy94 said:
She was on a regular feeding schedule of 1 nightcrawler every other day. When she started rejecting them I gave her pellets (she ate them as a juvie) and a block of bloodworms, rotating them every 2 days. It seems last night she decided to do some renovations and move all the pellets.

Part of me thinks that maybe she's reabsorbing eggs since I'm convinced she's a female. I've watched her diligently for fungus (inspecting her every day with a flashlight). I've just never seen behaviour like this, and I'm stuck between "axolotls are just weird creatures" to "my axie has a brain infection and I'm scared."
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We can't diagnose a brain infection, unfortunately so if you are suspecting that, you might want to look into booking a vet appointment. If she's reabsorbing eggs, then yeah, they usually don't eat when doing that. So she is or is not eating anything? How long has she been not eating?
 
Autistic Catholic said:
We can't diagnose a brain infection, unfortunately so if you are suspecting that, you might want to look into booking a vet appointment. If she's reabsorbing eggs, then yeah, they usually don't eat when doing that. So she is or is not eating anything? How long has she been not eating?
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She managed to eat some bloodworms earlier this week. Perhaps it's better to say her appetite is severely diminished, and that she's rejecting her usual earthworms alongside the other unusual behaviour
 
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