Mucus patches?

[JLCoolJ]

Hey everyone,

I've been doing some more axolotl reading this morning and read about the presence of mucus patches appearing on the axolotl's skin. I think that my wild-type has some of these patches and would love a second opinion.

Axolotls moved into their new tank about 2 and a half weeks ago and it's still cycling.
Ammonia: 0.5
Nitrate: 0
Temperature: 17.5C consistently

I'm suddenly very worried about him although he hasn't had any loss of appetite and I'm still finding poops in the tank. Doing 20% water changes everyday. Looking at photos of him, he seems to have had these slightly paler patches ever since I got him. I don't know if I'm making a fuss out of nothing or not but I'll attach some photos and hopefully someone can help! The photos of him are over a period of time with the first ones being from when he was younger and the last 2 were taken yesterday. Thanks x

 

[EmbryH]

I don't have experience with mucus patches, but I do know that the colors of an axie will change over time. Maybe that's all this is? If he's behaving normally and is still eating, then I wouldn't be too concerned. If you start seeing signs of stress like curled gills on so on, then it might be time to worry. But see what the more experienced users here have to say as well.


Also... I'VE SEEN YOU ON TUMBLR AND YOU'RE LIKE ONE OF THE FEW WHO ACTUALLY HAS PRETTY AXIES THAT AREN'T KEPT ON TINY DEATH GRAVEL!

 

[NeekaLovesYou]

White, slimy, "mucus" like patches are usually caused when axolotls are having to cope with long periods of too warm a temperature. Too warm a temperature can make an axolotl very ill, very quickly - Now for the good news! He looks perfectly healthy to me. You've got a nice low temperature and as said, had the patches been something to do with temps in the past, the little fellow probably wouldn't still be with us. From the pictures, the patches seem to have "grown" as he has, thus making me think it is part of his coloration/pigmentation - or lack of it where the patches exist! I don't think there's anything to worry about.

 

[wandering]

I don't know anything about mucous patches, but I would be keeping an eye on that ammonia reading and testing daily before feeding and then changing some water (as you are). Your nitrate reading is a bit suspect, even tap water usually contains some nitrate and readings up to 20ppm are acceptable. You do need to really shake the second bottle to loosen the sediment. Also, nitrite readings are handy to see how your cycle is moving (and is also unacceptable over 0, like ammonia). The sequence is: Ammonia - turns to nitrite - turns to nitrate.
You are right to be wary and its good that you can get reassurance and appropriate advice from the experience axolotl keepers on here. I kept tropical fish long before there were any forums and killed many fish with unnecessary treatments on the advice of the aquarist shops selling various treatments (but no test kits or cycling advice!)

 

[CJ1981]

He looks healthy, happy and handsome to me

 

[FX1C]

I have a little one similar to yours in colour - he too has darkened & has seemed a little whiter in patches & then it seems to darken. All normal & healthy! check out my threads to see pics.

Because your tank is uncycled testing for nitrite is going to help you understand the stage of cycling you are in (as mentioned above) the ammonia should change & create nitrite spikes then once your good bacteria kick in they create nitrate readings.

Plenty of reading on here about cycling



<3 >o_o< <3

 

[JLCoolJ]

Thank you so much everybody, I was worried it was some sort of death infection! No curled gills or tail though! Maybe I've crossed the line into over-reading now.
EmbryH: Thank you so much. Especially on Tumblr, everyone is super quick to say nasty things but it's not often people have something axolotl positive to say. It's so nice to hear!

Re: cycling, I don't know if anyone has seen my other threads but I've had problems cycling. The nitrate level has been 0.25 and also been 0.5 at times and then dipped to 0. The ammonia level had been a pretty steady 0.25 until yesterday when it increased to 0.5.
I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing after a bunch of great advice in the past from you guys but it just seems to be taking me longer than expected. I'm not feeding them bloodworms for now to minimise mess and I'm water changing 20% with a siphon (I left gaps between my pebbles so that I can easily move them aside with the siphon to get at trapped poops) and doing ammonia and nitrate drop tests and pH test strips every day. I happen to have a marimo ball pet in a little vase on my window. I've read that you can safely put them in tanks but that sometimes axies will have a bite at them. Do you think I should pop the marimo in the tank, sort of hidden behind a plastic plant so the axies can't bite it to try and speed up the cycling?