Pale with retracted gills

[kimbee]

My leucistic axolotl have become very pale over the past few months and his gills have contracted into his head. i added a filter to his tank along with doing water changes more frequently(every day to every other day) but saw no change. i added a wild type axy to his tank and he seemed to recover some of his color but then his condition diminished more. he is now in a quarantine tank be himself and i have added some soft inking pellets to his diet. if anyone has had this happen to their axy before could you please give me some advice as to what to do to help his recovery?

 

[Olivia97]

Photos would be great, is there any signs of fungus? How strong is the filter flow and whats the parameters?

 

[DeCypher]

Retracting gills is a sign of metamorphosis, which is extremely rare. Pics would be great.

 

[kimbee]

i have two pictures of my axolotl in a photo album on my page

 

[Olivia97]

Next time could you please just pop a link into the thread or maybe just upload the pics because if we are on mobile it's a little hard to go back and forward. To know if it's metamorphis we would need to see the tail fin however i think the gills are a result of poor water quality, what's the parameters: nitrite, nitrate, ammonia etc

 

[Kaysie]

I don't see anything wrong with your axolotl. It looks healthy, maybe a little pudgy. The gills are a good color. Leucistic axolotls can be pale when they're not doing anything. If they're sleeping, or just being lazy, they'll be much paler than they would be if they're actively hunting.

Is your tank adequate size for 2 axolotls? Do you test your water parameters?

Gills will shrink for a number of reasons. If you're doing extra water changes and have added a filter, chances are the oxygen saturation has gone up in your tank. This will actually make gills smaller, as there's less of a demand for gas exchange given the higher oxygen concentration.

 

[urbanbicyclist]

Hi Kimbee,

I hope the past few months have been good, Can you let us know how your axolotl is now? did it metamorphose or did they grow back or are things just fine/the same? I may possibly be having a similar situation here and it would be good to know how things fared for you.
Thanks!