Got the reply from the IUAC today :
Hello Leah,
I can't guarantee this without seeing the animal in person, but the
short answer is no, I don't think your axo is morphing. What actually
IS going on...now that's a different question altogether...
You don't really mention how old the animal is, or its size (nose to
tail tip). From the picture, it looks fully grown (or close), but it's
hard to tell. I do think that it looks a bit on the skinny side if
it's really a female, and fully grown. (there shouldn't be a bump
under the tail, behind the legs if it's a female). But again, it's
hard to really tell without a full-body shot. From what I can see,
(s)he has a good body bulk for a male at about a year or so.
Are you seeing pieces of translucent black skin in the water? That's
usually the first tell-tale sign of metamorphosis, even before the
gills start to regress too dramatically. It usually sheds off the body
in small sheets about 1-2cm in size. From what I can see in the
picture, its skin doesn't look even remotely morpher-like. It's still
bumpy and looks quite good. Their skin thickens and usually darkens in
color pretty early on in the process. Looks like this isn't happening
with your critter (which is good).
Though I agree the tail-fin does look somewhat low on the back to me,
tail-fin height and how far it comes up the back, are pretty variable
from axo to axo, so I don't think it's anything to be concerned about
when comparing it to your 'normal' critter. Could be that the tail-fin
never came up quite so far on the back, we've got some animals that
look similar in that respect. Likewise, appetite and eye-size are
variable (within reason) from animal to animal.
Regarding the gill branches, they are shorter than normal, that's true,
but they're not really regressing uniformly like morphers' gills often
do. The branches look a bit swollen, too. This animals' gills are
similar to something that I've seen in some of our older animals.
We've got a few that have gills that are no more than just nubs like
this. They usually do just fine as long as they're kept in nice clean
water.
I have a suspicion that your critter was kept in some bad water (either
poorly dechlorinated, or poorly maintained) before it got to the pet
store. Odds are it is over a year old, and just hasn't been very well
kept in its time. Keep it in nice clean water, continue to provide it
with a way to easily gulp for air if it needs it, and hope for the
best. What are you currently feeding it? I'm not a big fan of feeding
any one live food exclusively (not usually a balanced source of
nutrition), but earthworms are usually quite a popular treat, and it
may help to stimulate your critter's appetite if you give her one a few
days per week. She should be okay.
Hope this helps a bit!
Take care,
Jill Gresens
IU Axolotl Colony
http://www.indiana.edu/~axolotl
I hope her gills regrow! Even if they don't heal, hopefully I'll be able to put the two together later on. Is there anything you can do to encourage new growth, apart from maintaining the water quality and proper diet?
Her name might end up staying Aximander
I took a full body shot to send the IUAC, in case she could tell anything else from it- here's the pic :
