Stress and Gill deterioration after a water change

[Justine]

Hi,

I have a 6-7 month old axolotl, who has been no bother since getting him as a hatchling. When I do partial water changes of his tank I use a dechlorinator and he's been fine this whole time. However after changing it yesterday his gills look noticabley whiter and less feathery. He is scratching them and moving them more than usual, and now and then suddenly charges around the tank writhing about as if he has a horrible itch.

I don't know the water parameters as I don't have a test kit but the temp is fine, its autumn in England so its freezing!

I have taken him out of the tank and put him in more fresh dechlorinated water but what else shall I do?

Thanks,
Justine

 

[NeekaLovesYou]

I'm assuming he has no gill eating tankmates so we can cross that off the list! Did you leave the new water to warm before putting it in the tank? One thing I've noticed recently is as its getting so cold, my tap waters much colder than my tank water so I have to leave it to stand. I dont know if you feel this is the case with your water but if so and you put the clean water straight back in the tank he may have a bit of temperature shock which can cause odd behavior. When one of mine had fungus she used to thrash at her gills but you haven't mentioned it so I doubt its that, but keep an eye out.

 

[xxianxx]

The first thing you need to do is get your tank and tap water checked , many aquatic shops will provide this service or invest in a test kit yourself.