Illness/Sickness: Tiny Gills?

[Olivia97]

Hi everyone, so ive had mr bigglesworth for a few months now and hes about 2 years old , he has very tiny gills and barely any filaments on them, (in a few of my other threads he was sick and underweight due to incorrect info from a pet shop!) but i thought they'd be a lot more obvious and fluffy by now can anyone suggest why? ps. his gills were like that when we bought him. he's fed on bloodworms and pellets and has just gone back into his tank after being in a container for feeding.

 

[Harpii]

Hi one of my axies has always had short gills with hardly any filaments, we've had him since april and his gills arent any bigger, they are slightly more fuller but only when his more active of hunting for food during feeding times. I've been told that some axolotls have tiny gills and always will, as long as he's eating fine and not gulping for air constantly then im sure hes fine, sorry i dont know much and im still a newbie myself.

 

[Olivia97]

HI harpii, do you think you could post some photos? Thanks

 

[Harpii]

The first pic of norbert (on gravel :/) was when we first got him, dont worry we changed the substrate immediately, the pet shop gave us bad advise.

The second and third pics are only a couple of months old, his gills have grown a tiny bit but theres not much difference, I dont know if he was born with short gills or if they were munched on at some point and never grew back properly. I have seen other axies with barely any gills but they are fine, it could be down to genetics.

 

[Olivia97]

hes cute, thanks for sharing

 

[Harpii]

No problem and thank you, looking at him today his shortest gill is longer now, it looks like where his stub ends a skinny stem of tiny filaments is growing so its taking a while but it is growing. Maybe it will just take a while for your lovely boys gills to grow/fill out. Hopefully someone can offer more information for you as like i said im still a newbie and still earning myself