Toe rot?

[ptilosarcus]

I just came back from a 4 day family vacation for the holidays and noticed that my white axolotl is missing a digit from one of her back toes. on the other back leg theres a lot of dark pigmentation on the underside and that same back toe as the other side looks like its worn down to the skeleton.. kind of looks like a long fingernail.
i do regular water changes every 2 weeks, and i did one before i left. when i came back, she had pooped a lot, so i did another change. i tested the water and ph is about 6.8 - 7, nitrate is 10 and ammonia and nitrite are 0. anyone have any ideas?
i have a power filter thats diffused by glass wall and large plants so there is very little wtr movement where she likes to stay. (i also left the filter off while i was gone.)
shes still eating well, about 3 yrs old.
im new to keeping axolotls.. i inherited her from a friend. and suggestions on how she looks overall?
thanks,
i appreciate your feedback!
madison

 

[carsona246]

I'm an axolotl newbie, but when they sexually mature their toes tend to get darker. Are you sure that the darker pigment wasn't always there? The foot with the missing toe just looks like it's missing a toe to me, but I'm no expert on illness. Are you sure it just didn't lose a toe to natural causes, or that it actually had the toe when you got it? One possibility for the back toe that is really thin at the top is maybe it's regrowing that toe, and it just hasn't finished? I'm just throwing out ideas, but the pigmentation doesn't look terrible to me, as it has the same coloration on its head. As long as the water parameters are fine and it doesn't seem stressed I wouldn't worry too much. I'm sure some members with more experience will chime in soon.

 

[ptilosarcus]

she could have possibly pinched it off between the gravel rock (1-2" river rock)... it alone wasnt too worried bc it doesnt look like its degenerating, but then i saw her other toe. until i had left i knew she had all of her toes.. (i look at her a lot ) she has had some pigment on her toes for a while, for sure sexual maturity. but shes recently gotten a lot more, so i wanted to check.
two summers ago we had a big heat wave and she lost half her gills, shes since regrown them but theyre a little "charismatic", shall we say?
she may be stressed from the filter... im trying to find an alternative thats not so expensive, but if i have to shell out for a can filter, so be it. ive got plants in there too, mostly java ferns, that help block the flow, but that means an under gravel is out.
lastly, water temp is on average 68, which is still acceptable, i think?
thanks for your imput

btw, hows her weight look? (is she too fat?)

 

[carsona246]

yea 68 should be just fine for temp, I have a canister filter in my tank, and I have to say it's more flow than I thought it ever would be. I had it in a ten gallon gallon planted tank with a betta, and the betta seemed fine with the flow. After putting it in a 40 breeder I figured the axolotl should have no problem, but sure enough I've had to make a flow diverter with a bottle, and am gonna have to make a better spraybar soon. I've heard good things about zoo med's 501 canister filter, and the only bad things I've heard about them on other forums is that it has very low flow, which is good for axoltol's.
Axolotl's bellies are supposed to only get as wide as their head, so she's a little overweight, but I wouldn't say it's anything to worry about too much.
I really don't know much about degeneration or possible reasons for why a toe might get worn down that much. I'd think it might be possible for her to lose a toe by getting it pinched off, but the fact that the other toe is looking wierd is kinda fishy. Wish I could be a bit more help

 

[carsona246]

Ok, been doing some research and I don't want to freak you out, but I've found a few threads that kind of have some relevance.
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be.../55594-help-my-axolotls-losing-her-limbs.html
I can't really tell if you can see the skeleton of the pinky toe, but it kind of looked similar, and I just wanted to give u a heads up that it might be something so you should probably keep an eye on it.

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...7-newt-salamander-help/38045-newts-limbs.html
This isn't about an axolotl, but the deterioration started on the toes, and it gives some advice in case this continues.
Again, I'm sure what your axolotl has is nothing, and I don't want to freak you out. But I thought just in case it isn't healing or anything in the next week or so you might want to check them out.

 

[blackdog]

Thats one fat axie

 

[ptilosarcus]

Thats one fat axie

Hahah, ok so Toby is going on a diet I don't see any fungus, but to be on the safe side I could give her a salt bath and then purge the tank? How would one disinfect a tank? Should I pull it apart? Is there a solution I could use to treat the water?
Thanks!

 

[carsona246]

idk I'd wait a little bit before I started salt bathes or anything. I would at least give it a week or two to see if anything changes. If it looks like everything is fine and the axolotl is healing then the best thing you can do is just keep up the perfect parameters. If it gets worse I'd probably start looking around for some more answers. If it was me I wouldn't worry too much, and would just keep a close eye on the two toes

 

[SwissAxie]

She is huuuuuuge ! Good Jesus, I first thought THAT was the problem (swelling). LOL But she's just way overweight.
That color has nothing to do with maturation, because at 3 years she is way mature
The stuff on her foot looks weird. I'd look at that every day and if the black stuff is progressing then take her to a vet who knows what an axolotl is.
Scraping the skin off of a toe can happen. That is nothing to worry too much about. Just keep an eye on it and if there is anything white growing on it, give her one salt bath a day until it's gone. In the meantime try to find out where/with what she got hurt and take it away.

Barbara

 

[carsona246]

hows she doing? Is it looking better?

 

[ptilosarcus]

She's... Okay. No visible improvement but no worse either. One of her toes is looking red, hmmm. Still eating though.

 

[Morrison]

Does it also looks 'blackish' at the bottom of his feet? Some of my axies (I only saw it at the lighter ones) had those darker patches under (and around) their feet as well. (I guess it wasn't the 'mature toe something' but something different because after a while it was gone. One of my axies also had it on his snout...)

They all had some parasites and different things I had to worry about but this was one of the 'not so bad looking' thing that looked odd. I don't say it's a parasite but it was at the same time when they had other stuff... It's still a guess what it could have been...

Pictures below. Does it look a bit like it? (The blackness on the snout flaked off a little after a while like it was just a piece of skin... I don't see anything like that on my axies anymore)

 

[ptilosarcus]

Does it also looks 'blackish' at the bottom of his feet? Some of my axies (I only saw it at the lighter ones) had those darker patches under (and around) their feet as well. (I guess it wasn't the 'mature toe something' but something different because after a while it was gone. One of my axies also had it on his snout...)

They all had some parasites and different things I had to worry about but this was one of the 'not so bad looking' thing that looked odd. I don't say it's a parasite but it was at the same time when they had other stuff... It's still a guess what it could have been...

Pictures below. Does it look a bit like it? (The blackness on the snout flaked off a little after a while like it was just a piece of skin... I don't see anything like that on my axies anymore)

the face looks similar, but the feet didnt look as flakey. also, it seems to be getting worse. its progressed to the front feet, where ive noticed the toes first get red and some of the tips have a little white fuzz,. im thinking bacterial infection...
salt bath time? theres a local exotics vet nearby, ill ask them if i should bring her in.

i did a 90% water change today, and also took out the plants.
on another note, im thinking of changing the substrate to sand, i have mostly lg river rock in there now, but theres some aquarium gravel underneath.

anyone have any idea how to keep live plants in sand?
thx..

 

[carsona246]

sand is what I used on my planted tank. It works just fine, in fact I would prefer sand over large river rocks for aquatic plants. I don't know much about bacterial infections, so i'm not gonna try and give you advice about it