URGENT (I think?) curled gills

[Linkisnotzelda]

I'm a new axolotl owner and I've had my wild type, Oaki, for about 3 months. I got him when he was about 2 inches long and was told he was 3-4 months old. Now he's a little over five inches and has been doing well, eats axolotl sinking pellets and tries to eat my fingers. I've been struggling a bit lately with a bit of an algae bloom, but I think that it's contained and not of any danger to him. For a couple of days now, his gills have been curled forward, which I attributed to the slightly high water flow from my canister filter. I've slowed down the flow and am looking for a way to use a shower scrunchie to curb the flow. Even with the flow slowed down, his gills are still curled, he's not moving as much as normal, and his abdomen looks swollen. I don't know if I'm overreacting, but I love my little baby and need to know if somethings wrong. Please respond with all and any suggestions, and if I'm overreacting, please tell me. I just want to be sure he's okay...
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[John]

Re: URGENT (I think?)

That's the usual cause of curled gills. The best way to mitigate the output of a canister filter is a long spray bar. Stress isn't an on/off kind of thing - if it is stressed it will take a while for it to come out of it.
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[Linkisnotzelda]

Thanks for replying! He’s looking a lot better now, I slowed the flow down and did a 50% water change. Unfortunately, he’s still to skittish for me to get him out of the tank, I really want to do a deep cleaning but don’t want to hurt him. Any suggestions?

 

[EllieWind]

You'll want to be careful with a deep cleaning that you don't crash your nitrogen cycle. I've had to deal with pesky algae before, and what I've found works best is to use a kitchen scrubbie to clean the algae off of the tank sides/decorations and then to continue with normal 20 to 30% weekly water changes. If your nitrates are too high or the algae is really intense you can do a 50 or 70% water change. Your axolotl will be fine in the tank while you're cleaning.