Illness/Sickness: Very sick axolotl help me please!

[annie92311]

Ok, so I bought a baby axolotl (5cm long when i bought him) in the summer of 2012, and he has had consistent health problems which have recently worsened.

First problem, he is now over 2 yrs old, and is no longer than 10cm I know this is unusual as all the other axis i have seen are huge in comparison to mine.

Its gills then started to shrink, instead of having red fluffy gills, he has little stumpy black things. He also has this weird thing where he gets a black flaky mucus? all over his body, it always starts in one spot, and this spot is now a raised bump.

He stopped eating 4 days ago, I have no idea why and he was already skinny from lack of interest in food. And today he started SHEDDING HIS SKIN?! It is peeling off of him and its all over his tank and i don't know what to do! I can't take him to the vets, I wish i could.

He has also been very active, he is usually super lazy, but he continuously walks around the bottom of the tank. Any help would be so appreciated! He was also floating around his tank for a while (at the top, in the plant, on top of his ornament ect) but he would move when i nudged him. He also takes gulps of air from the top of the tank.

Aso removing the gravvel in his tank asap

 

[Bellabelloo]

This is a very underweight little axolotl.
I am really glad you have addressed the first problem by removing the stones. They are a nightmare to clean and there is a possibility that your axolotl will accidentally ingest some.
Some of the symptoms may be because water conditions are not ideal, and these will need to be closely monitored.
If this was mine, I would have him in a small tank/ container and placed somewhere quiet and cool. Don't have the water too deep..maybe just and couple of inches. It may be worth trying tea baths :-
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/illness2.shtml
Offer him small pieces of live worm twice a day. You will need to maintain good water conditions, spot cleaning and water changes .. don't forget to use dechlorinator. Hopefully he will begin to eat again.
Please do let us know how he is doing.

 

[seagull]

can i ask what his temperature is? i noticed you live in australia and my first thought was he might be too hot and thus distressed
it's good that he no longer has gravel, and i dont think hes impacted
i would put him in a large volume of cold (60°F), clean (i am not sure what your water quality is like but be sure it's free of chlorine and any contaminants) water and place some large (as big as him if not bigger), flat rocks that lack sharp edges in his tank for footing
feed him slowly so he doesnt get sick
bloodworms should stimulate his appetite but for the next week, offer only small amounts so he gets used to digestion and then up the food intake

 

[BabySinclair]

Someone please correct me if m wrong. But looking at his size, health and the fact he hasn't done well for the past two years. And also assuming Annie has kept parameters decent. Is it possible it's a parasitic infection? The other question I have... the shedding skin and lost gills, could this be ammonia burn? At this point would fringing and black tea work? What about a Melafix bath? Or would that be too stressful?

Sorry, I'm just throwing out ideas. I want him to make it.

I really hope someone here can help Annie. I seriously almost cried when I saw this poor guy

 

[BabySinclair]

Ok, so I bought a baby axolotl (5cm long when i bought him) in the summer of 2012, and he has had consistent health problems which have recently worsened.

First problem, he is now over 2 yrs old, and is no longer than 10cm I know this is unusual as all the other axis i have seen are huge in comparison to mine.

Its gills then started to shrink, instead of having red fluffy gills, he has little stumpy black things. He also has this weird thing where he gets a black flaky mucus? all over his body, it always starts in one spot, and this spot is now a raised bump.

He stopped eating 4 days ago, I have no idea why and he was already skinny from lack of interest in food. And today he started SHEDDING HIS SKIN?! It is peeling off of him and its all over his tank and i don't know what to do! I can't take him to the vets, I wish i could.

He has also been very active, he is usually super lazy, but he continuously walks around the bottom of the tank. Any help would be so appreciated! He was also floating around his tank for a while (at the top, in the plant, on top of his ornament ect) but he would move when i nudged him. He also takes gulps of air from the top of the tank.

Aso removing the gravvel in his tank asap

Annie, do you have a test kit to check your water parameters?
How often are your water changes?

 

[annie92311]

Annie, do you have a test kit to check your water parameters?
How often are your water changes?

Yes I test for everything but nitrates because i couldn't figure out how to use the chemicals, my ph is perfect and ammonia is a tiny bit too high at the moment but i am going to sort that today. I change my water once a week purely because it stresses him out

 

[annie92311]

Someone please correct me if m wrong. But looking at his size, health and the fact he hasn't done well for the past two years. And also assuming Annie has kept parameters decent. Is it possible it's a parasitic infection? The other question I have... the shedding skin and lost gills, could this be ammonia burn? At this point would fringing and black tea work? What about a Melafix bath? Or would that be too stressful?

Sorry, I'm just throwing out ideas. I want him to make it.

I really hope someone here can help Annie. I seriously almost cried when I saw this poor guy

Thankyou for all your suggestions, I think that I am going to fridge him, The shedding skin is peeling still but the skin underneath is really healthy and pink (I can usually tell if he is sick or not by looking at his colour. I will fridge his so that his metabolism slows down and he doesn't continue to starve. Thankyou to everyone for all you much needed help

 

[blushed]

You're going to need to put him in cool 100% clean dechlorinated water everyday. I would have 2 dechlorinated containers prepared everyday to switch him out. Feed him 3-4 times a day, very small amounts each time so he keeps food down.

I don't think putting him in the fridge is the best idea at this point because he's already not eating anything, he needs to eat.

Your ammonia being "high" is because your tank is not cycled, I assume. What type of filter do you use?

How long as your Axxie been on the gravel? The full 2 years? He doesn't look impacted, but it's possible there is 1 in there that he just can't pass. Impaction can/does kill axolotls.

I wish you the best of luck.

 

[BabySinclair]

I just wanted to point you here :happy:
It might be very helpful

Caudata Culture Articles - Illness Part 1

 

[annie92311]

Update to all

Thankyou for all your advice and support.

For anyone in my situation I would suggest trying putting your axy in the fridge.
This is what i would have done, but sadly we had a huge storm the night before was going to fridge him, and all the power to my house was cut, he had no running filter in his tank and no fridge, he spent three days floating around before he finally died, glad that he is no longer suffering.

I am thinking that what caused his illness was the lump i earlier mentioned, i think it was a tumour, when he was dead his skin was more transparent than usual and i could see that the lump was inside his body, maybe it was pressing on his stomach? Causing him to not eat. In this cads there really isn't anything I could have done. I think the recurring infection was just killing him slowly

Again thanks for all the help

 

[tammyaxie]

This is metamorphosis. I wish I could have told u this earlier. Your axie was turning into a salamander. The shedding is a sign. It also look like the eyes began to bulge and the gills began to recede. I'm sorry he did not survive the transformation.