Katie916
New member
Hello, I am desperately trying to get any answers I can on what may be happening to my poor axolotls.
Exactly a week ago, I noticed my leucistic (still pretty young - about six inches long) was barely moving, not very interested in food (ate less than half what she normally would), bright pink when she normally isnt, and looking skinnier and skinnier. Her tail was starting to lose the see-through webbing on the top and bottom too. The next day she looked almost ghost like (but still bright pink) and so fragile and thin, also completely avoiding food, so I did the only thing I could think of to do and stuck her in my fridge while I researched on what could be happening. My boyfriend and I eventually came to the conclusion that she had somehow gotten a fungal infection and we started treating her with salt baths for 3 days. She began improving and became more active and is eating a little more now and pooping a ton, but she is still very slim and not moving much. She is also back in the normal tank and her tail still seems to be disappearing.
My other axolotl, a wild type the same age and size, stopped moving completely only two days after the leucistic became lethargic. We thought the same thing was happening with him, it made sense that if one got a fungal infection than the other one in the tank probably did too. So he, too, went in the fridge (in his own container). Well he now looks almost completely paralyzed. All four of his legs are like dragging behind him, his gills are almost completely curled over and they don't flap anymore, he barely responds to touch. The only sign of life with him is half the time when you lift him from the water he'll twitch a little and every once in a while if you touch him, his middle two toes on his front hands will bend in like he's making a fist and then go back to normal. He doesn't move at all that. He's been like this for 5 days.. I'm so worried about him! He ate regularly a week ago but he hasn't eaten since and he hasn't pooped since.
We did regular daily water changes on them while they were in the fridge. We just pulled the wild type out of the fridge to let him warm up a bit in hopes that something will change but I'm worried putting him back in the tank will cause more harm.
I do almost weekly water changes and have tested all the levels in the tank. Ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0, nitrate is within safe limits, the water is hard, the only thing that changed is the water is slightly more alkaline than normal. The tank has been cycled for quite a while, there is fine sand, big rocks, fake plants, hides, and I make sure the temperature stays below 70.
I really don't know what could have happened or what else to do. I'm very attached to both of them and they're both just so sick. The leucistic seems to be shrinking by the day and the wild type seems paralyzed. Has anything like this happened to anyone? Any advice would be much appreciated. I'm at a complete loss. I can't find any information on what's happening, especially to my wild type..
Thanks in advance,
Katie
Exactly a week ago, I noticed my leucistic (still pretty young - about six inches long) was barely moving, not very interested in food (ate less than half what she normally would), bright pink when she normally isnt, and looking skinnier and skinnier. Her tail was starting to lose the see-through webbing on the top and bottom too. The next day she looked almost ghost like (but still bright pink) and so fragile and thin, also completely avoiding food, so I did the only thing I could think of to do and stuck her in my fridge while I researched on what could be happening. My boyfriend and I eventually came to the conclusion that she had somehow gotten a fungal infection and we started treating her with salt baths for 3 days. She began improving and became more active and is eating a little more now and pooping a ton, but she is still very slim and not moving much. She is also back in the normal tank and her tail still seems to be disappearing.
My other axolotl, a wild type the same age and size, stopped moving completely only two days after the leucistic became lethargic. We thought the same thing was happening with him, it made sense that if one got a fungal infection than the other one in the tank probably did too. So he, too, went in the fridge (in his own container). Well he now looks almost completely paralyzed. All four of his legs are like dragging behind him, his gills are almost completely curled over and they don't flap anymore, he barely responds to touch. The only sign of life with him is half the time when you lift him from the water he'll twitch a little and every once in a while if you touch him, his middle two toes on his front hands will bend in like he's making a fist and then go back to normal. He doesn't move at all that. He's been like this for 5 days.. I'm so worried about him! He ate regularly a week ago but he hasn't eaten since and he hasn't pooped since.
We did regular daily water changes on them while they were in the fridge. We just pulled the wild type out of the fridge to let him warm up a bit in hopes that something will change but I'm worried putting him back in the tank will cause more harm.
I do almost weekly water changes and have tested all the levels in the tank. Ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0, nitrate is within safe limits, the water is hard, the only thing that changed is the water is slightly more alkaline than normal. The tank has been cycled for quite a while, there is fine sand, big rocks, fake plants, hides, and I make sure the temperature stays below 70.
I really don't know what could have happened or what else to do. I'm very attached to both of them and they're both just so sick. The leucistic seems to be shrinking by the day and the wild type seems paralyzed. Has anything like this happened to anyone? Any advice would be much appreciated. I'm at a complete loss. I can't find any information on what's happening, especially to my wild type..
Thanks in advance,
Katie
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