Weird Behavior, Abnormal gills/skin

fishcakey

fishcakey

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I've been noticing a little abnormal behavior in my axolotl (getting near the filter where the water comes out or where it is sucked in), and I checked all my water parameters. I have the master testkit and it seems there's no amonia/nitrate/nitrite problems and I had a petstore to confirm these things to be true. I did have a pH on the lower side (6.4) but that's not too terrible. I have been doing 30 percent water changes since I noticed the weird behavior. Since then his gills aren't looking too great, a little less healthy looking than normal, and his skin is reddish. This has happened before with a high ammonia/nitrate level in my tank and I removed him from it but I'm not sure what the problem is now. Meanwhile I'm just continuing the 30% water changes every 2 or so days. Not sure what else I can do besides simply removing him from the tank if things don't get better by tomorrow.

Any suggestions?
 
Hi.

Could you add a photo of your axolotl please ? Also what is your water temperature?
 
Lol Julia, you beat me by about 10 seconds ...... Same questions :happy:
 
I'm happy to report that his skin looks a lot better after the 30% water change. I had been doing it before, but I'm not sure why that one worked, but at least it's working. My temperature is getting a little on the high side because of the recent (HUGE) temperature change in my state. It's around 70-72. I've been making some measures to get it down to 68. I can post a picture when I get back to my tank later tonight. His gills are not as fluffy as they usually are, but since the skin reddening has gone down, I imagine his gills will start recovering soon.
 
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here it is. it looks like it's come back and seems worse. but those aren't ammonia burns because i literally just checked the ammonia and nothing is coming up. i'm stumped. i've been trying my best to keep the tank cold at 68 degrees by alternating buckets of ice and putting my canister filter on top as well as water bottles and still doing water changes daily. I'm doing all I can, really. If he doesn't get better in a few days I'm definitely removing him from the tank. I can't fridge because I have no fridge in my dorm with a steady temperature and that isn't generally unreliable.
 
I don't really have any immediate ways but I can make a trip to petco. I wanted to try the natural way but I couldn't find any crushed gravel or shell to make it more basic. I don't know if the pH boosters are safe, either.

I was trying to fix the pH by doing the water changes, but I guess that's not working.
 
Whoa, thanks for the baking soda suggestion, apparently it is a thing and it's something I have on hand! I'll try making a little solution today after class and hopefully things can clear up.
 
From what I read, it doesn't look like using baking soda is a permanent solution....but it seems like something you could do until you're able to get to petco or somewhere. :)
 
Yeah it doesn't seem to be helping much either. he's still not showing any signs of getting better. I did a complete siphoning today (and part of that could have been the problem, but it is fixed now). Did the baking soda thing, removed some of the extra carbon from the filter to make room for crushed gravel, and then tried to stabilize the temperature more and did a water change from the loss of water siphoning.

I'm really trying to get this tank stabilized, I spent at least 2 hours working on it today! It is just NOT cooperating, and if it doesn't get better by tomorrow I may consider temporarily relocating him to a plastic tub.
 
It is as of now, I've been gradually adding the baking soda mixture and nothing has changed. I did read it might take a while so we'll see. I just don't imagine the pH causing this much trouble, but it definitely should not be ignored.
 
I went back and re-read your original post again. Is his behavior what's concerning you the most? If so, I just wanted to say that my adult does the exact same things (around the water intake/output). I think he just likes to do that. :|
 
His behavior isn't as odd anymore, but the skin is definitely worrisome. Not sure if teabaths would help, he's had this problem before and I've never done a teabath.
 
Hi there, I don't know if this is of any help, but the warmer water is the lower the oxygen content, Have you tried a simple airline (with diffuser) it may help but not too powerful. as for being near the filter mine sometimes does that I think he likes the flow of water over his gills.

If you use a diffuser or try changing the current try also nearer the surface as that is where your oxygen will come from so diffusing the surface may help it may also help to cool the water temp a little. if your tank is covered is there a way of safely allowing extra ventilation to allow air flow over the surface?

Let us know how he is and hopefully he'll be ok xxx
 
I almost forgot, it may be worth checking on the ornaments he has in his tank too in case there is something that disagrees with him xxx
 
I don't think it's the ornaments, they have been in his tank for years. Also, yeah I've been controlling the temperature better with ice. It's not abnormal. The pH did go up to 7.0! Yay!! Hopefully he starts showing signs of improvement soon because it seems like truly all the parameters of the tank are under control.
 
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