Illness/Sickness: Weird-looking tail

[alexey]

Hi all, I am posting for the first time here, need input from the pros. A couple of weeks ago I noticed that the tail of my axolotl Lotya developed thicker whitish ridges along the edge of his tail's fins, both at the top and the bottom (see attached picture). They almost look as if the edge has folded on itself and got stuck this way. He has been a bit sluggish lately but has not lost interest in food. Question is, should I be worried? Is this something related to nutrition or illness such as fungus or bacteria? Has anyone seen anything like this? Any help will be appreciated.
(Lotya is about 10 months old (got him in May from a breeder as a juvenile). I feed him mostly soft salmon pellets we got from the same breeder. Water temperature has been a bit on the warm side lately (20-21 C) but I turn on AC to cool it down and have an IceProbe chiller installed on the top.)

 

[happycamper]

I think one of axies had this going on, I hesitated to reply because I never figured out why it looked like that...

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/jessiefest/shot_1305692806191.jpg

That picture is a little strange... it's the only one I could find.

 

[alexey]

Thanks for your reply. It's a bit reassuring to know that someone else saw a similar effect. But I am afraid to ask - how did your guy fare who looked like this?

 

[happycamper]

Unfortunately that little guy passed a few months ago. I never could figure out what was going on... I ordered him from a website, and he showed up in terrible condition. I'm sorry... not very helpful.

 

[alexey]

I am sorry to hear that. I wish I knew how to deal with this thing. But thanks for your input.

 

[Morrison]

Reminds me of something I had to deal with a while ago. Eventually it went back to normal. It was a struggle He also had a big wound on his tail. Still don't know what caused all that. I think the wound was something extra and that it had nothing to do with the folding tailfin.
Still a mysterie to me.

Here it is: http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...axolotl/71567-axolotls-tail-disappearing.html

Oh the things I did was a treatment with almond leaves, tea and keeping him in a clean tank and I also did daily water changes. Eventually it worked and he had a normal tail again

 

[alexey]

Morrison I followed the thread you linked to, and looked at the pictures - they are strikingly similar to what's going on with my axie! Mine has somewhat less redness and not as many visible blood vessels in the tail, but the folds look very similar and the tail is certainly shrinking. His guts are also showing through the skin as dark areas, I am a bit concerned about this as well. He has always been like this but more so lately.
I saw the recipe for almond leaves, I will probably order them and try that method. I am curious about tea, because it is of course easier - can you please provide more info on how you used tea for treatment?
Also, regarding frequent water changes - I have a 10-gal tank. How often and how much water should I change, in your opinion? I try to keep the water quite clean with weekly changes of 1 gallon, but it seems that my axie may benefit from more changes - can you please suggest your schedule while he is recovering? Thanks.

 

[Morrison]

When I have a sick axie I put him in a smaller plastic tub. (And then I do a big water change in the main tank just to be sure, check for parasites, weird creatures or other unusual things (and treat it if neccesary) and I clean it up even better).

When your axie is in a smaller plastic tub you have to do daily water changes. It's also easier to clean. And if there's anything in the main tank then your axie is safe in the plastic tub with daily water changes.

For the tea bath: 1 tea bag (black tea)/10 L water.
Just get some hot water and soak the tea bag in it like you would make a cup of tea. Before adding it to the water make sure it has cooled down.
It works pretty well against skin issues I've been told.

About the dark guts. It might be (digested) food, or even 'poo' if it's more in his back-end-area. Young axies are pretty transparent (at least more transparent than the adult ones. Especially the lighter ones), so you see the weirdest things in them. I can pretty much see when they will poop. You see a dark blotch that's 'on his way out'.

Is he still eating well? Do you also have something like gravel in the tank that he might have swallowed?

 

[alexey]

Morrison,
Thanks for all this useful info. I think I am going to try almond leaves, I saw other posts saying good things about them. Will monitor pH more closely when the leaf is in the aquarium.
My axie is still eating well, he comes out to search for food regularly and gulps up every bit I give him. At the bottom I have rather large (4-5 cm) flat rocks, certainly not small enough to be swallowed. His belly has been somewhat transparent all the time (he is a leucistic type), but it just seemed a bit darker inside lately, mostly on the left side. I have a fresh batch of pellets, I will start him on these just in case. He also likes frozen bloodworms that I feed once a week. So eating seems to be normal. It's just this tail shrinking is a mystery to me, I hope the leaf and more frequent water changes and/or separate tub treatment as you suggested will help.