Illness/Sickness: Weird skin, loss of appetite and colour.. help :(!

sugarkandii

sugarkandii

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Hey there, I'm a new member here to the forum, but I've been reading through the Sanctuary as well as forum topics since I brought my 4" (presumably) baby axolotl home a few weeks ago. In the last few days, I had noticed a slight change in colour (I went from feeding sinking pellets to frozen brine shrimp/blood worms), so I started paying fairly close attention to him.

Since I initially noticed something was up, he has lost more weight, more colour in his body (his filaments are still okay, and his gills still have full colour from what I can tell), and it looks like his slime coat is 'peeling'.

I've done a 50% water change since this all started, and do about a 10% water-change every 3-4 days. The axie is just a baby, no longer than 4", and is my first non-fish-in-the-aquaria species I've owned. I'm just wondering if this is a fungul infection, or damage to the slime coat? He has 'cloudy' eyes as well, where it looks like this film has covered them.. I'm going to fridge him tonight to see if I can de-stress the poor thing :( He has no tank mates, no natural plants,

Here are a few pictures of his colouration from before this problem started for comparison:
http://i49.tinypic.com/amqtdu.jpg
http://i48.tinypic.com/1z5qiar.jpg

And here are some pictures of today - note, there's 'skin' literally hanging off of his face (noticeably at the bottom).
http://i49.tinypic.com/30x74t2.jpg
Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting

Please help! <3

*Also, my water is kept strictly at 62 / 17
 
What are they other parameters for your water ie: Ph / Ammonia / NitrItes / NitrAtes? Was the tank & filter cycled before you got your axie?

I'm sure all the lovely experts on here will soon be able to help with their input :)



<3 >o_o< <3
 
From the strip test I just did, the

General Hardiness is 120
KH is 120
PH is 7.5
NO2 is 0
NO3 is 20

I've put him in the fridge and had him in for about an hour now- he seems to be swimming a bit more in the container (he was fairly lethargic in the tank, hanging out at the bottom), but it looks like his 'skin' is peeling off- I'll be removing some of the skin pieces before I go to sleep tonight just in case- but I'm wondering now especially if his slime coat has been damaged- would anyone here recommend a good sponge filter set-up that perhaps I could replace this tetra-whisper for? I'm not sure if the current (it's fairly low power, but that's my human opinion of it haha) is too strong for him or not D; I just don't want to lose this baby because of anything that I've done/neglected to do.
 
You need to check your ammonia as it's the most likely cause for skin irritation in axolotls. The dip strip tests are not the most reliable either. If your tank isn't cycled you will need to be doing partial 20% water changes daily otherwise your ammonia levels will be through the roof. Change his container daily with dechlorinated water and keep an eye on your tank water quality. It'll be quite obvious if the filters too powerful - there will be water sploshing and stiring around everywhere :D If there's slight movemet, placing plants in front of the outflow should calm it.
 
Thanks Neeka, I'll do an ammonia test here as well. The tank was cycled for 40 some-odd days before I introduced him to the water, and I've kept up with cleaning up after him pretty well as I've been home, I was just totally shocked to see how unwell he started looking over the last couple of days! He's been perfectly fine otherwise :(

Does it look like skin irritation to you versus a fungus? I'm pretty good at identifying problems with fish (I've got a 155 stocked with an arowana, FH, ID shark, severum, and plecos), but I'm just completely newb'd by this little guy.
 
Fungus usually has a white fluffy consistency, almost like that of cotton wool. Once you see it, you know what it is for sure. I can see what you mean about his skin "peeling off" it almost looks like eczema! Have you been using a chlorine control for your water (probably do as you keep fish but thought I better ask!) or any other medicines that are purposely made for fish? A lot of these can be risky for axolotls, bar chlorine control, obviously. Has he been dropped or jumped from the tank? His skin almost looks like its drying out. Are there any fish in the tank with him?
 
I actually have a reverse-osmosis machine haha - it produces chlorine free water with little to no hard particles within the water, so that's all I've been using in terms of the tank. He does have a fine, sandy substrate however- I'm not sure if that's been an irritant at all? Or maybe there's something I can add to soften the water that's safe for them as well? He's in the tank on his own, I haven't dropped him and I don't think he's gotten out ( the tank is pretty well contained with the canopy ) but I suppose I haven't been watching him 24/7 and it's possible he popped out for a bit or floated to the top and too close to the light (maybe a sunburn?)

thanks for all your help :) !
 
Lucky old you, with your fancy machines! Haha ;) They do "hang about" at the surface of the water occasionally so I doubt that's anything to worry about. What sand are you using? Again, I doubt it's anything to do with it but it's worth ruling it out. You say your machine produces soft water? He may be suffering from anaemia, which isn't uncommon in axolotls as they prefer slightly harder water, but then again this usually effects the gills also and his look very full and colourful. It may be worth adding some Holtfreter's solution to his tank water if the waters very soft and if you're able to get hold of it. Are you using plain dechlrinated tap water in his container and is it usually quite hard? If so, we may be able to see if it makes a difference. Steinberg's solution is another option. Obviously read all the instructions for dosage, etc. Anaemia is usually very temporary and easily treated.
 
I just did the ammonia test and the result came up green (which from this chart suggests fairly high ammonia) :( ! Not sure what exactly has caused a spike like this in the established tank, but I'm going to do some serious cycling over the next few days with small water changes as well as keeping my axl in the fridge with the fresh water.

The sand was a regular brand of fresh water/non fancy infused substrate (I know many bases have additives to help establish tanks) I think it was called Stoney Creek or something along those lines. I'll see if I can get my hand on Holtfreter's if in the next few days nothing has changed- my last little check up on him in the fridge looks like he's shed off a lot of that skin- I'm hoping that the water and combination of the cold helps hims recover from the ammonia in the tank.
 
Oh dear! At least we may have found our culprit! There hasn't been any food trapped in hides, plants etc? Bloodworm and brine shrimp is notorious for fouling quickly. If you're able to find some I recommend feeding him earthworm as a staple. They won't foul as quickly and will help fatten him up. If he's too small for whole ones you can chop them to roughly the same width as his head to make them more manageable for him. At least he is in the fridge and hopefully on the mend! Just keep his water cool (easy, peasy in the fridge!) and clean. He may not eat a lot in the fridge but it's worth offering small amounts. Keep an eye on him and keep us updated. Wishing you the best of luck finding the cause of the ammonia spike!
 
It's funny that you say bloodworms, because I did feed him bloodworms for the first time this week and that's when I noticed the subtler signs of him being unwell. I'm going to give the tank a good clean and suck out anything in his hiding spots I can find. :)

thanks again so much for your help !! <3 I was seriously concerned !!
 
You're welcome :eek: The pellets might be a better alternative for now if a lot of the bloodworm is being left uneaten. Pellets can't do any harm and at least you can sleep soundly knowing they have in fact been eaten and aren't ruining your cycle.
 
Also, it's probably your brine shrimp adding to the ammonia build up, how big is your axie? Most axies wont take brine shrimp once they've gone from "larvae" to "juveniles" You could try a tea bath if you want, its known to help with skin irritations, but feel free to just continue the fridging. Here's how to do it,
steep one black tea bag in a cup of dechlorinated water until the water is cold, then remove the bag and add the mix to 10 litres of fresh dechlorinated (fridge water if you are still fridging) water, pop your axie in that until you do your next water change, then just add a small amount in each water change until you see an improvement :) good luck
 
Thanks Olivia, I'll definitely try that as well! Since being in the fridge his skin has seemingly gone through its cycle of falling off (I think that's a horrible way of describing it, but that's really how it's looked through the whole thing!) and his skin colour is looking a lot better. He still won't have food, and I'm still fixing up the levels in his tank, but I'm going to grab some worms from my local pet store today to try and coax him with some wriggly-ness :) I've been doing some minor water changes in the tub mostly to suck out any dead 'skin', and since putting him in yesterday I've done one full water change as well - I'm keeping a close eye on the levels in his tub and tank, so I'm hoping once all is said and done that he'll be okay by the end of the weekend ! Not gonna put him back in until both are 100%, but fingers crossed to a swift recovery!

thanks again so much guys :) I'll post some pics of his recovery in the next couple of days :D
 
http://i45.tinypic.com/34yzomq.jpg

Sorry for the grainy-ness of the image here- but he's doing MUCH better as of today. The tank levels are still sitting at about .50 ppm (the light greeny-yellow on the API Ammonia test for FW) so I'm not going to move him back quite yet- and I've tried to feed him a small nightcrawler (which he chewed on and spat out), but he's still fairly resistant to food. I'm unsure about force-feeding him (he's just a wee thing), but if I can't get him turned on to keeping food in his mouth I may have no other option!

No more 'skin' has been falling off, and the cloudy-ness of his eyes is completely gone! I've got a sponge piece added to my filtration system that is apparently beneficial to ridding ammonia (it's some kind of special sponge apparently) so hopefully those cultures will build up and get everything going well again :D
 
Don't be too concerned with the lack of eating, in te fridge their metabolism slows and the need to eat fades a fair bit, when you're ready to move him back into the tank. Take him out for the fridge and pop him in a cooler bag with a couple of ice blocks, once they're melted take him out of the bag and put him wrapped in a towel next to the tank, slowly add some tank water to his container, then release :) he will eat once he's warm
 
Thanks Olivia :) I'm just so worried about making sure he's got all the nutrients he needs D: as soon as I wiggled a worm in his face he immediately tried to eat it, but then spat it out (I guess this is just the slowed metabolism as you said) I may try again tomorrow to see if he'll keep anything down.

Would having his tub sit out at room temperature (the water would be about 50/10 degrees at room temperature here in my basement) encourage his eating again be beneficial? Or more stress for him (fluctuating temperature in the aquaria usually isn't recommended for fish- not sure if it's the same for axies).
 
Yes and no, yes it would probably make him eat but the stress would not be good for him, you can of course take him out for water changes and feeds without any harm but anylonger and the temp will change. Keep it up, I'm sure he'll make a swift recovery :D
 
sugarkandii said:
I actually have a reverse-osmosis machine haha - it produces chlorine free water with little to no hard particles within the water, so that's all I've been using in terms of the tank.
Click to expand...

RO water is a major problem it will kill the axolotl given time, you need to add hardness to it if you want to use it or just use dechlorinated tap water. Dont salt bath it, its entire body looks raw but not infected with fungus, keep it cool add almond leaves to keep fungal infections at bay.
 
Couldn't have said it better myself. That's almost certainly the culprit. Once you start hardening your water or using plain ol' tap water, chances are your problems will clear up.
 
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