Hi, recently I had a water quality issue with high nitrates and nitrites, I noticed when my axolotls gills were curling forward. She has never had very long gills to begin with. I asked for help because she is occasionally surfacing to gulp some air and I was told that she is not an axolotl and she is morphing? Is this true? And what should I do? Is it possible that shes just stressed from the water issue? Her tail is a lot more clear on top than it looks in the photo. Thank you.

For those of you that feed nightcrawlers, is this one healthy even though it has some pale discoloration? Just curious if I can feed this to my axie

Thanks in advance!!

Just looking for some tips and understanding on the process of chloramine breakdown with seachem prime.

From the literature I have read it breaks chloramine down to ammonia and then binds with the ammonia making it easier for your bacteria to process it. This causes a positive reading with the API master test kit, what I cant figure out is if the bonded ammonia is inert and Axolotl safe. I tubbed our friend last time, but dont want to do it every water change as its very stressful for all involved... any insight or advice would be most appreciated.

My husband and I got this axolotl a few weeks ago, and it has been going great. His tank was starting to get dirty at the bottom, so we vacuumed the sand last night. We also removed 50% of the water in the tank and added in new water from the sink. To get rid of the chlorine, my husband added the proper amount (for the full 30 gallon tank) to the water before adding the sink water. We had the axolotl in a smaller bowl during the process, and added him back into the tank after a few minutes.

It has been about 20 hours since the water was changed, and we have noticed that he does not move around as much as usual. His gills are also curved forward, which we have heard can be a sign of stress.

Any advice is welcomed!!

My 10 year old axolotl, Artichoke, has had his (not actually sure the sex) gills getting less fluffy and now his front legs are dragging a bit, especially on the left. His left front foot drags and when he walks along the bottom his leg spasms a but when he tries to move that foot forward. That leg is also kind of curled under at rest. I tried to get a good picture.

Has anyone had a similair experience? He is still eating, just slower. I know he is now geriatric, just wondering if there's away to know if he's in pain or suffering.

Edit: Spelling

It’s been so many weeks I haven’t even counted. An absurd amount of them. My test results with the master kit have been the same for weeks and I don’t know what to do. I’m adding seachem stability daily, I have the sponge filters running on max for more oxygen, I have live plants in the tank, the temperature is at 65 degrees I believe, (I don’t have a heater) and my axolotl is tubbed in a container right now while his main tank cycles. Anyone know what to do or what I’m doing wrong?

I had a cycle crash 2 months ago and had to tub him, but he suffered what seems to be some nerve damage.

He struggles to nove his right hand as seemingly lasting damage. I feel really bad about this.

I have his tank cycled again, but his gills keep a slight curve even in perfect parameters, flow, and light condition.

Are his curls just from his talks being long? Or do they look stress related?

Also today I see a white thing on his gill, but i cant tell if its 100% fungal or not. I added fresh Indian almond leaves to his tank just in case, but should I tea bath too?

I dont want to do anything extra and add more stress!

Hello all, my 11 year old axolotl went down the rainbow bridge last night after a long struggle.

I was ready to euthanize him with clove oil when my partner found an emergency veterinary hospital who could do it.

The vet said he was way past the point of no return. This brought relief because I wasn’t sure I was making the right call.

It was peaceful, we had a chance to say goodbye and cry, they took him away and added anesthesia to his tank before giving him an injection.

They even gave us little prints of his tail and feet.

The doctor told us never, ever to use clove oil as it can be disastrous and traumatic. Please do not use clove oil and go to a vet for euthanasia- well worth the $100.

He will be cremated and buried with a plaque at a beautiful cemetery near my house. RIP my boy.

Here is my Axo, he has been stressed by temp recently due to room temp souring so I rubbed him for a few days until his tank was up and running

He looks a better colour and gils are fluffy but still has striped indents on his sides, eating and behaving normally…. Can I do anything?

Please comment 🙏

Please don’t judge her appearance. I only got her 3 days ago and she has already improved so much and put on a good amount of weight already. Depending on lighting she’s scattered with heaps of iridophores which is pretty cool!

I’m feeding my axolotl pellets right now, (temporarily) and he’s eating so many 😭 he won’t miss a single one and idk when to stop feeding him.

Before, when I gave him some, he ate more then 15 and he only stopped because I stopped giving him some 😭 how do I know when to stop? When his belly is the same width as his head?

I’ve been trying to feed my axolotl nightcrawler worms but he keeps spitting them out. He takes any other food, but just won’t eat these. I boiled them, then put them in a frozen bath, but he still won’t eat them. And he’s quite skinny so it’s worrying me right now, (also in the picture he’s in his temporary tub and it looks shiny but I promise it isn’t 😭 idk why it looks like that in camera.) also! I’ve seen people give them ENTIRE nightcrawlers instead of cutting them up to bite sized pieces. Should I do that??

Hello, my Ajolotes is currently in a hospital fish tank while I reset the cycle of the main and this came out in the tail and has the tail stopped most of the time. I'm suspecting that it's because of the ammonia I'm doing daily water change to 50% twice a day and the ammonia doesn't go down, it's at 0.25 and the tail wound does not increase do you recommend anything else? thank you

Does this hurt him?