Illness/Sickness: Axolotls with mouth "sores"

[Laurab]

I have 4 mature axolotls in a 50 gallon tank. They all seemed fine until one day I noticed one axolotl's mouth had turned kind of white and looked puffy. After a few more days his mouth had started to recede and he couldn't close his mouth all the way and when he went up for air it would make this sucking noise. The mouth continued to get worse and then all of the frills on his gills disappeared and it looked like his gills on one side were shrinking. I started changing the water often, cleaning the tank every couple of days and making sure the temp was on the cooler side bc I realized it had been getting kind of warm when the heat was on (towards 70 degrees). That axolotl seemed to get a little better but his lips are still puffy and he stills makes a weird noise when he goes up for air. Now another axolotl's mouth has turned white with a big blood red spot and seems to be doing poorly. This particular one has always been half the size of the others and doesn't seem like the best swimmer, I don't think it can afford any other issues. I have attached photos of both axolotls, the one with the red mark and new problem around its mouth and the one that seems to be recovering but not fully. No one at the pet store seems to have any real knowledge about what it is or how to treat it and I don't want to do a salt bath if they don't need it. Any thoughts?

 

[PocketMiner]

They aren't looking to good, what are your water readings?

 

[Kaini]

Don't listen to anyone at the pet store - they will have little knowledge of Axolotls. Also don't use any medication unless advised by a vet - a lot of fish medications are toxic to axolotls.

What are your water parameters? (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)?

If your husbandry (temp, water parms etc) is good I would take them to a vet and get the vet's opinion. But make sure you find a vet that specializes in exotics and has some experience with Axolotls. A normal vet isn't going to know what to do with them.

 

[Laurab]

I don't know what my water readings are, this is part of the problem. I don't really understand how the water chemistry works (I acquired the axolotls from a coworker that was moving away along with a fairly useless book about how to care for them). Do I get a water testing kit from the fish section of the pet store? What kind of kit do you recommend?

 

[SuburbanGirl]

I'd recommend the API liquid test kit. I got mine at the LFS for about $30, and I know they are on Amazon for a reasonable price.

Knowing your water parameters is a good way to tell if there is something you can do to help them. If you find that water conditions are the problem I would recommend keeping them in a separate container with dechlorinated water and daily water changes (make sure to keep them covered so it is a little darker, this seems to help also).

Once you know your water parameters post them here and we can see what more can be done to help them.

Also, what are you feeding them? Sometimes this can be the problem as well.

 

[Kaini]

I don't know what my water readings are, this is part of the problem. I don't really understand how the water chemistry works (I acquired the axolotls from a coworker that was moving away along with a fairly useless book about how to care for them). Do I get a water testing kit from the fish section of the pet store? What kind of kit do you recommend?

Knowing your water parameters and keeping your tank cycled is essential to keeping aquatic life.

Pick up an API freshwater master test kit from your local pet store (petco and petsmart both have it) ASAP.

What you need to measure is ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. When fish (well in this case, Axolotls) 'breathe' (and poo) they create ammonia, like we create carbon dioxide. Ammonia is highly toxic to them, and in an uncycled tank, the ammonia builds up and up and up until the animal burns in its own waste.

To prevent this we cycle our tanks - 'cycling' a tank is the colonization of the beneficial bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrite, then to less toxic nitrate which can be removed via water changes.

Here's a good article on aquarium cycling, please give it a read:
Scales Tails Wings and Things, What is Aquarium Cycling? How to Cycle your Tank


But as for RIGHT NOW - do a large water change with dechlorinated water in your tank, I would suspect your ammonia is high since you don't test your water. Pick up an API test kit when you can and we'll go from there.

Also your Axolotls might be a little thin (hard to tell from the pictures...) What do you feed them? They should be fed on earthworms at this age.