Photo: Bright pink axolotl ?!

[crossmyheart]

today i found one of my four baby axolotls bright pink. i dont understand why but its scary.. my other 3 babies share the same tank and i hope they dont catch any infection or disease my little one might have. does anyone know the reason to the reddish-pink axolotl??

 

[xxianxx]

The picture doesnt look too clear but it looks like the axolotls skin is shedding, albinos/leucistics tend to go pink when there is a water quality issue. How big is it? and how often are you doing a water change?.

 

[crossmyheart]

hes a baby only like 8 inches long, and i do waterchanges maybe every 2 weeks, maybe??.. i never even knew that they shed skin?

 

[xxianxx]

hes a baby only like 8 inches long, and i do waterchanges maybe every 2 weeks, maybe??.. i never even knew that they shed skin?

He looks younger than an eight inch. How big is your tank ? you did say you had four in the same tank. If your tank is cycled you need to do a weekly water change, if its not cycled daily. Axolotls shed their skin when they have a problem , not when they are healthy. The most probable cause is poor water quality.

 

[Kaysie]

At 8 inches long, it's an adult.

You really need to do water changes more often, unless you have an enormous tank. I do water changes at least weekly. Have you ever tested your ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates? I would bet your animal is suffering from ammonia burns.

 

[crossmyheart]

i just did a almost complete water change yesterday. i have four of my baby axolotls inna 20 gallon long, and plan to upgrade when theyh get bigger. i never tested my water before..

 

[Kaysie]

4 adults in a 20-long is really too many. I wouldn't keep any more than 2 in a tank that size. They're adults now. At 8 inches, they're not babies any more.

Your animal is surely suffering from ammonia burns. The ammonia put out by 4 axolotls in 20 gallons of water is enormous, and since you're only doing water changes every other week, the ammonia level in your tank is sky-high.

With that many animals in that small of a tank, I would be doing water changes 2-3 times a week!

You need to get the tank clean, and get that animal into the fridge.

 

[crossmyheart]

well hes like 6 inches. i just measuredd him with a tape measure. and hes a lighter pink now and i completely changed out the water 2 days ago.. i heard that live plants help control the amonia level??

 

[xxianxx]

You need to make sure your tank is properly cycled and increase your water changes. You will have an on going battle to keep your water quality up with that many axolotls in your present tank.

 

[HappySkittles]

A properly cycled tank and the proper bioload helps ammonia stay down/gone
You are going to need a bigger tank or you are going to need to re-home some axies

 

[ZombieAxolotl]

If you can't upgrade your tank right this second, or get a second 20L and split them two and two... you at least need to be doing daily water changes. Otherwise you're going to have some dead axies from amonia burns and poisioning.

Live plants are not going to help eliminate enough water issues if you have 4 near adult sized axolotls in only a 20L tank.

On my tanks I have no filters on I do weekly water changes.. or I should say bi-weekly. On my hospital tank and fridged guys I do daily water changes.

 

[pent565]

You sure your talking inches and not cm? Mine are adults of two years at about six inches. But yeah, more frequent water changes.

 

[xxianxx]

You sure your talking inches and not cm? Mine are adults of two years at about six inches. But yeah, more frequent water changes.

At six inches they are quite small for adults, i have two six month old axolotls at 6" and 7", though they were the largest of their batch.

 

[Kaysie]

6 inches is not quite small for an adult. I've had many adult axolotls that were around the 6" mark.