Cloudy Eyes and Shrinking gills.

[Richbiscuit]

Hi everyone

Firstly I have attempted to diagnose this myself by fruitlessly google searching but I think I stand a better job if I just make a thread with some pictures.

Today I've completed a water test using an API test.

Ammonia - 0ppm
PH - Around 8.5
Nitrate - 35ppm
Nitrite - 0

The lights are on a timer for 6 hours a day. I know this isn't ideal but they have got about three places to hide for shade.

I do a 30% water change every week using cold tap water and then I add API Stress coat to reduce/remove the chlorine.

As pictured I'm using a Eheim filter with a spray bar.

Their diet is mostly bloodworms but lately I have been feeding them tropical mix, this hasn't caused any issues before from memory.

About 6 weeks ago they both started suffering from fungus around their gills which was cured with a few salt baths and I believe the cause of this was a high water temperature, about 20 Degrees celsius, and I wasn't cleaning left over food up quickly enough.

Since then I have siphoned any left over food up and used a fan to keep the temperature around 17 Degrees.

They have been fine since then, but until 3 or 4 days ago I noticed that Lola's (the albino) gills have lost their feathery bits and shrunk, she also has cloudy/white fungus over her eyes. The most worrying part is she hasn't been eating and hasn't really moved much either.

I've prepared a salt bath for her but feel this will probably only be a temporary fix.

Levi (the black one) has been his useful self thankfully and has been eating/making a mess of the tank.

The only recent changes have been the addition of two new plants that I washed in tap water. (this might not have been enough I admit) They were bought at my local fish center.

I've also installed a Co2 gas can which I've been told will help the plants which it has to some part. You can see it on the left of the tank.

Any help or feedback is much appreciated.

 

[anonymousaxolol]

I would personally ditch the CO2 infuser because when you do that, carbonic acid is created as a by product. At my old school, we had a 220g African Cichlid aquarium and our plant just didn't grow. We discussed the possibility of infusing CO2 and we didn't, we just added a differnt light and it is better. I believe the shrinking gills are from your ph. The eyes might be a cataract. One of the senior members should be able to help you more. Axolotls produce a lot of waste so putting CO2 into their environment is odd. You should put your axolotl before your plants. I have a moss ball and duckweed in my tank and it is easy as pie.

 

[seagull]

i think the pH is way too high
mine live in water that is a pH between 6 and 6.5
perhaps floating a piece of grapefruit for a while in there would safely lower the pH??

 

[Richbiscuit]

Right I'll remove the Co2 Diffuser. I was misinformed about this as I was told it was harmless.

Ok so I've just retested the ph of the water but using the 'High Range' test solution in the Api kit instead of the 'standard ph test solution' and the result is about 7.8 according to the colour graph. Not as bad as initially thought.
The standard test solution only tests up to 7.6. The colour at 7.6 is pale blue on the chart and the solution had gone very dark blue making me believe it would been higher, around 8.5. Silly me.

Thanks so far.

 

[LSuzuki]

The CO2 (within reason) shouldn't hurt the axolotls. It will drop the pH, however. In fact, I was very concerned with your initial report of 8.5 pH, since it should not have been anywhere near that high with CO2 supplement. I would eliminate the CO2 at least for now, however, as it is just one more variable to control.

You are most-likely right that the failure to clean up the food was a cause of the fungus. Nitrate over 40 ppm has been associated with this, and if your nitrate is only down to 35 ppm after your clean up, it was probably quite a bit higher. I would continue to do water changes to get it down even lower.

I think Lola's gills may be a bacterial infection. See Axolotls - Health & Diseases

You should quarantine Lola to be safe, unless Levi is showing symptoms too. I don't recommend another salt bath.

 

[Richbiscuit]

Ok, just a little update.

I've noticed Lola is moving around a little more than usual which is a positive sign. I have also been rigorously keeping their tank clean as well.

Levi is still his usual self.

I spent a while reading that link you gave me, LSuzuki, and it appears that she might of had a fungal problem. Anyway I gave her a light salt bath for ten minutes taking great care to make sure the temperature is the same.

I saw your recommendation about no salt bath but perhaps the fungus over her eyes didn't show up well in the photo.

Thanks for the input so far guys

 

[Bette]

Just a thought to consider: I noticed that you have Stress Coat water conditioner. This contains aloe which has been shown to have irritating effects on axolotls' skin. Perhaps switch to something like Seachem Prime to see if anything changes?

 

[KatyG’s]

Thank you for sharing and the replied, I have exactly the same with my Richard at the moment. The two similarities are I have a concern with my water temp, was at wound 20c and managed to get to around 16/17c but it’s still worrying me and I also use API stress coat Aloe, as a dechlorinator and enzyme.

Richard had fungus, I asked on here and it seems my filter was too small (misadvised originally) and temp was too high, I got it under control with tea baths and daily water change in incubation tank. I upgraded filter and removed almost all tank accessories, left hiding place (he’s not such a shy guy anyway) and one Java fern.

Now the cloudy eyes have returned (not the hill fuzz this time) and he is a little off his food (although suspect because he has a worm preference and I tried the wrong kind, will find him a night crawler today). 40% water change yesterday, all parameters are good but I am starting to think is it the API balancing chemicals?

I haven’t done a salt bath with him- I’m a bit too nervous to do them right, but doing to have a read of the link. Again, thanks for posting and the replied, please can you post an update to see if you get it under control?

 

[wolfen]

Thank you for sharing and the replied, I have exactly the same with my Richard at the moment. The two similarities are I have a concern with my water temp, was at wound 20c and managed to get to around 16/17c but it’s still worrying me and I also use API stress coat Aloe, as a dechlorinator and enzyme.

Richard had fungus, I asked on here and it seems my filter was too small (misadvised originally) and temp was too high, I got it under control with tea baths and daily water change in incubation tank. I upgraded filter and removed almost all tank accessories, left hiding place (he’s not such a shy guy anyway) and one Java fern.

Now the cloudy eyes have returned (not the hill fuzz this time) and he is a little off his food (although suspect because he has a worm preference and I tried the wrong kind, will find him a night crawler today). 40% water change yesterday, all parameters are good but I am starting to think is it the API balancing chemicals?

I haven’t done a salt bath with him- I’m a bit too nervous to do them right, but doing to have a read of the link. Again, thanks for posting and the replied, please can you post an update to see if you get it under control?

don't use any stress coat that contains aloe vera as it can affect the gills and skin on a axolotl.
if a axolotl is prone to fungul issues etc.. then it is better to start using holtfreters in the water info here.. Axolotls - Requirements & Water Conditions in Captivity.

 

[KatyG’s]

don't use any stress coat that contains aloe vera as it can affect the gills and skin on a axolotl.
if a axolotl is prone to fungul issues etc.. then it is better to start using holtfreters in the water info here.. Axolotls - Requirements & Water Conditions in Captivity.

Thank you, starting to think the aquarium where I got him and all my advice is off, did a lot of reading and prep before he came home but seems like we have missed some of these basics. He has started eating again. Will do an increased part-water change to twice a week. Now to decide if a salt bath will help clear his eyes or not?

Glad to see Lola has picked up too.

 

[KatyG’s]

don't use any stress coat that contains aloe vera as it can affect the gills and skin on a axolotl.
if a axolotl is prone to fungul issues etc.. then it is better to start using holtfreters in the water info here.. Axolotls - Requirements & Water Conditions in Captivity.

Oh should have said we live in a really hard water area, just read holtfreters is best with soft water?

 

[wolfen]

sometimes you have to modify holtfreters to suit the water.
if the water is hard that normally means that there is plenty of calcium carbonate ie.. limescale so the calcium chloride and bicarbonate of soda aren't required, the salt and potassium chloride would still help though as well as using magnesium sulphate at the amount that the author describes.
the best way of finding out what the kh gh levels are is with a liquid drop test. for axolotls kh is 3° - 8° which is 53.7 - 143.2, gh is 7° - 14° which is 125.3 - 250.6