Does this look like a nipped gill?

[vlyn]

Hi =(*_*)= I'm Rosie. My Mama discovered me yesterday w my left middle gill badly curled and shortened. She quickly did a filter change, a larger than normal water change, fed me & Bad Ax my mate a red worm, and put almond leaves in my 55 G tank. Today I had some minor gas, I'm not very active (neither is Ax), and I'm flicking more than normal. Can anyone tell my Mama what they think could have happened, and if I will get better? Thanks aLotl.

She told me it may be of help for humans to know that I'm at a comfy 68 degrees give or take, I'm 18 months old, and our local store only had baby nightcrawlers thru winter and Ax & I are just switching back to red worms since last week. I had a few pellets also when Mama discovered my misfortune.

Rose

 

[Covey]

Hi =(*_*)= I'm Rosie. My Mama discovered me yesterday w my left middle gill badly curled and shortened. She quickly did a filter change, a larger than normal water change, fed me & Bad Ax my mate a red worm, and put almond leaves in my 55 G tank. Today I had some minor gas, I'm not very active (neither is Ax), and I'm flicking more than normal. Can anyone tell my Mama what they think could have happened, and if I will get better? Thanks aLotl.

She told me it may be of help for humans to know that I'm at a comfy 68 degrees give or take, I'm 18 months old, and our local store only had baby nightcrawlers thru winter and Ax & I are just switching back to red worms since last week. I had a few pellets also when Mama discovered my misfortune.

Rose

Ok, so maybe they were a bit stressed (1/10) from your temps being 20 celsius (68 farenheit) and maybe lower it to 18 celsius (64.4 farenheit). Also get the freshwater api master test kit (this specific one) because test strips are usually inacurate. Also check for bite signs, things she may have been bumped on (sharp things etc) or maybe her tankmate saw her gill move (axolotls eat moving things) and nipped it.

 

[vlyn]

Can anyone recommend a good cooling fan for this Summer? Last year I literally lived on my porch while keeping the AC on for my pets! My tank is an older version w the black trim around the edge and I am not too comfortable w no lid. If the super expensive ones are worth it, plz post a link..Mom

Rose is doing much better today, just lopsided after what I can only gather to be an injury (yeah we all see Ax in that pic!)
=(*_*)=

 

[Covey]

Can anyone recommend a good cooling fan for this Summer? Last year I literally lived on my porch while keeping the AC on for my pets! My tank is an older version w the black trim around the edge and I am not too comfortable w no lid. If the super expensive ones are worth it, plz post a link..Mom

Rose is doing much better today, just lopsided after what I can only gather to be an injury (yeah we all see Ax in that pic!)
=(*_*)=

In my personal experience, most cheap cooling fans are bad and only change the temperature by 1 celsius, unless you have like 4 fans that have 6 fans each all on an angle towards the water, but even then a desk fan (with clip or just modified to hang on tank) is more effective (can reduce temps 5-6 celsius). Anyways if you have an ac, i reccomend the trinity: frozen ice bottles (preferably large unless your tubbing your axies), aircon, and aquarium fans. This method is pretty good and can cool your tank for pretty long (maybe half a day?), but if one of these isn't used (example; your using ice bottles and aircon but not cooling fans) then the method becomes kind of ineffective. Also, do you have a chiller for your aquarium? Because if you have a chiller theres pretty much no need for aquarium fans.

 

[wolfen]

Hi =(*_*)= I'm Rosie. My Mama discovered me yesterday w my left middle gill badly curled and shortened. She quickly did a filter change, a larger than normal water change, fed me & Bad Ax my mate a red worm, and put almond leaves in my 55 G tank. Today I had some minor gas, I'm not very active (neither is Ax), and I'm flicking more than normal. Can anyone tell my Mama what they think could have happened, and if I will get better? Thanks aLotl.

She told me it may be of help for humans to know that I'm at a comfy 68 degrees give or take, I'm 18 months old, and our local store only had baby nightcrawlers thru winter and Ax & I are just switching back to red worms since last week. I had a few pellets also when Mama discovered my misfortune.

Rose

strip tests are not very accurate compared to liquid tests, you also need to be able to test for ammonia, that being said strip tests will help alert you if there is a issue, which there is.
your ph is bad, very low, also your nitrates are either non existent or very low, are you sure the tank is cycled?
by the looks of the kh gh the water is also on the soft side.
get a freshwater liquid test kit and some bicarbonate of soda. add small amounts of bicarb until the ph gets to 7.4-7.6.
read and look into using holtfreters or a modified solution to get the water mineral/salt levels to to ideal levels, info here Axolotls - Requirements & Water Conditions in Captivity
research into keep to tank cool because once it gets warm it will become a larger issue. 68°f is not comfortable temperature and needs reducing.

 

[vlyn]

Thank you very very much for all the input! I just may invest in a chiller. I appreciate the advice on the Ph as well. Those parameters were after a large water change. Would Aquarium Salt have the same effect?

Axl n Rose thank you! Very playful today.

 

[wolfen]

Thank you very very much for all the input! I just may invest in a chiller. I appreciate the advice on the Ph as well. Those parameters were after a large water change. Would Aquarium Salt have the same effect?

Axl n Rose thank you! Very playful today.

yes aquarium salt is ok

 

[Turtle Poop]

Can anyone recommend a good cooling fan for this Summer? Last year I literally lived on my porch while keeping the AC on for my pets! My tank is an older version w the black trim around the edge and I am not too comfortable w no lid. If the super expensive ones are worth it, plz post a link..Mom

Rose is doing much better today, just lopsided after what I can only gather to be an injury (yeah we all see Ax in that pic!)
=(*_*)=

I personally have had a great result from these fans. They are not going to fit over the black rim so I've addressed in 2 separate ways to modify. My 55 gal I had my husband attached it to the stand. My 20 gal long tanks I had my son carefully grind the inside lip so they would fit securely and its on there completely safe from falling off. The one I added to my 55 gal was an already established tank and it shed me alot of degrees( I want to say around 6°F over night. Since then my tank is relocated away from any natural sunlight from windows and 1/2 a floor underground I live in a tri level so they are not exactly in a basement temperature environment. My water holds pretty steady at around 65°F in this particular tank when furnace is running.
If you decide to go with a chiller please note as I didn't the quality of the one you get. They are expensive and big to accommodate a 55 gal tank. One that I blindly bought is this tiny thing that I never hooked up which was $100 nowhere was I in the range of what I should have been looking at buying. Mind the directions were not even in my language to even hook up anyways. I figured it out but it was a blind dumb purchase from me. I've heard great things about a really good one that is big enough to handle your volume of water. Just not necessary for me and fans work well for my situation and use AC in summer which I like it cold.(70°F mostly but if I can I will sneak and set it at 68°F)

 

[Autistic Catholic]

Can anyone recommend a good cooling fan for this Summer? Last year I literally lived on my porch while keeping the AC on for my pets! My tank is an older version w the black trim around the edge and I am not too comfortable w no lid. If the super expensive ones are worth it, plz post a link..Mom

Rose is doing much better today, just lopsided after what I can only gather to be an injury (yeah we all see Ax in that pic!)
=(*_*)=

You can use computer fans blowing across the surface. Pin down a mesh covering with clips. Probably the cheapest but most effective method. Also, what are the exact ammonium readings.

It's also possible that Big Ax nipped her so might consider a tank divider.

 

[Turtle Poop]

Hi =(*_*)= I'm Rosie. My Mama discovered me yesterday w my left middle gill badly curled and shortened. She quickly did a filter change, a larger than normal water change, fed me & Bad Ax my mate a red worm, and put almond leaves in my 55 G tank. Today I had some minor gas, I'm not very active (neither is Ax), and I'm flicking more than normal. Can anyone tell my Mama what they think could have happened, and if I will get better? Thanks aLotl.

She told me it may be of help for humans to know that I'm at a comfy 68 degrees give or take, I'm 18 months old, and our local store only had baby nightcrawlers thru winter and Ax & I are just switching back to red worms since last week. I had a few pellets also when Mama discovered my misfortune.

Rose

On some of this I thought maybe my 2 cents could help. Earthworms are highly suggested as main food source.
Your water perimeters are messed up. It's my understanding that a cycled tank always read some nitrates(water change at 30) but 0 on ammonia and 0 nitrites and never completely sanitize your filter instead only heavy rinse at best so you don't crash your beneficial bacteria. I hope this helps and if you get convinced that your tank is uncycled then a huge huge must is to check your ammonia cuz that's where it starts. That could definitely be related to alot of your axolotls issues. You can fix this but you got some work to do to get that cycled.https://fishlab.com/fish-in-cycle/

 

[Turtle Poop]

You can use computer fans blowing across the surface. Pin down a mesh covering with clips. Probably the cheapest but most effective method. Also, what are the exact ammonium readings.

It's also possible that Big Ax nipped her so might consider a tank divider.

We actually were going to use computer fans and design it ourselves but plugging it in would be needing addressed as its not a wall plugged set up. I might do this someday but these fans were cheap. Want to say around $20

 

[vlyn]

Wow very nice install on the black rim!! I appreciate your well written advice very much thank you. =(•_•)=