Help with axolotls?

[omgitsbekahxD]

Hello, I just recently received three beautiful golden juvenile axolotls. I have had my leucistic axolotl for several months now, so I have some experience with them.

Today I noticed that 2/3 of my golden axolotls are keeping their mouths open? I've never seen this with my leucistic before. Since I got them, one of them kept its mouth open constantly so I thought it was just silly but now another is doing it too. Is this normal and okay to occur or does it mean that something is wrong?

I have an air stone in their tank right now so I don't believe it would be lack of oxygen. I had a fitter in there but it was creating too much of a current so I'm just doing water changes until I can fix the filter.

Tomorrow I'm moving the smallest of the three to a different tank since it's now missing a few toes. This one also is not wanting to eat (as of today) when it ate every day until now. I'm going to purchase some guppies as soon as I can since I know they like them as I talked to the previous owner. Maybe this will get the little one interested in food again.

Has anyone had any of these problems before? Any advice is appreciated. I'm worried about the little ones. ):


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[snuggly time]

Hi,

Could you post some pictures so we can see the problem? How big are the axies and what's their diet?

Also tank parameters would also be really useful. Ph, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and temperature.

Hopefully someone will be able to help you.

 

[mewsie]

Congrats on the new additions - goldens really are quite lovely.

Definitely could use some photos, please!

How far open are their mouths?

 

[omgitsbekahxD]

Thank you for your replies.

The smallest axolotl is about 4 inches. The largest one looks to be a little more than 5 inches and the medium sized axolotl is 5 inches or a little bit less. They're both about an inch or so larger than the little one.

The 5+ inch one is the only one not opening it's mouth. The two smaller ones are.

I don't currently have a testing kit so I'm going to have to go to the pet shop sometime soon to either get the water tested or to buy my own. I haven't had any luck finding a test kit that isn't ridiculously expensive.

Every time I've tested my leucistic's before with a pool tester (I know it's not completely accurate) the Chlorine has been 0 and ph rather high. I looked up whether the ph is bad being high for but I saw that they live fine in it.

The temperature has been between 62-64 F (12-14 C)

Their mouths aren't open very much (not all the way by any means) but it has been consistent and enough for me to notice. I'll post some pictures for you all.

This is the little one (4 inches)
First picture

th

em


This is the medium one (5 or less inches)
Second and fourth picture

This is the largest one (5 or more inches)
Third picture

I just noticed that some of their gills are curled slightly which I know isn't a good thing. I guess this could be due to water perimeters? I plan to go to the pet store today if possible to get them checked and get some guppies as well. /:


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[omgitsbekahxD]

I deleted the original second picture so the fourth is the new second picture. Sorry about that. In using the app and its a bit confusing.

Also I forgot to mention that before I had them, they were fed guppies, red wrigglers occasionally and frozen bloodworms.

Now I'm only feeding them red wrigglers and I will be feeding them some guppies once I can purchase them and quarantine them for a while.


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[snuggly time]

It could be the water quality. Although I'm a bit stumped with this one.

I bought my water testing kit from the internet. It does look expensive but I paid £25ish ($39ish) and I've still got some left 9 months later. So it's a big one off payment but it can last quite a while. If you do get one make sure it's the liquid test kit and not the test strips. One like this... Amazon.com: API Freshwater Master Test Kit: Pet Supplies

If not the water quality what about the food? Do you get the food from your garden or a shop? It may be that there's something irritating them.

 

[omgitsbekahxD]

Well the pet store said my water was perfect but they didn't show me the results. I'll go to my regular pet store hopefully sometime this week to be sure. I don't usually trust any smaller pet stores and I wanted to see the results but it seemed that they were too lazy to show me. They told me all three tanks had the same results when that can't be right. I have an empty tank, a tank with one axolotl in it, and a tank with three. Not to mention there are different things in each tank.

The little one is eating now and each of their gills only occasionally get a little curled. I'm thinking it could be because they're all in the same tank? I ended up waiting to seperate them until I got the right results. I had to set up the empty tank again because my cat knocked a can of cat food in it the other day.. So I don't really want to put any in there for as long as I can.

I get my worms from Walmart; it's the DMF brand which I've researched and they're safe. I've also used them for onyx, my first axolotl for several months and have never had a problem with them. I'm starting a little culture now though so I can raise my own.

I will save up and buy that one then since it has lasted you so long! Thank you for the link. How often do you test your water? Also how many tanks do you have? Yes I know not to use the strips since the exposure to air can make them less accurate and they have an expiration date as well. I did find one website that sold the drops seperately for not too much, but my laptop isnt working right now and I don't have the page saved anymore.




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[Mortimer]

Reminds me of my wild type Mortimer's mouth. A vet said that he may have metabolic bone disease, so you might look into that if you haven't already.