Is my baby Mel axolotl stresses/constipated?

[AlexisJG]

I have had them 3 weeks tomorrow, they have been doing very well (excuse my water I am currently doing a water change). This morning I noticed his gills were super curled (they are curly anyway but never this much) and I have read that may be a sign of stress. My Mels gills are curly and large in general especially compared to my Lucy but they have both been doing very well so I figured they were just like that because they are large. I also noticed he looks a little bit lumpy in the abdomen area. I may be over analyzing , I hope that’s what it is. I have a sponge filter and a penguin 150 filter in a 20 long for them, I use an all natural sponge to break up the water flow from the penguin 150 but I am thinking of just taking it out and getting another sponge filter. Any advice helps! Thanks!

 

[Linkisnotzelda]

Are you keeping two juveniles together? Because they are cannibals when they are under six inches (and just young in general) this could be causing stress. I would keep a closer eye on them to see if there is any “axolotl bullying” going on, and make sure to check water parameters. If they still look stressed after a couple of days, then you could try to further diagnose the issue. It might not be anything, they might just be randomly stressed for a day or two. Hope this helps!

 

[AlexisJG]

Are you keeping two juveniles together? Because they are cannibals when they are under six inches (and just young in general) this could be causing stress. I would keep a closer eye on them to see if there is any “axolotl bullying” going on, and make sure to check water parameters. If they still look stressed after a couple of days, then you could try to further diagnose the issue. It might not be anything, they might just be randomly stressed for a day or two. Hope this helps!

Thanks for commenting! Yes they are juveniles, I did read a lot about the cannibalism. I debated on getting a tank divider until they got bigger but I have been keeping a close eye on them. Most of the time they seem to keep to themselves and neither of them have shown aggression or seem to have any wounds so that’s why I haven’t separated them. If I ever do see anything like that I would of course separate them. They are both well fed and I also have feeder guppies so if they did get hungry for any reason hopefully they’d turn to those. The Lucy seems fine, no signs of stress. I did a water change and took out my penguin 150 I plan on just getting another sponge filter as well. My Mel seems to be doing better I fed them both and they ate fine. His gills seem to have curled a little less.

 

[Linkisnotzelda]

Thanks for commenting! Yes they are juveniles, I did read a lot about the cannibalism. I debated on getting a tank divider until they got bigger but I have been keeping a close eye on them. Most of the time they seem to keep to themselves and neither of them have shown aggression or seem to have any wounds so that’s why I haven’t separated them. If I ever do see anything like that I would of course separate them. They are both well fed and I also have feeder guppies so if they did get hungry for any reason hopefully they’d turn to those. The Lucy seems fine, no signs of stress. I did a water change and took out my penguin 150 I plan on just getting another sponge filter as well. My Mel seems to be doing better I fed them both and they ate fine. His gills seem to have curled a little less.

That’s good! Hopefully it was just a random thing and his gills look better!