lupegirl8
New member
Hello! I'm new to this forum but not new to amphibian or axolotl keeping. My partner and I's melanistic axolotl Matlal is turning white and we aren't sure if it's just a pigment change or some kind of illness we've never heard of.
The white patches are mostly symmetrical and are not fluffy or raised in any way. If anything the white patches seem smoother than the skin surrounding them in some places? Matlal is still acting 100% normal and has his usual hearty appetite. He is about 4 years old (we've had him since he was very young) and prior to this has had no color changes apart from the usual lightening of the toe-tips at sexual maturity.
When the first small white patches appeared we gave him salt baths daily for about a week and a half in case it was some kind of illness. However the salt baths had absolutely no effect on the progression of the pigment change and since he was still acting normally we stopped the baths to avoid stressing him further.
I've heard of cases where dark axolotls started to turn white around this age, but to my knowledge all of those cases were with wild type axolotls. Matlal's breeder told us he was melanistic and he has the lack of shiny eyes characteristic of melanistic axies (he also has the GFP gene if that is relevant).
Thanks to anyone who can help! (PS he was removed from the tank for these pictures so that the whitening areas can be seen more clearly, this is not his enclosure).
The white patches are mostly symmetrical and are not fluffy or raised in any way. If anything the white patches seem smoother than the skin surrounding them in some places? Matlal is still acting 100% normal and has his usual hearty appetite. He is about 4 years old (we've had him since he was very young) and prior to this has had no color changes apart from the usual lightening of the toe-tips at sexual maturity.
When the first small white patches appeared we gave him salt baths daily for about a week and a half in case it was some kind of illness. However the salt baths had absolutely no effect on the progression of the pigment change and since he was still acting normally we stopped the baths to avoid stressing him further.
I've heard of cases where dark axolotls started to turn white around this age, but to my knowledge all of those cases were with wild type axolotls. Matlal's breeder told us he was melanistic and he has the lack of shiny eyes characteristic of melanistic axies (he also has the GFP gene if that is relevant).
Thanks to anyone who can help! (PS he was removed from the tank for these pictures so that the whitening areas can be seen more clearly, this is not his enclosure).
thank you!