Melting gills

Hey heather have you had any luck with getting your axy back on the road to recovery? two of my guys are ok but the one in the picture above has gotten worse. She pretty much has no feathers left at all, and her trips to the surface have become quite frequent. Poor little bugger
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Rodney>> I have had really good luck with the medicine, it worked like a charm!
The Stuff i was using is called Furan-2 made by a company called aquarium pharmacudicals. Furan-2 is the same stuff as Nitrofura-G or that is what i was told.
before I started the treatment i did a 20% water change and after i did a 75% water change because the water was a nasty green colour and i couldnt get it out with the carbon
If you can get ahold of that stuff it works great also remember to keep the water temperature down, im sure that helped alot with mine
Good luck> i hope you can get some good meds and i hope your axols get better
 
Wicked Chicken! I'm gona go down and buy some now
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Nothing else has worked so far so hopefully this Furan-2 stuff should do the trick.
 
What's the water flow like in the tank? Significant flow = axolotl stress = sudden gill loss, lack of appetite and eventually disease.
 
i have the same problem but i would perfer to try a salt dip before i go to the furan2. how salty and how long?
 
Heather(O'Reilly), check out the salts baths post.
John, the water flow isn't strong, although there is a bit of flow. Their gills move a little with the current. Is that too strong? They have places to escape the current if they want to.

Well I went down to the aquarium place, and apparently they don't import furan2 into Australia, the guy said something about a registration stuff up. Anyway he sold me a treatment called Phenoxine. It contains mainly phenoxyethanol and formaldehyde 37%. Has anyone used this stuff before on axys?
 
Rodney - The gills shouldn't move with the current - there shouldn't be a noticeable current ;(.

I can't tell you if that treatment is safe or not, I'm afraid.
 
Rodney,
Does the pet store you went to carry "nitrofura-G"? if they do i suggest getting that, it is very similar, if not the same, to Furan-2
 
I'm also having the same concerns with one of my female axie who noticeably 'lost' her gills within the last couple of months.

The pic left was taken on 21.07.04, the one right was taken today 22.11.04. (the colours on the pic right are off balance).

Temp has always been around 17°C, Water change 20%/week, she's eating as usual and seem to be the only one affected (there is 4 of them in the same tank).

Anyone got a clue ?

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(Edit) Temp was around 21-22°C this summer.

(Message edited by jamc on November 22, 2004)

(Message edited by jamc on November 22, 2004)
 
Well I've just relocated my tank to a cooler part of the house, gave it a clean-out and a refurbish. I think the increase in the water temperature combined with the slight water current might have had something to do with my axys sudden gill loss. So before im going to do any water treatment, I might see if this plan works.
Andre- even though only one guy was affected, it "might" have something to do with what Mik said earlier on in this post, seeing the temperature dropped from 22- 17C
Cold water/loads of oxygen = less feathery gills
Warm water/less oxygen = super-feathery but also raises risk of fungus and infection.
I think each axy reacts differently in each situation ie some are stressed out easier than others.
p.s I like the fork in your axys gills.
 
Rodney - the gill size will remain the same. Gill size is mostly decided by the conditions in which the axolotls are kept during their first few weeks of life. Sudden gill size change is related to stress, or stress-related disease.

Gradual change is what Mikki is describing, not sudden changes.
 
Right, ... so since it didnt happen "overnight" I'll assume that its due to the temp difference but will keep an eye on her to see how things evolve.

Thx
 
Andre - it is too severe to be attributed solely to temperature difference, certainly, my axolotls are living at 17 or 18 degrees Celsius at the moment (and since the end of Summer), and, if anything, their gills are more bushy. What is the water flow like in that tank?
 
I've clocked one of the small particles that's in the water, and I've come to about 1 meter in 45 Seconds.

The aq has about 95 Liters water (100 x 31 x 35cm) and the filter pumps 138 L./hour

Water changes : ~20% / week

There are 4 adult axies in there measuring ~24cm each.

Edit : There's minimal-to-none waves on the water surface.
Food consists exclusively of Indiana's University pellets.

(Message edited by jamc on November 24, 2004)
 
I would have thought that over a period of 4 months, that amount of gill loss would be fairly gradual
 
Rodney: I bet his other axolotls haven't lost their gills.

Andre: you told me via email that this female has been breeding every 2 months. That puts a lot of stress on the animal's body, and it can result in fin shrinkage and gill shrinkage because the body pulls "resources" from anywhere it can get them in order to make more eggs. You need to give her a break from breeding for a few months. Axolotls that breed are not necessarily very healthy - I've had sad experiences of this. I suggest you keep her in a separate tank on her own for at least a month or two more, to prevent her from suddenly breeding again.
 
I'm going to buy some additional tanks to keep my females separated from the males ... I dont want them to screw each other to death ;)

As side remark ; from what I saw this morning, all eggs are fertile :eek:))

Thanx again.
 
John: just out of curiosity what sort of time frame would Miks equation apply?
 
Rodney, sorry but I'm confused and on Dialup at the moment, so I'm not going to wade through the other pages of messages to figure out what you mean. Perhaps Mikki will answer.
 
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