Rescued 8 yr old axolotl help please :)

[Hannah0307]

Hi there , i recently took a rescue axolotl in his 8 years old been fed a diet of bloodworms his whole life and had a heater in his tank �� his not in the best of conditions his feathery gills are non existent but in the 3 weeks I've had him I think they are slowly growing back on one side! His also got a graze on his head and belly that don't appear to be healing but haven't got worse. I have him on a earth worm staple his eating 2 a day and would prob eat more if I offered it him. Any help and advice would be great his tank sitting at 70f. He seems pretty active and happy but I have no idea if the tank was cycled and don't no where to start ! I've replaced the large gravel with sand and gave him a hidey hole. This is my first axolotl so don't want to let him down. Also are the yellow blemish on him normal or is this fungus or a skin thing?

 

[Hannah0307]

More pics

 

[kcoscia]

In order to tell if your tank is cycled, you need a complete liquid test kit. I suggest the API Master Test Kit as it's easy to use and readily available. A cycled tank has 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and some nitrate.
Your tank is most likely not cycled, so you should be testing daily and changing the water at any sign of ammonia. Eventually it will cycle, but it will take time. A bacteria booster that I have used (although not guaranteed to work every time) is Tetra Safe Start. I have had a handful of successes with emergency cycling using this product.

Now as for the axolotl ... having pristine water chemistry will be the only way for it to heal properly. You can treat with antibiotics, but poor water chemistry will defeat the purpose.
Then treat with Furan-2, follow the instructions on the box.

Seems like you are off to a good start. It already has a better home than it has had for the first 8 years of its life!