Strange Bumps: Tumors?

[Se]

Hello,

I have a medical problem with one of my axies. Before I go into it, I want to explain that she is inbred (the breeder got one of her parents from a new breeder stock and had no idea they were inbred until she and her siblings had issues, so I got her for free). So she has some genetic problems, including the fact that her front legs never fully grew in as a hatchling, or never regrew if they were nipped early.


However, she has been and still is acting very healthy: she is still eating, and has been healthy as far as I can tell for the year I have had had her. Her name is Stumpy and she is a little over year old.


However, a couple months ago I noticed some small white bumps under her chin. Since she kept acting healthy and eating, I figured it was either stuck but loose shed or a fungus that her immune system would take care of. It was only recently I discovered they have grown in size (as with her front legs being stumps her head is always quite low).


I have taken a picture of her bumps: sorry for the quality but this was the best I could get after a couple hours of trying (over the course of a few days) and I didn't want to stress her too much. The bumps appear the same color as the white coloration under her neck and jaw, but with a darker pink or red center. I wonder if this is blood inside clearish skin?


Housing and Diet Info:
-She and her tank mates eat Hikri Carnivorous Sinking Pellets
-She and her brother used to live in a 10 gallon glass tank with a plastic cave hide, large rock substrate, and several plastic plants until they outgrew it.
-Her current home is a 26 gallon long acrylic tank (same size as a 30 gallon long minus the front corners.)
-She shared the tank with her brother, who is her size, and another smaller axolotl from a different clutch. The tank was divided using plastic crossstitch sheet, with her and her brother in the 2/3rds (or a tad larger) section and the smaller in the 1/3 section.
-There is one plastic cave/log/hutch hide for each axolotl as well as plastic plants.
-The filter is the standard Aqueon filter cartridge one for 20-30 gallon tanks. I usually change it every two weeks but it depends on how dirty it is.
-During the summer,with the ice bottle trick, I kept the water at about 68-70 F. But on a few weekends, I was gone for most of the day and the temps rose, which I corrected once home.
-Since Fall began their tank temperature has been staying at about 64 F.
-I have had trouble keeping the nitrate levels low before in the ten gallon, so in the 26 I use a water conditioner designed to lower nitrate levels as well every two tank changes.
-The tank was cycled with a bacteria solution when I added the axolotls in.


Since finding the grown bumps yesterday, she has been moved into her old ten gallon tank. She has no hides in the water (I was worried of spreading an infection via the hides), but a towel over 3/4ths of the tank. Her tank currently has no filter but is only about three gallons full. I did a 60% water change on the 26 gallon tank to try to help rid it of any potential harmful fungus in case that is what Stumpy has.



Does anyone have any ideas on what these bumps are, and possible treatments or precautions? There aren't really any exotic vets in my small town, and if they are tumors I doubt much can be done as the main page says as much.

 

[Se]

I'm sorry to bump this topic but does anyone have any advice, or even guesses, as I did post this two weeks ago? I have her in her own tank now, with her own filter and hides. She's in a ten gallon with fresh decorations. Her appetite has been a little down the past two weeks, but not anything that would seem unusual; it could just be stress from the new home. Her growths haven't shown any changes that I have noticed, but I haven't taken her out for more pictures because I was worried on stressing her further.

 

[LSuzuki]

I don't have any educated guesses about the tumors themselves, but looking at the photo, is all of the skin around the bumps also strange? In the picture, it looks receded, but photos can be misleading. Did she perhaps scrape her skin, and the "tumors" are part of the healing?

Good luck! I hope it turns out to be nothing to worry about.

 

[Se]

Thank you for the reply, LSuzuki. I was wondering about that too, as I'm hoping it's just her healing something she scraped, as the skin there is indeed receded, as far as I can tell. The problem is that I didn't notice the receded skin before this, and since she turned out to be an inbred axie, her genetics are be a bit messed up, so I was worried that perhaps her chin was always like that, minus the bumps, and I never noticed before. I went and looked at pictures of her when she was younger, and I didn't notice the receded skin there, so I'm hoping that it is indeed just her healing up.

Either way I'll keep her on her own for a while longer to be safe, but I appreciate the input. I'm really hoping that all it is is healing.

 

[LSuzuki]

Our axolotls do some "why can't I get through this hole?" behavior. Is it possible there was an almost-big-enough hole in her previous housing with something that could have scraped her? I am not familiar with axolotl injuries (and hope not to need to become so :happy and so I don't know what types of things could cause an injury like that (if it is an injury).

 

[Se]

I'm starting to think that you might be right on the idea of a scrape and it might just be her healing oddly. I am not sure what she could have scraped herself on, but since she is missing her front legs she is rather clumsy at times so it's quite possible.

I took more pictures last night. There isn't much different but I believe her chin is looking more filled in and whiter. But it's not fuzzy, so I am pretty sure it's not a bacteria or fungus. (Would love another opinion on this; I know it's hard with the pictures, but she's still in her own tank for now.)

And when she was young most of her chin was white too so I believe the white is her natural coloration. The second photo is the best one I have of her chin (in the reflection on the bottom of the tank) to show how it used to look, although that one has to be half a year old at least.


Regardless, whatever it turns out to be, thanks for the help. I appreciate it.

 

[milahoh]

The skin does look ulcerated around the bumps you see. Also, in the second picture, it does look better. I would keep her in very clean water, by herself, until the skin returns. If it changes, post more pics, but I would not do salt baths yet. The tissue looks to be healing on it's own. Make no mistake, though, she has injured herself somehow. When I raised bettas, I used what I called the "Nylon/pantyhose test" if you can scrape delicate fabric such as pantyhose across the surfaces of a tank decoration without snagging it, it can go in the tank. Axolotls have delicate skin too, and without being able to lift herself off the bottom, she is a candidate for injury. Also, as mentioned, they will try to cram themselves into any hole, scraping themselves in the process. Watch her, and sand down the edges of any ornaments in the tank.

 

[Se]

Thank you for the reply, Milahoh.

I am going to try to get another picture of her sometime this week to keep monitoring her healing progress. I was going to today, but then last night, she ate heartily for the first time since being moved to her own tank. So I think I am going to wait a while, as she seemed to take being moved to her own tank quite hard, and every time she goes in the bowl for pictures, she gets stressed too, regardless of how gentle I am. I believe this is due to the lighting, since I need good lighting to see her chin. I'm still doing regular tank changes, and I've been triple checking the hides for culprit spots.

I'm actually suspecting that what happened was she got herself pinched on one of the river rocks I had gotten (and cleaned, ofc) some time ago. While they were all smooth, for a brief period (less than a week) I had tried to make a substrate out of them, as at the time I noticed both axolotls enjoyed resting on the large smooth rocks I had gotten. But at one point they had flipped one over into an awkward spot while I wasn't home, leaning a small gap between where the filter was and a rock. I'm suspecting that that spot may have been the culprit if she tried to squeeze by the filter and the rock.

Either way, I'll be triple checking for any other potential culprits of places she could have hurt herself. Thanks again!

 

[milahoh]

It is good to hear that she is eating! In my limited experience and vast reading, I have found that the best way to treat these guys and their injuries is with isolation and cold, clean water. If they develop signs of secondary illness, that is another thing, but one would be amazed what clean water alone can accomplish. As for your theory, it sounds reasonable. As sweet and responsive as these guys are, they really are not the brightest bulbs in the shed. Add in her inherent clumsiness and she is more likely than others to get trapped between rocks. As far as taking photos of her, you might do better to simply take photos of her reflection on the bottom of a glass-bottomed tank. I agree that moving her for more photos is more stressful than it is worth at this point. Just keep an eye on it, and if it stops healing or changes color or gets fuzzy, then photograph it again. You might consider a soft substrate for her in the future, such as a very fine sand or even glass bottom. (I use naturally glazed ceramic tiles in a few of mine; they might be smooth enough for her. Natural glaze- no colors to leach heavy metals. And I do not seal the tiles in- makes for very easy cleaning, clearer water, and easier disinfection if need be. Just my 2 cents.) Good luck with her!!!

 

[LSuzuki]

I'm glad Stumpy is getting better. :happy:

milahoh - how do you tell "safe" tile? There is a lot of tile out there, and "natural" colors may not mean it is natural glaze. I would like to use tile in my axolotl tanks, but haven't convinced myself I know how to find a safe one. Any suggestions on how to find such tile would be appreciated. :happy:

 

[milahoh]

I actually went to a flooring wholesaler and chose tiles that were grey or brown, and naturally colored. The colors added to glazes are the source for heavy metals, so a tile without glaze or with a clear glaze will be safer. I mentioned to the owner/operator the trouble with heavy metals, and he helped me. So far, everyone is doing well in the tiled tanks, some for up to a year almost now.

 

[kjnorman]

Obviously the only way to be sure is to take her to a vet, but that is stressful for her (and expensive for you) so if she is otherwise doing okay I would go with the scratched-skin theory. For what it's worth, the lumps don't look like tumors to me, so I would just keep feeding her, keep the water clean, and keep an eye on her.

Stumpy is an adorable name, by the way.
I had one deformed baby axolotl that bounced back and started doing well right around the time I decided he probably wasn't going to make it and I should euthanize him - so I kept feeding him for a few days and he did well and eventually started to thrive. His head and necked seemed to develop more slowly/not as much on the left hand side, so his right gills were bigger, even his right front leg was longer than the left front.

I called him Lefty and gave him away for free to a family who understood that I didn't know if there might be anything else wrong with him, and as far as I know he is still doing great with them.

 

[kayleighh18]

one of mine had similar happen to their leg, where i have a few in the same tank at food times they like to go for the same pieces of food although there is plenty there for them to have a piece each and she lost the bottom half of her leg as part of the healing there was excess skin which formed into little lumps when she regrew her leg so she's a little scared but is completely healthy