Question: Very light gills a problem?

[Samyueruchan]

My first axolotl arrived today and I'm very happy! S/he is so cute.

The reason I'm in this section of the forum, however, is that I'm ever-so-slightly worried about him/her already. S/he is a juvenile leucistic and his/her gills are nearly as white as the rest of his/her body. In all the pictures and videos of axolotls that I've seen their gills are are glorious red colour. Should I be worried about the lightness of my Izel's gills?

S/he has only been in his/her tank for an hour or two and is spending a lot of time pushing into two of the corners. I have heard that looking for an escape like this is a sign of stress. Is a certain amount of stress likely to occur considering that s/he has just been transported to me in a small plastic bag and is new to this tank?

Temperature is 16C in the tank and pH is a steady 7.5. I have yet to check the other water parameters as the tank had a full water change yesterday and there was has been nothing living in the tank before today.

The water is slightly murky but is clearing fast. Could the murkiness be bothering my Izel?

I very much hope that I'm just being overly-paranoid, but I thought that it was better to be safe than sorry and check with the people on here, you all seem very knowledgeable.

 

[Darkmaverick]

Have you cycled your tank? Did you provide sufficient hiding places? Any loud noises, vibration or bright lights near the tank? Can you post a photo of the axie?

 

[Blaze]

When Sunny sleeps or I havn't fed him in a while his gills go an almost white!

 

[Samyueruchan]

The tank has not yet been cycled. As I have only one axolotl in an approximately 90cm x 30cm x 37cm tank (I think it has just over 100 litres of water in it,) I had hoped to simply be very diligent with tests and water changes. The tank is in the dimmest corner of the room and there are no loud noises or vibrations nearby. The only vibration is that of the filter which is using a spray bar directed against the back of the tank and Izel has spent just about all of his/her time in the other side of the tank. I have a large rock propped up by two smaller ones in the corner of the tank as a hiding place. S/he is spending the vast majority of his/her time hiding here but as s/he is hiding and the water is not completely clear I cannot see if s/he is simply hiding or pushing into the corner of the tank as s/he was doing with one of the other corners. I can't take a picture at the moment, unfortunately.

Could s/he perhaps be hungry? There were some leftover bloodworms (I think they were bloodworms) in the bag that s/he was transported in and I've yet to feed him/her

 

[melfly]

Congratulations on getting your axolotl! How big is he? I wouldn't worry about him swimming around too much today as its new to him and he will be a bit stressed from travelling. My gold freddie swam and headbutted each side of the tank when he was reintroduced to the tank. Probably a combination of bein in the big tank slight temp change and not bein used to the filter. If it carries on and he doesn't settle after a few hours then something may be bothering him.

 

[Samyueruchan]

Phew. Thank you very much! I had assumed that this was the case, but I thought that it was better to check. I'd rather be safe than sorry!

I am very excited about him! He's in hiding at the moment so I can't measure him but I'd guess that he's about 10-15 centimetres. He's a leucistic with some very cute face freckles. Even my mother, who is generally rather disgusted by amphibians, couldn't help but find him cute. When the water completely clears and he's finished hiding I shall have to dig out my camera to take a photo or two.

 

[melfly]

Aw i bet he's really cute! Once he's had a good hide and an explore he'll probably brighten up. Cant wait to see him! Mel

 

[Samyueruchan]

He did exactly as you said. He hid under his rock for a long time. He eventually ventured out and I decided to feed him. He gorged himself on masses of bloodworms and his gills brightened up nicely! Even after he decided he was full he kept sniffing at my fingers and even darted up my arm. I love him. XD

I fear that this has strayed off topic now, but I really want to take a picture of him to show everyone but I can only really use my phone and the flash keeps coming on automatically. I don't want to scare him with the bright light so I'll keep fiddling and upload pictures soon.

 

[melfly]

Thats good to hear glad he's cheered up! Mel