White limbs urgent diagnosis required...

[olivia]

3 of my axolotyl's limbs have turned white suddenly - any ideas which would help Monty would be greatly appreciated... I am considering isolation and a salt bath. It doesn't look like fungus to me however. He has also, unsurprisingly, stopped eating. Shares tank with koi carp. I'm very worried so any ideas would be gratefully received...

 

[katy]

Aren't koi quite aggressive? They may have injured his legs, I would definitely separate them if possible. If it doesn't look fuzzy like a fungal thing, and no other tank conditions have changed, I don't know what else it could be.

 

[olivia]

Here's an update: I took Monty to the vet and we decided to put him down. The reason for his limbs becoming white is that he has not had a varied enough diet - I fed him mostly on bloodworms which i thought was sufficient. It transpires that axolotyls mostly eat animals that do not have bones which means it is hard for them to recieve sufficient minerals and calcium. It is therefore EXTREMELY important that we feed our axolotlys a varied diet with Lancefish (whitebait type fish) earth worms as they digest lots of minerals from their own diet, and even koi pellets as these have good minerals in them. If minerals are lacking then it puts strain on the vital organs, and Monty had very little bone which is why his legs had "died". This strict element of their diet is not mentioned in any of the books i have read and feel it should be more widely known. I am going to write to my local aquarium stores that sell axolotyls to ensure they inform prospective owners of these risks in advance. (Apparently lizards suffer a similar problem as their diet mostly contains insects which do not have bones or calcium. ) Katy, thanks for your advice - Monty seemed to get on ok with the koi, infact he was the one who tended to be aggressive!

 

[sharon]

Hi Olivia. I am so sorry to hear of your loss.

Just so you know koi & goldfish put out a great deal of ammonia in their waste. There aren't many species that can be housed with them and be comfortable. Tolerate it yes, be comfortable no.

I'm probably to late, but you should take pictures. When I wanted my boss (I used to work in a petstore) to change some facet of animal care, I used the internet to find the most gruesome images, made up a speech/lecture and then cornered his penny pinching butt somewhere public and let him have it! LOL!

If you go to your most popular stores, you will have better luck getting them to change than you will with the small independently owned stores.

And what you really want to push for is the information they are giving out to the public. They are still going to do what is cheapest and easiest for them, especially if it doesn't have an immediate effect.

In my store it was rare to have an animal that was there for longer than a couple of weeks.

Although since you are advocating a diet change, which more varied/related sales, you might get a really friendly reception.

Also in my rescue work, I often made public lectures about the proper care and feeding of exotic animals. My boss loved it & hated it, it brought it more related sales but cut back on impulse buys.

You might call around and find someone who is doing reptile rescue who is vocal in the community who can add the axolotl to their "lectures".

As for koi or goldfish being aggressive. They aren't. At least not compared to the Oscar. But they will nibble on anything that catches their eye.

Again, I am really so sorry to hear of your loss, my deepest sympathies.

Sharon