r/axolotls

her gills got fluffier!! she’s growing FAST almost 6 inches now, i’ll be introducing her to sand soon

Hi everyone!

Today was the day that I could take (very smol) Furina home into her 40 gal tank!

I did read alot about how to care for axolotls and what to expect with them, but I still don't feel properly prepared.

I always dreamed about having one of those cuties as a pet, but back when I found out about their existence, it was nearly impossible to own them in my country.

Now that I am a grown woman, I finally made my dream come true!

Furina is around 4 months old! I cycled the tank for a while and today when I went for my weekly water test, the water was finally good enough!

I am excited, but anxious, because I want to be a good axolotl mom to this precious baby!

Is there something you notice that is super wrong with my tank? I just added some good bacteria before taking this photo, so the water is obviously not clear as it should be.

Estimated the year she was born based on what her previous owners had told me. We weren't together for long but I will miss her so much ❤️ The tiniest friend I ever had

The axolotl in the first picture looks like it has a bigger throat, he looked like this all day and his mouth is a little open. The second axolotl has it also a little for what it looks like. What can this mean?

Our Casper celebrated his 4th year with us this week, which makes him 5-6 years old at least, although could be older. He's survived a leg amputation and multiple fake deaths because it took a while to realise he likes to sleep upside down 🤦‍♀️ such a lovely boy!

I feel my cycling is taking a lot longer than it should be?
I initially had a cycled tank basically instantly but then discovered the sand I had in my tank wasn’t suitable for axolotls and removed it and replaced it with something better suited (fine white sand). This ruined my established cycle but since then I have the started he dosing with prime and stability, I have completed two 30% water changes due to my results and am seeing little to no improvement what so ever. I have live plants and keep the filter running and add in new prime and stability when I’ve done my change. I would say I’m pretty familiar with the process and what to do but I feel like I could be missing something?. The first photo is from when I removed and replaced the sand.
The last photo is the latest test so two 30% changes later and new treatment.

Hi partypeople! I recently posted about Soap! Our little rescue girl. See my previous posts if you want to know more about her. This one is about her gills:

What on earth is that yellow stuff covering them? Is it an infection? She looks pale because she is in a methylene blue bath atm :) She has a lot of open wounds, so she will get the baths until those wounds are closed completely. So I guess if it is an infection it will get better anyway thanks to the met blue?

She can flick her gills, but the flicks look asymmetric and... bad. I will put a video I took a few days ago in the comments. These injuries happened from being cohabbed with like 8 other axolotl in a tiny tank at our local LFS. she must have already been weaker than the others, they ate her alive :/ She is very active and eating well!

I got him like this at my local pet shop and he’s had these little unhealthy gills and also he doesn’t eat much and I offer it everyday and he hasn’t at in a few days to a week or so but he hasn’t live shrimp and minnows so I don’t know if he’s just eating those

-tank is cycled
-water parameters look good
-temp is 60-64 degrees

I noticed this lump on my girl, Luna, gills, does anyone know what this could possibly be? 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrate, 0ppm nitrite, 65f

Sorry for the formatting ahead of time I'm on mobile.

Hello! This is my very first axolotl named Mochi. They are 4 months old and we just got them last week. They were fasted about 2 days before being shipped to us and didn't poop for about 4 days but yesterday they pooped twice, today once, and it seems like they still have more to come out as their butt started floating again like it did before they pooped last night. I'm pretty sure it's constipation as their belly was a bit full looking until they started pooping and they stopped eating yesterday before they pooped the first time. I was just wondering if this frequency was normal after constipation? We've had them tubbed since we got them as we haven't seen axolotl poop from juveniles before and wanted to make sure we knew what to look for before putting them in their tank so they are already tubbed with daily (sometimes twice daily) water changes. They aren't constantly floating and when they do they really don't seem to care in the slightest so I'm not all that concerned. I just wanted to know as it went from nothing to well frankly a ton of poop with no end in sight. 😅 Picture because they are just so cute!

Hi folks. Recently I have changed my axolotls diet a bit from brined shrimp to night crawlers, and I have definitely seen an improvement in his health. His gills are much healthier and he is more active. Way more active. To the point where he swims around so much that the blood flow to his tail is making it turn red. Same with his limbs. Am I doing something wrong? Is he sick? What can I do to take better care of him?

Hi friends, Kirby here has had to be tubbed for much longer than an axolotl should have to be, probably, and I feel very bad for her. I’d be happy to explain the situation if anyone’s curious but long story short, she’s stopped eating lately and I’m getting worried. Now is day 3 or 4 I think of nothing. She also hasn’t pooped much for a long time.

She was eating just fine a few days ago but then started refusing food. I’ll make her a tea bath after work, but is there anything else I can do??? I’m worried for her.

ALSO!!! If anyone has tips for getting ammonia in the tank down I’d be happy to know!!! The parameters are all good except for my ammonia which is stuck at 3-ish. I’m doing what I can but this situation has stressed me even more now, I just want to get her in a tank 💔

This is Kenny- sorry about the reflections in the photos. We're in the UK and I started leaving his light off a couple of months ago to keep his tank cool during the summer. He has been so happy and busy (moving sand, climbing etc) that I don't want to turn the light back on. He used to stay in his cave during the day and only come out at night but he's out all the time now. His lighting was never bright - is there a lighting set up/colour that ie axolotl friendly or should I leave his lights off?

Ammonia and nitrite was zero, but this is nitrate. Is this too high? I think its around 20 for what I see