Sick Axolotl, Fungus, Stress Symptoms [Axolotl Illness Guide 2024]

It is not moving!… It is floating and NOT eating… Is my axolotl dying? HELP!

These are questions I commonly hear from worried owners when their axolotl are exhibiting unusual signs or actions.

Most people are helpless when their axolotls get sick and there isn’t really a proper comprehensive guide out there that helps diagnose the problem.

But worry no further as this guide will uncover every common or uncommon symptom from diagnosing the problem to treatment step by step:

Let’s begin!

Chapter 1 Diagnosis: What symptoms your axolotls are displaying?

Are your axies having any one of the following problems?

Here is a quick symptoms cheat sheet

Click on individual symptoms to get more detailed information

Symptom 1: Bent gills or folded tail

Is your axolotl have their gills bending forward? Or folded tail?

Axolotl signs of stress when bent gills or folded tail

What does bent gills or folded tail mean?

These are 100% signs of stress. Gills bending forward could be also caused by strong water currents which is not prefered. Axolotls do not like strong currents, they prefer calmer waters.

A folded tail, on the other hand, can mean serious issues like sickness induced stress. If that happens, you have to watch closely for other symptoms below as most of the time it will come with another few more symptoms.

If you still can’t differentiate, just keep an eye on these areas for the next few days:

Anatomy of axolotl

Axolotl’s Anatomy

Monitor them for a while to see if they are folded.

What can stress lead to:

Stress can result in having no appetite or not eating at all.
Without proper food and nutrients, they are likely to fall sick or become weak

Find out more on step by step treatments for stress here.

Symptom 2: Skin related problems

Do you see flaky skin, red swelling skin, deteriorating gills or white cotton-like growth on limbs?

Do you see your axolotls frequently scratching their gills, or their skin and gills starting to peel or lose color? These are serious symptoms that can threaten the well being of your axolotls.

So let’s take a look at some of the common symptoms and what they are:

Red swelling skin all over

Axolotl red swelling skin

This is caused by bacteria such as Aeromonas hydrophila aka the “red leg” bacteria. It usually affects the skin of axolotls causing it to become red, irritated and inflamed. You will find your axolotl tend to scratch the inflamed parts often as well.

White cotton-like growth on skin, limbs or gills

Fungus growth on Axolotl by the bacteria known as Chondrococcus columnaris or Columnaris

This is signs of fungus growth by the bacteria known as Chondrococcus columnaris or Columnaris. Definitely not a good sign. You may also find your axolotls scratching affected areas.

Other skin or gills related symptoms

Flaky skin, discoloration, and gills deteriorating are also caused by bacterial infection.

What can cause all these skin irritations?

Very often, poor cycling of the aquarium is the main cause of poor health for your axolotls. Especially if feces or waste build up along with higher temperature will cause ammonia, nitrate levels to spike. This can also lead to fungus growth on wounds or skin irritation on your axies.

So make sure you do proper cycling by following our step by step aquarium cycling guide here

In general, adults axolotls are able to withstand long periods in water with higher toxicity levels for a long time without showing any symptoms. But when you realize it, it might be too late.

Prevention is better than cure. It is always advisable to take water chemistry levels every now and then to do proper cycling and water changes often to avoid such incidents.

See how you can treat symptoms caused by water contamination here

Symptom 3: Wounds and Injuries

Notice any cuts and nips on their fin, legs or gills?

What can cause wounds and injuries?

Wounds like cuts and nips on their fins, feet or gills can be a common occurrence when you share a tank with other fishes or even among axolotls themselves.

Another thing that can cause injury is the decorations used in your tank. You must make sure things like the rocks or wood you use don’t contain any sharp edges.

Take a look at some examples of injuries below:

Example of Axolotl injuries

See our step by step guide to treating wounds and cuts here.

Symptom 4: Floating, bloating or unable to dive to the bottom of the tank

What is the cause of floating?

Axolotl floating at the top surface of water

Floating are often signs of bloating or constipation. They can either be just gas produced from eating food that is harder to digest or it can be a signal to something really serious like an impaction.

Hence, floating can be easily misdiagnosed by many.

In most cases, axolotls do float occasionally due to indigestion/constipation and mainly bloating. But once gas is passed out, they should generally become back to normal. The most obvious sign for bloating is their bum and tail floating on water surface.

If it is impaction, apart from floating, it will usually be accompanied by other symptoms such as having frequent floating, unable to eat, constipation, frantic swimming or signs of struggle to get back down to the bottom of the tank.

So ask yourself a few questions to determine if it is impaction or just passing gas:

• How long has he/she been floating? Is it all the time, or only occasionally?
• Can your axolotl swim back down to the bottom or always stuck floating?

What problems can prolong floating leads to?

It leads to added stress on top of their stomach issues.

Axolotls get frightened easily. They also dislike brightly lit environment. Hence, they only swim to the surface either for air or to float for a while when they have gas. They do not stay on top for long.

However, if the gas build up is forcing them to float against their will, they will naturally turn frantic and feel even more stressed out.

Just like panic attacks that we human experience – Axolotls too have fight or flight mechanisms to tell them that something is wrong. And very often its flight that takes place so you seeing them moving frantically. Prolong involuntarily floating makes them feel even worse as they are not only feeling uncomfortable on the inside of their body but in their minds too.

You have to really start worrying when you see your axolotls floating frequently and are having trouble swimming back down.

When that happens, you will have to monitor closely for other symptoms such as swelling or constipation as it could be signs of impaction. Quarantine them too if necessary.

What can impaction lead to?

Impactions can range from minor to very serious. May even require fridging to clear the congestion in the stomach slowly. Impactions can also result in cuts within the mouth which can escalate into infections later.

As always, prevention is better than cure!

Here are some tips to make sure you lower the chances of impaction:

• Use sand instead of gravel – I can’t emphasize enough that gravel is too large, getting stuck in the body of your axie is going to be serious.
• Do not use stones or pebbles that can potentially be swallowed. Especially if the stone is sharp and cuts your axie on the inside will mean serious trouble.
• Don’t share tank for other fishes. Axie might get choked or cause impaction
• Cut your food up to smaller pieces before feeding to your axolotls.

Click here to see more about step by step treatment for impactions.

Symptom 5: Eating problems

Are your axolotls having trouble eating? Are they spitting out food or constipated?

What can cause eating problems?

Not being able to eat can mean something serious! Even for us humans…

But do not panic just yet –

Because the symptom of not eating alone can mean many things. That includes:

• Simply overeating (Check out feeding guide here for feeding frequency).
• Increased Temperature or toxicity in your tank
• Indigestion/bloating that leads to constipation
• Stress
• Or in the serious case, they can also be potential signs of impaction, where something large is stuck in the body causing no food to pass through or digestion to take place.

So it is very important to monitor early for other symptoms or they may turn into nasty problems later such as infections.

While monitoring them for other symptoms, try feeding them again moderately after a day or 2 to see if their appetite returns but make sure not to overfeed them. Try to feed them with small pieces of nightcrawlers or soften pellet food.

If they continue to avoid food or starts to spit them out instead, then there might be a high chance of impaction.

For common indigestion or constipation, other symptoms such as floating may also appear. So don’t be too quick to panic if see them floating. Check out more on floating in the previous section.

Take the following steps if you realise they are not eating:

1. Checking water chemistry levels
2. Frequent monitoring
3. Fridging may be required if it is impaction

Symptom 6: Gasping for air at the surface of the water

Sometimes you might find that your axolotls are swimming up for air. You may see air bubbles coming out from their mouths too. But there is no need to worry if it is not frequent.

What cause axolotls to gasp for air frequently

Axolotls naturally swim up for air once a while and that is normal. It is not normal if he does that every few minutes.

So here are some reasons that can cause them to grasp for air often:

• Water chemistry levels are bad. Making it hard for them to breathe with their gills.
• Axies that have smaller gills so they need more air on the surface.
• When there is not enough oxygen content in water.

Symptom 7: Swelling of the mouth or head. Can’t close its mouth

Swelling on the head, limbs, neck or puffy mouth that your axie can’t seem to close can be serious symptoms of infection. Some people call it fluid retention too where infection gets really serious that may cause death.

For such a situation quickly visit a vet.

So which symptoms above are your axolotls displaying? Sometimes, it might get difficult to diagnose especially when the symptom is minor.

Take for example, when axolotls float on water, it is something that happens quite commonly and is often misdiagnosed. They do get bloated at times with air bubbles stuck in their body.

However, if they are struggling or having difficulty swimming back to the bottom, that means something entirely different.

To better determine the illness and cause or to know if there really IS a problem, we need to a standard procedure of diagnosis to rule out certain causes.

Chapter 2 Quarantine and Monitoring

When you see your pet axie showing some unusual signs above, before panicking and rushing into forums to post your problems everywhere on the web. You need to take some extra steps to further confirm your problems.

Sometimes misdiagnosis can result in the wrong treatments. Remember, asking the wrong questions always gives you the wrong results.

So always perform these MUST DO step by step diagnosis to rule out certain causes of what is ailing your pet.

#1: Quarantine and isolate

Once you notice something really wrong, isolate and quarantine. Remove the sick/injured axolotl into another “Hospital” tank or tub.

Steps taken to set up hospital tank/tub:

1. The water you used for your hospital tank or tub has to be dechlorinated before adding your axolotls into it. Best to use prime dechlorinator.
2. Water has to be at the ideal temperature of between 16 °C and 18 °C (60-64 °F) and never higher than 23°C (74 °F) too. So use a fan or let your water cool down before moving your axolotl over.
3. Make sure tank or tub you use is deep enough or has a cover to prevent axolotls from jumping out.
4. You can use a cloth to cover your tank or tub too to prevent too much light. Keep it dark in there.
5. Water will have to be changed daily too.

#2: Take water toxicity levels

It is recommended to Use API Freshwater master test kit to test your water chemistry: PH, ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite levels for most accurate results.

Many times, I have seen people making mistakes when using the kit. This gets you very inaccurate results if you don’t shake the solution enough. Here I will highlight those important steps that you have to take note in order to achieve the correct results.

Let’s begin!

The kit consists of a total of 4 empty vials, one color score sheet and 7 fluids in bottles.

This 7 fluid bottles consist of:

• 2 bottles of chemical used to test PH levels
• 2 bottles of chemical used to test for ammonia
• 2 bottles of chemical used to test for nitrates
• 1 bottle of chemical used to test for nitrites

Step 1

Retrieve the 4 vials and fill them up to the 5ml marking displayed on the vial. You can use a turkey baster to retrieve some of your tanks water.

Step 2: Starting with Ammonia

Ammonia comes in 2 bottles: one with #1 label and another with #2 label on the cover. To have maximum accuracy, shake each solution hard for at least 10 seconds to 20 seconds before dropping them into the vials with your tank water.

1. So shake Ammonia #1 for 10 seconds and follow the number of drops on the label. In this case, it is 8 drops. Make sure you only drip 8 drops for the best reading.
2. Then make sure you shake the vial for solution 1 to be well mixed with tank water. Shake for another 10 seconds
3. Similarly, shake ammonia #2 hard for 10 seconds and add 8 drops as well.
4. Shake the vial again for another 10 seconds to allow solution 2 to be mixed up properly.
5. Leave it aside to rest for 5 minutes and go on to Nitrites.

Step 3: Nitrite testing

Nitrite has only 1 bottle of solution that is in the pink label. Nitrite testing is very important especially when you start your cycling process as its content will probably be high. So here are the steps:

1. Shake bottle hard for 10 seconds
2. Add 5 drops into your 2nd vial with 5ml of tank water.
3. Shake vial for another 10 seconds.
4. Leave it aside to rest well we move on to Nitrates

Step 4: Nitrate testing

Nitrate is the one that most people mess up. Nitrate solution comes in 2 bottles. #1 is purple while #2 is a light pink label. Here are the steps:

1. Shake bottle #1 (purple) for 10 seconds
2. Add 10 drops of it into your 3rd vial of tank water
3. Shake the vial quickly for about 10 seconds. It should turn yellow.

The next steps are important as if you do it wrong, it will just stay yellow which is the color for having no nitrates.

1. Take nitrates bottle #2 (pink label), and shake it the hardest you can for at least 30 seconds. As bottle number 2 solution tends to have residues stuck at the bottom. You want to make sure the solution is cloudy when you drip it out to make sure it’s well mixed
2. Then add 10 drops of it to the vial earlier.
3. Lastly, shake the vial hard for at least another 30 seconds to 1 minute. And you will start to see a color change.
4. But that is still not the most important. You will have to leave it aside for another 5 minutes to see the actual final result. While waiting for move on to the last test, PH levels.

Step 5: PH testing

There are 2 bottles for PH testing. 1 “High range” PH solution (red label) and 1 “normal” PH solution (blue label). You will be using 2 vials in PH testing especially if you are not sure if your tank water is hard or soft. Here are the steps:

1. First, shake the “normal” PH solution in blue label
   Open your first vial and add 3 drops of “normal” PH solution (blue label)
2. Shake it for 10 seconds. Color should change almost immediately.
3. Then shake the “High range” PH bottle (red label)
4. Add 5 drops of “High range” PH (red label) into a new vial of your tank’s water.
5. Shake for 5 to 10 seconds and leave it aside to rest.

Step 6: Check your tank’s temperature

This is rather straightforward. Use a digital thermometer like this. Put it into your tank to get a good reading.

Step 7: Checking your results.

1. Using your color test sheet, take each vial to put them side by side
2. See which color does your water matches.
3. Ideal figures you should be seeing:

Acceptable PH levels: 6.5 to around 8.0
Ideal PH levels: 7.4 to 7.6
Ammonia Levels: 0ppm (Anything over 1ppm can kill your axolotl)
Nitrite level: 0ppm (Same as ammonia, 1ppm or more is deadly)
Nitrate levels: 2ppm to 40ppm (anything higher is toxic. 20% water changes to stop this level rising to toxic levels)
Temperature: 16 °C and 18 °C (60-64 °F). Nothing more or less than this.

#3 Check surroundings that could be potential reasons for those symptoms

Ask yourself a few questions when checking your tank:

Qns: Is your water chemistry levels bad?

Many times most illnesses and stress are the consequence of having bad water.

Qns: Are you using gravel instead of sand for your substrate?

Gravels can cause impactions.

Qns: Are there any large decorations that are potential items that your axolotl will swallow?

Large objects that are smaller than axolotls head or body are potentially dangerous items that can cause impaction.

Qns: Are there any sharp objects in your tank? Rocks and stones?

Wounds can come from axolotl surroundings.

Qns: Are you sharing your tank with any other fishes or sea creatures?

Nips and bites are very common if you share the tank

Qns: Is your filter current too strong? Or is there too much light in your tank?

Might give your axolotl stress.

These questions can help you narrow down the cause and effectively help you treat the issue. Remove anything which you think can cause the problem.

#4: Monitor symptoms

Continue to monitor closely your axolotl symptoms in the hospital tub or tank. Depending on their symptoms some may require more monitoring while others can receive treatment immediately.

Chapter 3: Step by Step Treatment

Treatment #1: How to treat stress

Step by step guide:

Check water chemistry with API freshwater master kit (tutorial above).

1. Is your water too toxic? If it does, do a water change immediately. If you need to restart your nitrogen cycle. Check out our step by step cycling guide here.
2. Check water currents – Are they too strong for your axolotl? If currents are too strong resulting in folded gills, replace it with something like the Aqua Clear Power Filter where you can change the flow to something really light.
   

   

   Get the Aqua clear power filter for your fish tank here or Fluval Hang on back filter here. Then see how to set it up here.

3. Next, check your lighting and hiding spots. – Is your tank too bright? Are there proper hiding spots?

Axolotls prefer darker areas. You will need either lower the lighting or get them good hiding areas. One good way is to use a PVC pipe that has no sharp edges

PVC pipe for Axolotl hide out

This allows axolotls to comfortably hide when they are unhappy or stress.

Treatment #2: Fridging step by step guide

Step 1: Prepare containers

For fridging, 2 containers will be sufficient. 1 will be the quarantine/hospital tank and the other will be a fridging container to hold your axolotl. For more info on quarantine check out Chapter 2: quarantine and isolation step.

For fridging with salt bath, you will need 3 containers. 1 hospital tank, 1 container for salt bath and another for fridging. See salt bath section below for more info on the salt bath.

When preparing all 3 containers make sure all water is dechlorinated and should have a cover or lit to prevent axolotls from jumping out.

Fridging container requirements:

• It has to be large enough as axolotl will be passing out waste. If water is too little, your axolotl will be sitting in its own shit.
• Do not fill the container full. Leave some space between water and lid for the axolotl to breathe air if it needs to.
• For axolotl that is floating, make sure water is deep enough to cover it’s back but it is not too deep. Its feet should also touch the bottom of the container.
• Also prepare a few bottles of dechlorinated water in the fridge together with your fridging tank. This water will be used for water changing to ensure similar temperatures and avoid temperature shocks.

Step 2: Prepare the fridge

Fridge temperature has to be around 5 to 8 degrees Celsius. It Must NOT be lower than 5 degrees or it will be too cold.

Use a thermometer to measure the temperature of your water before putting your axolotl in.

Step 3: Making the transfer

Gently cup the axolotl in both your hands. If axolotl gets stressed easily, don’t force it. Use a fish net or fish scoop instead.

Make sure lid is well covered to avoid axolotl jumping into your fridging. Cover it with a towel or cloth to make sure it is not disturbed by the fridge lights.

Step 4: Start fridging

Place the fridging container into the fridge along with bottles of dechlorinated water for water changing as mentioned in step 1.

Check your fridging container frequently to clear poop or uneaten food with a turkey baster.

Do note that under cold temperatures, axolotls metabolism will fall so they do not eat much. Even after a week or 2, they may not eat at all. Fridging, however, will help them clear their bowels and cleanse their insides.

Step 5: Changing the water

Those bottles that you refrigerate together with your fridge container will be used for water changes. This will help prevent temperature shocks. Similarly, for salt baths, make sure you use similar temperature waters.
You want to use change at least 60% or even better 100% of the fridge water with new dechlorinated water to ensure its clean environment for your axies.

Step 6: Back into the original tank

Once you see that your axies are getting better, you can start to prepare to move them back. The main thing to note is that there will be a difference in the water chemistry in your fridging container and your usual tank.

To help your axolotls get adapted to original tank, you have to change the water in your fridge container with a small mix of water from your original tank.

This means you have to refrigerate your original tank waters as well to get them to the same temperature. Then during your next water change, you will start mixing both types of waters:

• Start by replacing fridge water with 70% fresh fridge water and 30% refrigerated water from your original tank
• Then during your next water change, change it to 50/50
• And during the next change, 30% fresh fridge water and 70% refrigerated water from your original tank.
• After that 100% refrigerated water from your original tank.

Once you finish that take the fridge container out get it to attune to normal temperatures. Once temperatures from fridge container and the original tank is similar you can proceed to move your axolotl back.

Treatment #3: Salt bath for fungus step by step guide

Step 1: Quarantine

At this stage, your axolotl should be quarantined in a cooling and dechlorinated hospital tub/tank. See chapter 2: quarantine and isolation step if you haven’t done so.

Step 2: Preparing the salt bath container

Fill salt bath container with dechlorinated water.

If you are preparing salt bath in conjunction with fridging, make sure water temperature in this container is somewhat similar to the water temperature in fridge container to avoid temperature shock.

Step 3: Take ONLY 2 to 3 teaspoon per litre of non-ionized salt and add it into the salt bath container.

For the non-ionized salt, it is recommended to use this:

Get the API AQUARIUM SALT Freshwater Aquarium Salt here

Make sure salt is dissolved well in water as large chunks of salt concentration will burn your axolotl instead. If you are using aquarium salt above, they are very fine, so you should not have any problem.

Step 4: Handling your axolotl

Gently cup your axolotl with your hands and move it either from the hospital tub or fridging tub over to the salt water container. Make sure to cover your saltwater container to prevent it from jumping out.

Only do salt baths for 10 to 15 minutes or less and no more than that as their skin may dry up. You will notice after 1 to 2 or 3 baths, the fungus will start to come off.

Important: Never use back the same salt bath water. Change it every time after you do a salt bath.

Step 5: Rinse and repeat

Repeat the same steps once a day. Till you see the fungus falling off. After your 2nd salt bath, you can start to reduce the amount of time for your salt bath. Maybe cut down by 5 minutes on your 3rd salt bath and another 5 minutes on your 4th bath and so on.

Pro Tip:
After fungus falls off, wounds might still be present. You can then switch it over to a tea bath to increase healing and immunity for your axolotl. See steps for tea bath below.

Treatment #4: Tea bath for wounds step by step guide

Tea baths are mainly to treat wounds as it has antifungal and antibacterial properties. They can be used to treat fungus too but is not as efficient as salt baths.

Step 1: Quarantine

At this stage, your axolotl should be quarantined in a cooling and dechlorinated hospital tub/tank. See chapter 2: quarantine and isolation step if you haven’t done so.

Step 2: Prepare the tea

Use any unflavoured black tea. Use 1 tea bag for every 10 litre of water in your tank.

Boil the tea and let it sit for 15 minutes for the tea to dissolve and cool down as well.

Step 3: Adding it into the quarantine tank

Make sure when you add the tea, it had already cooled down. Leave the tea in the quarantine tank for several days before changing water.

Step 4: Rinse and repeat

Repeat all the steps after you have changed the water in your quarantined tank. You can keep doing tea baths until you see improvements to your axolotls.

Epilogue

Treating axolotls on your own can be a tricky and dangerous thing. I can’t count the number of times I have seen people misdiagnose their axies illness or problems.

Often, I see many panicking owners posting their questions online hoping to get answers to what’s ailing their pet. They then try out every first solution given to them hoping to see improvement without really diagnosing the problem properly.

Look, I totally get it!

I am an owner of several pets too so I totally understand the worry. But it is Imperative to diagnose the problem correctly before trying out any treatment.

Certain treatment like fridging is often misused for some other illnesses that can end up slowing down the right symptoms from showing.

Or for some, diving right into treatment for their axies immediately only to later find out it is caused by the water’s chemistry levels.

Remember my diagnosis steps? Always do those checks before even posting online! Those checks will help you rule out certain causes that you can check off from your list of problems.

Make sure to also check out our axolotl cheat sheet to see if you miss out anything.

So did any of the guides above helped you? Or did we missed out any other symptom?

Let us know in the comments section below.

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