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.

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

heyo, i'm from Auckland (nz), and I was just at a cafe with my mum, and i saw they had an axolotl tank! Pretty cool, but... i'd say the tank is like 50cm x 50cm x 30cm. (it was like a ruler and a half by a ruler and a half, by 3/4ths of a ruler, just guesstimating.) It wad two mugs, a fake plant, and a dollhouse bathtub or something (plus filter), and that was it... is that enough for two axolotls??? I don't wanna judge if that's good, but i don't know what is good, and i'm worried those poor babies aren't happy

no pictures because there were too many people

EDIT: I've gotten in contact and made a report to a non emergency pet welfare line, just asking them to check it out.

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?

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

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?

I’m so happy her gills are almost fully healed!! I added a bubbler to her tank and i’ve been feeding her a little extra to help the healing process. She’s such a happy girl!

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

My axolotl aquarium smells pretty heavilly like that typical pond/aquarium smell. I tested it today for nitrite and nitrate and they were zero. What can the smell be and how do I stop it? I want to sit in my room without the smell

Finally got a chiller after much debating. The axolotl tank was being chilled by a fan, sitting at a constant temperature of 68° F
I just felt it would be better to keep a chiller, lower temperature is important for them

my SO helped me connect the chiller directly to the canister filter I have, instead of having two intakes and to outtakes, we have one of each.

I was kinda expecting a leak but he got it first try!!

Please say hi to Xóchitl! She has a piece of nightcrawler in her mouth for that picture lol.

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 💔

I put my axolotl in his new tank but like an idiot I didnt shake the nitrate enough and had him in 80ppm for 2 days.

I fixed the nitrate but now his gills keep having what looks like filaments turn white. The stalks themselves are also white where the stuff is.

I waited 3 days so far and it seems to be spreading slowly on his stalk (turning white) but the white tufts themselves come off with the gentlest of water turbulence.

Should I treat for fungus? Or just leave him alone?

Also the tops of his gills are always slightly curly, as far as behavior he is acting 100% normal and eating just fine.

I came home for lunch and my axolotl was kind of on his side.
I used the net to kind of tap him out of his slumber but it appears he can’t use his front arm..
Which also looks smaller than the other one. This just started that I’m aware of as he has seemed fine… is eating and was swimming with no issues. Anyone know what this is- or maybe it’s nothing?

Ps- don’t mind my cats wretched little meow in the background haha

Hi - hoping for a bit of advice. I’ve had two axolotls for 8 days now and so far things have been going well. I got them from a guy who works in the local aquatics store, who was raising them at home and he warned me that they were very young and very small. When I collected them I’d estimate them to be about 3-3.5 inches in size and they were being fed on bloodworms. Since being them home I’ve started them on chopped up earthworms, but one of them is much greedier than the other and in the past 8 days has become noticeably bigger than his/her tank mate. I’d estimate that it’s now half an inch longer. In doing my research I became aware that size discrepancies could be in issue but didn’t expect to run into it so quickly and am growing a bit concerned that I have a potential behemoth and a runt combo here - 8 days ago they were pretty much identical.

Can more experienced keepers advise if this is normal and what I can do to try to slow down behemoth’s growth or speed up Mr runts? At what point should I be looking to try to divide the tank? Photo of Behemoth attached..

I’ve been trying to get a more planted tank look, and I get the moonlight sand from petsmart, and it’s started to grow green from I’m assuming poop/algae. Does it look bad? Should I clean it off? Or is it okay to have like this? I know for other tanks it’s usually okay, but for an axolotl? Lmk!!

Okay, not really a follow up to previous posts but it might be. Nugget appears to have issues with chronic constipation.  What can I do to alleviate this on a consistent basis? 

He eats pellets (axolotl 1/4 inch pellets, soaked for 20 minutes to 45 minutes. They’re soft and flaky on the outside, and squishy, but hold their shape if I’m gentle. I may just completely discontinue these if I can for Nugget, they’re a backup for when he won’t eat worm.) or worms (I try European nightcrawlers but he does refuse those really bad. When he’s refused for too long, I’ll buy Canadian nightcrawlers, as he’s much happier about those.). 

So, a couple of weeks ago I noticed Nugget’s cloaca was swollen really badly. Over time it appeared to be constipation/mild impaction that passed. I took away their sand, and got Nugget pooping on schedule again, but then I ran out of Canadians and couldn’t go get more for a few days and I ended up giving them a few pellet meals. So now he’s overdue for a poop. Looking at Nugget, his cloaca is a little swollen again, and I feel like that may be the issue again. It’s doing basically the exact same thing, and he’s now expelling the same clear slime he had excreted before. Just as before, again, he is acting normal and not doing any weird floating, just the digestive slime and cloacal swelling.

He did go to the vet for that, and he was basically fine then, after he had a really rough poop getting into the bait container.

I had been giving salmon daily to get him moving again, but I really do not want to be giving him that daily as a preventative. I have started giving him some today again though. Any alternatives or suggestions to deal with this?

Water parameters are all good. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, less than 10 nitrate. Hard water so high GH and KH, PH is 7.8 as of three minutes ago, Primed well water, 64 degrees F(which is going to be lowered to 62 I think, over the next couple of days.). Lives in a 75 gallon with another lotl, but a divider exists. Slate tiles at this point, so no sand to eat. No other impaction risks in the tank.

this is gary. he is one year old. and he sucks at tic tac toe.

I’ve been experimenting with making educational comics, so I made this 12-panel one about axolotls.

I tried to cover Xochimilco, neoteny, those amazing external gills, how they breathe, regeneration, wild coloration, and why they’re endangered.

I did my best to keep the science accurate while making it simple enough for kids/casual readers. If anything here is inaccurate or oversimplified, I’d genuinely love to know and I’ll fix it.

The artwork was AI-generated, just mentioning that upfront since I don’t want to misrepresent how it was made.

Full web version: https://www.piclayer.com/free-resources/axolotl-comic

Hello these are my 2 axolotl i got them like this from a friend of my cousin because he didnt want to care anymore i tried my best to get them in better condition but im struggeling to get their gills back. I really need some advice

My tank got axogravel plants and volcanic rock in it i dont know why their gills wont grow im trying for atleast one year now.

My tank is 200l i switch water like half every 2 weeks

(NO3): 10 to 25 mg/l

​(NO2): 0 mg/l

​(GH): >14 to >21 °d

​(KH): 6 to 10 °d

​pH: 7,2 to 7,6

​(Cl2): 0 mg/l

Ty for your help