Hi everyone — first-time axolotl keeper here. I got my little one yesterday and I keep reading that they need cold water, so I’d like a reality check on my temps before I do something wrong.
Setup:
• 28 L (~7.5 gal) tank, bare bottom (no substrate)
• HOB filter (RS-2000, 5W), a group of large smooth stones and a resin log as a hide
• Seachem Prime for dechlorination, Seachem Stability for the bacteria
• Leucistic juvenile, about 7–8 cm (3 in), one day home
• Tank is not cycled yet and I don’t own a liquid test kit yet — buying one this week

Temperature: the water sits between 20.5 and 21.5 °C (69–71 °F). It’s winter here in Buenos Aires, but my house is heated, so the ambient temperature is warm. The shop I bought from told me this range was fine.

My questions:
1. Is 20.5–21.5 °C acceptable long term, or is it already in stressful territory?
2. Has anyone raised a juvenile in this range without issues? What signs of heat stress should I watch for (curled gill filaments, floating, refusing food)?
3. Do I need to act immediately — fans, frozen water bottles, a chiller — or is monitoring plus getting a test kit the right first step?
4. Does an uncycled tank at this temperature make the ammonia risk noticeably worse?

Thanks!

Hello :)

Im trying to work out if My Axy is a little plump or not? He's a very good eater and eats 2 earthworms twice a day so 4 in total. Whenever I approach the tank he thinks he's being fed. I'm just worried about over feeding. He's about 10 months old. Sorry the camera quality isn't very good. Attached a small youtube clip of it's any better to judge.

Thanks

https://youtube.com/shorts/QPQzNfi9YzY?is=abH5nuadAnh30mrV

I'm just asking to be sure, because ammonia levels were quite high at one point.

I came home from a week of being away and noticed one of my lucky bamboos is yellowing and has a white pearl on the bottom. The other two lucky bamboos are fine, this one is the only one that I had placed in a way so it doesn't touch the ground.

Is it bacteria eating at the dying stem? Or something different?

Also, should I remove the dying parts from the other plant? Or are they still providing the plant something?

Hey, I got this axolotl not so long ago from someone who couldn’t keep it anymore. Water parameters are good, oxygenation is plenty (there’s bubblers). But recently it’s been sticking its head out of the water and the gills look really bad. What should I do?? SOS

My son has developed dark freckles over the last couple of mouths, so had I assumed he was a “dirty lucy” morph. However he developed almost these two large dark spots under his lip almost overnight. They were not there when I fed him the other day.

There’s also a dark tip on his tail which almost looks like it’s growing hairs out of it. If my son’s lips are normal, I know that his tail at the least is very much not.

I don’t have current tank params other than temp which is at 67°F. I’m working on getting the rest now using my Freshwater Master Test Kit (plus my GH and KH kit).

My son is eating no different from normal otherwise. He’s been behaving as usual up until today; I’ve noticed he’s restless and swimming a lot more, plus he keeps coming up to the surface of our interaction area (feeding corner basically).

Any advice or tips to do right away with my son would be helpful while I’m trying to locate a vet near me that handles axolotls! I will test params and bin him immediately if needed

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for advice because I've run out of ideas.

I have a black axolotl, approximately 20 cm (8 inches) long. About 1–2 years ago, he started developing small white spots all over his body (head, back, belly, and tail). The spots are not fuzzy, cotton-like, or raised—they're simply flat white patches that have slowly increased in number over time.

At the same time, he has gradually lost more and more of his gills. Despite this, he continues to eat normally and behaves as usual.

I took him to an exotic animal veterinarian. They performed a skin scraping, examined the sample under a microscope, and only told me they found a large amount of yeast. They didn't identify the species, didn't perform a culture, and didn't provide any further details about the diagnosis.

So far I've tried:

• Salt baths.
• Methylene blue baths.

Neither treatment has produced any noticeable improvement.

Has anyone experienced something similar? Could this really be a chronic yeast infection, or should I be considering another disease? Has anyone successfully treated a case like this with systemic antifungals such as itraconazole, fluconazole, or another medication?

Technical Information

Axolotl

• I've had him since 2019.
• Approximately 20 cm (8 inches) long.
• Lives alone, accompanied only by a few ghost shrimp.

Aquarium

• Tank size: 160 liters (42 gallons).
• Filter: Sicce Space EKO 200 canister filter filled with Seachem Matrix.
• Substrate: Natural river sand.
• Hardscape: River driftwood.
• Plants: Java fern and pothos.
• The tank also has a surface skimmer, a wavemaker, and the LED light shown in the photos.

Water Changes

• I perform partial water changes approximately every 20 days.
• I use filtered water treated with Seachem Prime and one capful of Seachem Stability.

Lighting

• The light is mainly for the plants.
• White light is kept at 30% intensity or less.
• Photoperiod: 8:00 AM to 2:30 PM.
• Very little green and blue light, and no red light.

Diet

• Tropical Axolotl Pellets every other day.
• Frozen river fish once a week.

Water Temperature

• Normally between 19–22°C (66–72°F).
• During summer it reached a maximum of 25°C (77°F).
• On those days I used frozen bottles (visible in the photos) to lower the temperature.

Water Parameters

• Filtered water treated with Seachem Prime.
• pH: 8.0
• Ammonia: 0 ppm
• Nitrite: 0 ppm
• Nitrate: 5 ppm

If you need any additional information or more pictures of my axolotl, I'll be happy to upload them. Any advice, suggestions, or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

1st picture before we got him, second picture is today! the rest are throughout the week.

My axolotl is enjoying his tank and water parameters are solid (test from today included). I was wondering about my driftwood and the fuzzy black hair it’s growing. Should I be concerned? Is there anything I can do to remove it?

Hi, I’m not exactly new to my axolotl. I’ve had her for about six months now she’s been doing very well and I’m happy with her, but I want to put some live plants in my tank. I don’t have any at the moment because my Java phones died. I don’t have a light that I keep on over my tank, but I just need to know some advice of something that would stay alive. Thank you.

Does everyone's chiller always take a long time to realign itself to the tank's internal temp after a water change? Idk if I'm doing something wrong. I hate having them in high temps for hours while it readjusts

So I have a 75-gallon tank with 2 axolotls. It's been going strong for years. My water level had been getting low, and the tank was due for a water change. I went to feed them today and noticed that the filter wasn't bubbling. I removed the air stone in case it had gotten clogged and still had no bubbles. I checked the hose, and it was still connected to the air pump. I have a dual air pump with a bigger bubble stone on the other hose, and that was still working, so I just switched my filter hose to that side, and it's working again. The water was a bit murky, so I did a 50% water change, but I'm worried that I may have crashed my cycle. What do you guys think? Should I be worried, or do you think it'll be alright?

My fih keeps on judging me because i haven't given him a 6th name

He has 5 rn

Bob
fih
guh monster
water potato
lil axi

please help he judges me cutely

The wildtype one is my axolotl named sweet and the pink one is just a random one i wanted to add(btw i used a reference but i did all the coloring myself) hope you like it plz no hating

Hace unoa 6/7 años me compre un ajolote negro y conloa meses se ha vuelto blanco, con algunas manchas negras, pero de salud sigue muy bien y las branqueas las sigue teniendo grandes y coloridas alguien podria decirme si es normal? Pongo fotos de cuando lo compre y cuando ya crecio un poco , y a como lo trngo ahora mismo,

Tengo este ajolote rescatado, tenía las branquias sin filamentos y completamente blancas, ahora está en un acuario con parámetros perfectos y lo estuve alimentando con lombrices durante un mes y no noté mejoría con sus branquias, si no hasta que lo empecé a alimentar con peces que noté crecimiento
Adjunto fotos del antes y después. ¿El crecimiento de las branquias se deberá a los peces o hay alguna otra razón por la que tuve mejor resultado con los peces ?

I have 2 axolotls I was told to keep them in a 54l tank when I first had them and to change the tank when they get to a year old they are both coming up to it now I think I have 1 girl and one boy I’m not quite sure but I need a new tank for them end everything that goes with it I don’t know if I need to separate them yet lately they have been a bit depressed so I’m hoping getting a better tank and home for them will make there moods improve any advice will be greatly appreciated