Sick axie with fungus - looking for sydney vet

Hi all. I am very new to this. My son bought an axie last week - but it was a very hot day 38deg C in sydney. the tank got to 27. being newbies we didn't know how harmful this could be. The axie seemed ok for the next couple of days until we noticed it was swimming rapidly trying to scratch at gills. then a white fluffy stuff grew on the gills and it grew rapidly on one side until all gills shrivelled and died off. we bought melafix - recommended by pet shop, on the first day we saw the stuff on gills. they said put it in tank 1/2 dose and paint on affected area in 50/50 dilution. as axie got worse i started the internet search and found this web site. i looked up similar stuff onthe forum and started to keep axie in fridge with 2 x day salt baths. he is not really better after more than1 week of this so i got some merchurochrome and started that in the water he is in when not in salt bath for 3 days - no real change- fungus looks as fluffy as ever. bought some methly blue yesterday. stopped mercurochrome and started methly blue and continue salt baths. he has not eaten for more than about 12-14 days. does anyone know of a vet in sydney who can treat axies?? am i going to be able to save the poor soul - his gills are really badly damaged.

[kapo]

First off, hold off doing the medicines and just continue with the salt baths twice daily like you have been, keeping in the fridge. It will take longer than a week and try not to panic. Gills will grow back, depending on age of axies (our 3yr olds were very badly damaged from poor water quality and they only have the gill stubs with a few bristly looking gill filaments). Axie is probably a bit stressed not only due to the heat (they prefer temps lower than 20C, which you've now realised) but also if the tank was new - hadn't been cycled. So, was your tank cycled b4 adding him? See: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml

Also, read www.axolotl.org, another good site to get info from and any and I mean any questions feel free to ask here. Better you ask here than get given wrong info elsewhere. Also, you have to be careful with fish medications as some can be toxic to axies.

Thanks for the quick reply.

It was cycled to some degree - used a filter from another established tank for one week. I have since learned that this might not have been good enough. (I have learned a lot since it got sick - shame on me for not learning before!!) I did a test a week after the axie got sick and it indicated that there was a low level of nitrites so the cycle was not complete.

I did check all the medications to be safe before using. I went to the meds because the fungus has not died off using the salts - it seems to have halted it on the gills ie no more new stuff but old stuff still alive and fluffy and it has grown on a larger patch on his lip - very fluffy looking.

All the web sites are fantastically helpful - i really regret not finding them before our axie got sick.

If there is still dead/damaged tissue then the fungus will continue to persist and or spread to other sites. The salt baths will help to contain and prevent the further spread of the fungus.
Have you reviwed http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/salt.shtml ?

Ed

Thanks the article is good. But when I tried to gently remove any fungus it just made the axie bleed. so i stopped trying to remove it. Any other suggestions to stop the growth? have read others have seen vet who gave injections for fungal infections??

[kapo]

Just continue with the saltbaths, it takes a lot longer than a couple of days to a week in some cases. I never bothered trying to remove the fungus from our axies when they had it, I just left it to the baths to fix it up.

ok thanks
how long can axies go without food?
how long can they stay in the fridge @ 6 deg C?

[kapo]

Our fridge is 5deg C; longest we kept them in were about 2.5weeks. While in the fridge their metabolism slows down to give their bodies a chance to heal so they won't eat as food would just rot in their gut. Our sickest axie stopped eating for 6-7 weeks.

(Message edited by kapo on October 30, 2006)

snip "won't eat as food would just rot in their gut. "endsnip

I would not consider this to necessarily be accurate. The real reason they do not eat is because thier metabolism has slowed down enough that they do not need to eat that frequently.
For a good discussion see Scott, David E., Fore, Michele R., 1995, The effect of food limitation on lipid levels, growth, and reproduction in the marbled salamander, Ambystoma opacum. Herpetologica 51(4): 462-471.

Ed

I would like to express my appreciation for the help that everyone has given. I will continue with the salt baths and "camp Fridge". So hopefully he will get better.

What is the procedure for taking him out of the fridge and returning him to normal temps?