Illness/Sickness: Is this fungus?

[gelgel]

HI all, first time posting on here.

I found this weird growth on my axo's gills last night..
I googled and came across this site and learned that it might be fungus?




Can someone confirmed?

If it is, seems like the solution is a salt bath?

I can't put him in the fridge as it's a shared fridge that I cannot adjust the temperature.. so I guess I will have to treat him with the salt bath alone.. will this be okay?

I read the salt bath tutorial... It seems like I am supposed to put him in fresh dechlorinated water w/ salt.. am I correct? Or should I take some tank water out and mix it with salt instead? So... washed him first... then in water with salt? I am just a bit confused.. can someone clarify?

Much appreciated! Thanks!

[Leanne]

I cant see the photo(school(work) system wont let me) but if it looks like cottonwool then i would guess it is fungus. you should start salt baths asap and keep the salt baths going until the fungus has been gone for 2 days. Keep the water clean and cool.

[Chirple]

I have not had to fridge along with salt baths, and since it looks like you caught this early, you should be okay. It does look like the start of fungus to me, from what I can tell, but I'm not 100% sure. The two pictures look really different and not quite wooly ?

Yes, you use fresh, dechlorinated water. Err on the side of too weak salt. I scooped my axolotl right out of the tank and into the salt bath since fridging wasn't being done.

If the temperature in the shared fridge in livable, it will be fine if just salt-baths doesn't work.

[gelgel]

thanks for the replies. It is not wooly looking in real person either. I googled and fungus is the closest thing I can find. Is it safe to salt bath my axo even it is not fungus?

[Erzs]

I wouldn't recommend salt bathing an axolotl if it isn't fungus. It's a pretty stressful ordeal for them to go through. Hopefully someone who knows their axolotl oddities will come along and recognize what it is because I'm afraid I haven't seen a fungus like that.

What's the texture of it like? Have you tried using a q-tip to see if it will easily brush off? Has it spread further since your first post?

[Denise]

Weirdly enough, I was only searching the forum last night for something like this as one of our little ones has something very similar, in almost the same place, although the second picture looks less like it. I didn't know what it was either but later in the night it became more fluffy looking, has it changed since?

We gave him a salt bath today (on the weaker side) and he's in the fridge now and as far as I can see it seems to be getting smaller so if it turns out to be the same at least you know the salt will help

[gelgel]

Thanks for the replies.

It grows a bit bigger today..


and same as DeniseD axo, it's more fluffy looking today.

I will give him a salt bath tomorrow. Thanks for all the help!