White mould on gills? Please help :(

[Nikitine]

I have three axolotls, two which are in a seperate tank and a go albino in a tank on his own. The golden albino hasn't been eating well for a few weeks but still eats very occasionally but today I noticed a white cloudy looking mould on his gills. Any idea what is wrong with him and what I can do? My other two are fine and they have te same water conditions. I even have some newly hatched axolotls from them. Any advice? I did find a snail in the golden albinos tank last week which must have come from a plant which i've now removed if that is of any relevance. Please help I don't want ernie to die

[EmJ]

From what you have described I think this sounds like a fungus, normally people would recommend doing salt baths and I believe you should keep your axolotl fridged during this time. Here are some links you might find useful:

Salt bathing an axolotl : Salt bath Picture Tutorial
Fridging an axolotl : Axolotl Sanctuary

However I would recommend seeking further advice on this, before acting, as this as I'm no expert! Hopefully someone else on here can reply to you also. In the meantime it may be useful for you to post a picture of your axolotl, and some further information on how you keep them, such as water parameters and temperature. I hope this is useful information and I wish your axolotl a swift recovery.

[Chirple]

It does sound like fungus - pictures would confirm, but "white mould" is what it looks like.

If you do salt baths while the fungus is small, it won't grow big enough to hurt him. :)

Err on the side of mild salt. When your axolotl is in the bath, it should behave normally - it should not be panicking or thrashing after the initial transfer - if it keeps freaking out, it's a sign the salt is too high and the axolotl should be removed.

[Nikitine]

Hi, thank you for the responses. From what I've read it does sound like a fungal infection. He is still acting normally like swimming around and going in his hides like he used to so it can't be that bad yet which is good.

I haven't got him to eat yet though, how long can they go before they starve? I've tried meal worms (which he's always had), wax worms, blood worm, even daphia and he still hasn't eaten poor Ernie.

I'm taking him to an exotic vet next week just to get a proper diagnosis and depending on what they say I'll fridge and salt bath him. What is the best salt to use?

Sorry I haven't posted a photo, the white mould doesn't really show up.