White Spot - Disappeared and Came Back?!

[Sky]

Been treating my axolotl for about a week now and a few days ago I noticed how the white spot had disappeared apart from one spot on his toe. I haven't stopped the salt baths but today I noticed he had another spot on his tail he didn't have before. Just wondering if anyone else has had this problem? He's in a tank about 21litres as I can't fridge him. I gave him a small water change yesterday.

It also seems like he's gasping for water. I haven't fed him for three days and he opens his mouth and acts like he's swallowing even though there isn't anything in the tank to swallow. Could he have some food caught in his throat? The last time I saw him do this was after he ate nine neon tetras but that only lasted a day, this has lasted three days now.

[tusken raider]

I would say you also need to be treating the water, as you are effectively treating it on your axolotl but not in the tank/water where it lives so from my understanding new spots will keep appearing. Im not sure how to treat the water as i have never done it with an axolotl.

[Sky]

How do the spots not come back on them when they are in the fridge though?

[tusken raider]

I have never dealt with white spot with an axo only my tropical fish, try searching through the forum i have seen it come up a few times

[Michael Shrom]

Are you absolutely certain it is a disease and not a natural pattern? I would try maintaining normal aquarium parameters and adding 1 tablespoon of aquarium salt or rock salt per 10 gallons of water. Keep an eye on the axolotl and see if anything develops. Many times people treat normal colors and blemishes as disease and wind up harming the axolotls.

Quit feeding him neons. They are warm water fish and the axolotl is best in cold water. The neons alone could be causing water quality problems.

[Sky]

Yes it was. It was risen and they hadn't showed in the same place before. I shave stopped the salt baths for two days now and so far he's going okay. I'll try out your advice if it comes back. Thank you for your help. :)

[imzunicorn]

Let me explain how this disease works. The white spots on the axolotl is the adult parasite, they burrow into the animal and feed off the blood. They release eggs into the water and those babies live in the water too. They're microscopic, so you can't see either egg or baby. Therefore, if the spots go away, the water could still be contaminated with eggs and babies. That's why it goes away and comes back.

Because axolotl are kept at much lower temperatures, it's going to take longer to get rid of it because the lifespan of the parasite slows. In tropical tanks, the lifespan is usually about a week. In cool tanks, it could be up to 3 weeks. If you had the axolotl in the fridge, you can do water changes to remove contaminated water that would in turn infect the axolotl. If you kept the axolotl out of the tank long enough, the parasite would just die off because it would have no host to continue.

[Sky]

Oh, now that makes sense. So can I do daily water changes in this tank? I can't put him in the fridge because ours freezes things too easily. Does sun kill the parasite? His tank gets some sun in the afternoon for about up to an hour but his water only gets up to 20 degrees Celsius.

[imzunicorn]

Sun wouldn't kill the parasite. You can do water changes in his tank too, but it would have to be 100% water changes everyday. There is also some medicines that can be used to treat the tank, but it's very harsh and you run a high risk of killing your axolotl that way. If I were you, and since you can't fridge, i would do the water changes everyday. It's the most work and would take the longest, but it's the safest way.

[Sky]

Alright, I don't mind doing that. What about the water quality? I know with fish, if you do too many water changes it's not good for them, but does that count for axolotls too?

[TheAxolotlWhisperer]

I would take him out of his tank and clean the tank with a 10% bleach 90% water solution and bleach the sand, rocks, fake plants with the same solution and rinse everything thoroughly. Let it dry once dry rinse it one more time and you should be good. Bye bye parasite