Is salt bath necessary?

So lately i noticed some predatory behavior from one of my axies to the other. thank god no injuries, one just seemed extra snippy and got too close to the other ones limbs. i put the tank divider back is to make sure neither one gets hurt. when i put the divider in they were both fully fine. just now after three days of having in the divider i noticed tht one of my loves has a slightly injured front leg. i say slightly bc its fully attached but one of its toes is dangling and barely hanging on. also she is a wt so i can tell tht some of her skin is ripped bc its clear and i think i can see the lil arm bone. so definitely not good but could be much worse. my question is since it looks fresh should i give her a salt bath to disinfect or is tht unnecessary and will bother her more than it will help? also i have a canister filter and the input is really really close to the tank floor, is it possible maybe thats how the injury happened? bc i know for a fact when i separated them i checked all their limbs very closely and they were all fine. this seems very fresh and there is no way the other axie could have crossed the barrier. just wanna find the cause and eliminate it so this never happens again. if u guys do think a salt bath is needed as a precaution how many days should i give it for?

as always thanks in advance!

just took a closer look with the lights and it seems worse than i thought, the limb is still fully attached but it almost looks like her arm has been cut away from the torso, so its not one toe hanging off but seems like the palm of her hand is split in two. the toes are attached. if it was a human hand it would be like a knife to the wrist and down towards half way through the palm and big toe. cant get any good pics so trying to be descriptive. obviously worse than initially though. would appreciate an answer to the earlier questions with the additional info. also will how the limb is injured affect the healing process? its not cleanly torn of but just ripped and dangling, so instead of regrowing the hand will the torn part fuse back together? i will continue to try to get some pics in the mean time

It sounds like it is time for a trip to the vet, since he/she would be more able to assess the best course of action. Sometimes it is better to amputate and let it grow back properly, and a vet would be best for that.

Does your canister filter intake have a strainer on it? My canister filters don't seem to cause my axolotls any problem, and the intake is very close to the bottom. Is it possible that there is something else in her half of the tank that could have injured her? Do the decorations have any sharpish edges that could have caused the damage?

I don't know enough about injuries to know if the salt bath would be beneficial or if it would just stress your axolotl unnecessarily.

Good luck!

it seems like the bones are fully attached and the skin in the back of the arm is ripped and flapping off so idk if a full amputation would be necessary but nipping of that flappy skin would probably help. i cant find any vets that say they can work with axolotls in my area so tomorrow i will give a call to the list of herp vets i found in my city and hope that atleast one of them is knowledgeable on axolotls and is willing to take a look. the filter intake has a cover but with slits in it and the slits are definitely big enough for a limb to fit into. their hidy spots are pots broken in half. i made sure to sink the edges deep in sand but now that u mentioned it it seems like one of the pots' one corner is sticking out a bit and maybe thats how it happened, i will go get a better hidy spot. in the mean time if anyone does have a suggestion for or against the salt bath plz let me know

you can see how in one picture her right front leg (the injured) one is forming a downward "c". it should look straight and normal but the skin flap is falling over to form the c. hope the pics help a bit more

The slits on my canister filter intake could let a toe in, but not a whole limb, so you may have identified the problem. Perhaps you could cover the intake with plastic mesh. Vinyl window screen might work. Note: I don't know if vinyl mesh is safe with axolotls, and found a post elsewhere on this site (http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-...57402-disposable-gloves-toxic-amphibians.html) that said vinyl gloves aren't, so investigate more before trying this.

I found that sand paper works quite well to take the rough edges off of broken flower pots. You would probably need to let them dry out first, but it is pretty quick work with coarse sand paper.

There's no need to do a salt bath. Those are primarily for fungus infections and the cut on your axie looks pretty clean. But do keep an eye on it to catch any possible infection early. Based on the pictures I'd say a trip to a vet is not absolutely necessary at this point. Ofcourse there's no harm in seeing a vet (as long as they know what they're doing), but axies are amazing at healing and it doesn't look like the leg needs to be amputated or anything. The most important thing to do right now is try to figure out how the axie got the cut and prevent it from happening again.

LSuzuki said:

The slits on my canister filter intake could let a toe in, but not a whole limb, so you may have identified the problem. Perhaps you could cover the intake with plastic mesh. Vinyl window screen might work. Note: I don't know if vinyl mesh is safe with axolotls, and found a post elsewhere on this site (http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-...57402-disposable-gloves-toxic-amphibians.html) that said vinyl gloves aren't, so investigate more before trying this.

I found that sand paper works quite well to take the rough edges off of broken flower pots. You would probably need to let them dry out first, but it is pretty quick work with coarse sand paper.

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If you do end up needing to cover the intake, or want to just to be safe in case it could cause problems, maybe something like cross-stitch mesh would work, the plastic kind? Yes, the holes are still big enough to fit a toe in, but you could use it as a screen around the filter intake since it holds its shape, and the square holes should be enough to not let them get stuck. Probably make it bigger than the intake to allow a gap between the intake and mesh too, instead of having it directly against the intake. You can hold it in place easily with large (sterilized with vinegar rinse, not bleach) rocks on either side of it; I don't know if burying it in the sand would hold it there but I imagine it might. The only "hard" parts really are making sure you cut it to size/without any jagged edges, and tying it off (or melting the plastic to mold it together perhaps, and then cleaning it thoroughly ofc again with vinegar solution) in a way that the axies won't get bothered by, like with fishing line (which should be nontoxic, but be good to check into that too when buying, just to be safe). (Plus as a bonus, my axies love to stand on it for some reason, as I have mine dividing the tank and I just find them lounging around on it some days.)

Also I believe salt baths are only used for getting rid of fungal issues and similar things, so I agree with Keiko that it probably wouldn't help here.

im not sure if its the intake or the pot so i will make sure to handle both, in the past i had covered the intake of my turtle tank (when i fed them brine shrimp) with the sponge u put in a filter, u cut a slit and put the intake through that way its soft and wont hurt the axie. and the pot, yeah sanding it down is a really good idea thanks for tht.

im glad salt baths are not necessary rn bc i can imagine how uncomfortable it must be for the axolotls.

im going to call some vets in my area and see if any of them have taken care of axolotls or amphibians before, i dont think there is much they can do except remove the excess dangling skin, the bones and most toes are fully attached so amputation might be taking it further than necessary as you said.

if i cant find a credible and reasonably priced vet im going to hope that the skin flab falls off on its own that way healing will probably be easier. thanks for the advice, as always very much so appreciated!!

I wouldn't bother with a trip to the vets atm. Just watch out for infection, almond leaves will act as a fungal preventative.

^^^^^^wish i had taken your advice a week ago and my baby would not be almost dying now...arm is fully healed but the doxyc shot the vet gave caused her to starve herself for a week and now has a huge fungal infection on her head. she is really weak but a salt bath in necessary at this point so im just going to wish for the best and keep her in the best environment i can