Fungus on axolotl

Today when I was spot cleaning my axo's tank I noticed that he's got some sort of fungus or film growing on him and his gills are looking smaller than they were a few weeks ago. I've been busy with break so I haven't been able to change his water every other day like I used to be able to. He hasn't been eating all that much lately. He'll take the food from me as happily as he did before but will often spit it out and not finish it. He's still active, though less so than before. I'm getting a little worried about him. Does anyone have any advice on what to do to help him get better? I've been trying to do big water changes (around 50%) every day or two. Is there anything else I can do besides just wait? Does anyone know what is going on?

I would keep the tank cooled down.(if it aint already) and make sure the quality of the water are at the healthy requirements.
by checking the amount of nitrate, nitrite and ammonia in the water.

I've been doing water changes plenty so The nitrites, nitrates and ammonia shouldn't be too much of a problem now. I Don't think the tank is quite cool enough but I'm doing my best for now. He's been looking a little worse for wear this past day or two. He floats around the top a lot without really moving, his color is fading slightly and he's still got some strands of fungus attached to him in places. I've given him two salt baths so far but they don't seem to be helping all that much. I go back to college soon and will be bringing him back to his old tank where it's cooler and I can keep a closer eye on him (and fridge him more conveniently if I need to.) I guess I just want to make sure I'm doing everything I can.

DragonGirl said:

he's got some sort of fungus or film growing on him

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A photo would really help identify the problem.

here are some pictures. you can see some fungus on the top of his tail, and a little around his gills which are smaller than usual. also there is a faint discolored patch on the top of his head

Looks a like heat stress. The mucus coat is also damaged . The sides of the salamander look very bumpy. Fungus comes after an injury or after being stressed for a period of time. If you're not keeping it with others than I'd say its due to the water quality or heat stress. Because of the fungus a salt bath seems to be needed, but since the Axolotl may be lacking a protective mucus coat in some areas of its' body a salt bath could be very stressful.

Looks like the skin is peeling in one of the pictures. I'd say cool the salamander and if you're up to it, give it real fast salt baths. Use lesser amounts of salt. A strong salt bath cold be very devastating. Cooling the Axolotl will help it regenerate its mucus coat and slow/stop the fungus from spreading.

Good luck.

Yeah, I was fairly certain it was due to the tank being too warm. I've been doing water changes every day, and so far I've given him two mild salt baths. I've been using aquarium salt that I use when my guppies are sick. Is that okay or should I switch to like table salt instead? They've been very rather mild and I haven't left him in the salt bath for more than 10 minutes a time. And I only do one a day while performing a water change on the main tank

I use stress coat on the tank to de chlorinate the water and such. You said his slime coat seems to be degenerating. Would adding a bit more stress coat help?

As far as cooling the tank, I've been trying to keep the room warm and increase evaporation on the tank any other suggestions on how to cool it down? If I floated a ziplock bag with some ice cubes would that help or would that be a bit too risky? I may have mentioned it before, but I head back to college here in a day or two and if he still isn't well then I plan to fridge him since I am better equipped to do so there than at home.

There are a few ways you can cool the tank. Use an aquatic chiller, wich is expensive. The other way is to change the temperature in the room. Or you can change the location of the tank its self. Like putting it in the basement or garage. Though relocating the tank isn't display friendly it may very well save your salamander.

Using water bottles and bags of ice will only change temps momentarily. You need long term and permanent changes. Especially since you will be leaving for school soon. Water conditioners may reduce harshness of water but not actually help the salamander regenerate its' self. Axolotls will regen a lot faster in cold temps. Don't be afraid to cool it. At 40-50 degrees will do it just fine. Not to mention cold conditions will slow down other functions of its body allowing its body to focus more on healing.

If it were me, I'd fridge it and relocate its tank to a cooler part of the house.

I don't have experience with this myself, but I wanted to mention that I have recently seen pictures of axolotls with this same bumpy look that have reacted badly to the aloe vera that is in the Stress Coat. Some axolotls are allergic to water conditioners that contain aloe vera. One thing you could do is try a different water conditioner that does not contain aloe vera and see if he improves.

DragonGirl said:

As far as cooling the tank, I've been trying to keep the room warm and increase evaporation on the tank ...

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I haven't actually checked the equations, but I am almost positive that the additional evaporative heating is more than offset by the additional warmth of the room. You should be keeping your room COLDER, not warmer. Yes, there will be less evaporative cooling, but there will be much less heat transfer into the tank from the room.

Bottom line: Your tank will be cooler in a cool room than in a warm room.

Yes, you can float plastic bags of ice cubes, but be careful not to let the temperature swing around too much.

Do you have a fan? Blowing it across the water will increase the evaporative cooling a lot.

Good luck! :happy:

I didn't even consider that. I didn't really notice the bumps until it was pointed out here. However I've been using the stress coat as his de chlorinater for around three months now. Wouldn't there have been a reaction earlier if he was allergic?

Also I was just looking at him, watching as he suddenly started swimming all over the place for a bit. He used to be fairly active sometimes but lately he's just been kind of floating there so I was a bit worried. Anyway, as I was watching I noticed that his eyes have a sort of film over them much like how the eyes of snakes get when they are shedding. So I was wondering if it was possible that he was shedding? Because that would explain the lesser movement, the white material and the washed out colors of him. I'm not sure if it would account for his gills getting smaller but Im still curious. I've researched it a little bit, just enough to know that axolotls do sometimes shed but not enough to know if that's what is going on here.

Oops!! I totally meant cooler not warmer. I don't have a small fan to blow onto the tank, but I do have a ceiling fan which Ive been running constantly on high.

DragonGirl said:

I didn't even consider that. I didn't really notice the bumps until it was pointed out here. However I've been using the stress coat as his de chlorinater for around three months now. Wouldn't there have been a reaction earlier if he was allergic?

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I don't know if it's an actual allergy or an irritation or sensitivity. If it is, it can be one of those things that can get worse the more you are around something you are sensitive to. Like I am sensitive to dust, a little is fine, if I didn't vacuum for months I would be miserable, if I moved from a clean place to a dirty dusty place I might be okay for a while but eventually my body would have enough and have a fit. It may not be the conditioner, but thought it worth mentioning since i have seen several posts with pics like these and aloe vera was the culprit. I will see if I can find those posts again and you can see if it looks at all like what he looks like he's going through.

One thing I wanted to add was I know we are not amphibians and i don't know how allergies work with them, but at 16 I was bitten by a fire ant and had a severe allergic reaction. I had been bitten many times before and never had a reaction like that. I was told that allergies are weird, they can come out of nowhere at any time, get better or worse, and are unpredictable. I was bitten several times after that with no reaction until over 15 years later when only 1 bite caused a near anaphylactic reaction. Who knows why and when they choose to appear.

I finally found the post I remembered seeing about the aloe, and it has pictures you can compare.


http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...xolotl/85905-axolotls-covered-tiny-bumps.html