Fungus on Axolotl Gills?

Hey guys!

Today I was feeding my axolotls and I noticed that one had what almost looked like a feather on his gill. I looked it up and it seemed to me that it could be possible he has fungus on his gills. Since he is my first axolotl and I'm still new to the game, I wanted to post a picture on here to make sure that's what it is and how to fix it and what exactly is causing this.

Or maybe it's just something else.

Thanks guys! The pictures are attached to this post.

Yes it does look like fungus.

Fungus usually begins to grow due to poor water quality, and/or high temperature.


Questions to answer:

1. Is your tank cycled?

2. What is the water temperature?

Yes! The tank is cycled and the water temperature is at 68. I checked the water yesterday and everything is where it was supposed to do. The pH is a little low right now, but I didn't think that would cause these issues. I figured today I do a complete water change and see if that helps anything?

Doing a 100% water change could crash your cycle, since it would remove all Ammonia and Nitrites leaving nothing for the bacteria to feed off.

Can you post your exact test results for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, and PH?

Your temperature is on the high side, optimum temperature is 16-18 degrees Celsius.

I have zero of everything but my pH level is 6.0.

Zero of everything actually isn't an indication that the tank is cycled. The ideal reading is zero ammonia, zero nitrite, and a very low reading of nitrate. In a cycled tank, there will always be a little bit of nitrate because there's no bacteria that removes it. It's only removed through water changes and live plants if you have them. I'm not saying your tank ISN'T cycled, and even if it's not, that isn't the definite cause of a fungus. It can actually just happen kind of randomly as well. My tank has never been warmer than about 64 or 65 F, and I pre-cycled with goldfish, but one of my axolotls got a fungal infection (at least that's what it looked like) after he was bitten, and he ended up quickly dying from it. I don't say that to scare you. Most of the time fungal infections go away on their own, especially with cautious treatments.

There are different treatment options. General consensus is that tea tree leaf extract is fine, and even putting in a tea bag can help (or just putting them in a separate bowl of cold water WITH a tea bag, for 10 or 15 minutes). Salt baths are slightly more aggressive. If you want to try something cautious, do a tea bag treatment once or twice a day, or you could consider buying Pimafix (which a fungal treatment that's basically just tea tree leaf extract in a bottle).

HOWEVER, you also need to try to get your tank temperature down a little. If you don't already have one, set up a small fan blowing on the surface of the water (and make sure you don't have a solid lighted lid like what comes with a fish tank--screen lids are pretty much ideal).

I would guess that your tank is not cycled (but it depends on how long you've had your axolotl in there). The definite good news though is that your test is showing there's not ammonia or nitrite since those are what are actually pretty toxic. A lack of nitRATE though might mean you're really lucky that there's no ammonia or nitrite since they are converted to nitrate, the least harmful nitrogen compound. Do a 10 or 20% water change every day for a few days until you see 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and a small amount of nitrate.

Low pH and slightly high temperature could definitely be factors in a fungal infection. Good luck! Let us know what happens.

Thank you so much for all of the help!

They've been leaving in this tank for several months now, and this is the first sign of stress/ sickness there's been with them. So far, my two babes have been very healthy and have been growing very fast! The other axolotl does not seem to have any fungus on his gills, so that's also good!

I will keep my eye on the temperature and set a fan on it right away. It might also be that the tank is close to the window which lets in the heat from the sun. I will also keep the water changes happening, but for now he's about to get a tea bath.

Again, thank you so much for all of the help!

Update: before I even put him in the tea bath I noticed the fungus was already gone! But he's soaking now just to make sure.

You're welcome. Good! The tea bath won't hurt anything. That's awesome news. Fixing the issues with the tank should help keep stuff from happening again. It's stressful when they get sick, but once you get everything set up well they tend to be happy, healthy little cutie butts.

When I first got my axolotls, I would once-in-a-while see a touch of gill fungus. It would go away without treatment.

I read lots of posts, and ran across some by some very experienced keepers that noted that whenever they let nitrates rise above 40 ppm, they would have that problem.

Since then, I have been doing bigger water changes (to keep nitrates well below 40 ppm) and have also started adding some unsoftened water when I refill to raise the hardness. I haven't seen gill fungus in a long time now.

Oh, and very large water changes will not crash your filter when done properly. => It is important to dechlorinate properly. A cycled tank has only trace amounts of ammonia and nitrite and your axolotls are still producing ammonia - the beneficial bacteria won't starve that quickly.

If you have 0 readings of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates that would suggest that your tank is not cycled, but you say your tank has been established for 7 months.. Can you re test? You should have signs of Nitrates if your tank is cycled. What test kit are you using?

I have read cases on this forum from reputable members that 100% water changes can potentially damage your cycle. But since you only had a case of minor fungus water changes aren't required to fix it anyway.