Entire gills covered in fungus

Woke up this morning and my two axolotls whole gills were covered in fungus and one was on its side. They're in tubs while their tank cycles after a crash, it's been 60-64 degrees with 2x a day 100% water changes with same-temperature water. Tap water parameters are 0ppm ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH of 7.6. Last night there was no sign of this fungus, and they each ate 3 earthworms and were acting completely normal. I've transferred them to clean water, and put 3 bags of black tea with them (that's why the water is that color) but they're not moving, I'm not even sure they're alive.

What else can I do here? Do I salt bath? I'm reading about it now, I'll probably proceed with it unless I hear otherwise, since they seem to be so close to passing.

It breaks my heart to say this, but despite my best efforts they have passed away.

My question now is, if I want to have more axolotls in the future, how do I keep this from happening again? It may be overkill but I read about chytrid and bought a swab kit, I'm sending that in for testing. I know to kill chytrid you need to bleach, boil, or dry everything to make it safe again, but if that test comes back negative, are any other funguses that need to be handled the same way?

I just bought them a new 55 gallon tank two days ago, and I was planning to move the plants, substrate, filter, and decorations from their current 25 gallon tank into the new one. Now I wonder whether I should just start all the way over in this new tank to prevent contamination. Is there a way to clean plants without killing them? I don't even want to think about getting new babies for a while, but with this new tank I figured I should at least ask if it helps to prevent future losses.

Thanks in advance for any advice or help you can offer, it's so nice to have found a community of such knowledgable and helpful people. I just wish this wasn't the reason I was posting here for the first time.

R.I.P. little friends <3

That is so bizarre this could be the exact post that I had made the other day. I also lost both of mine very quickly after some fungus showed up. I also just bought a new tank and filter and had put them in the larger tank soon after they started looking bad. I did a salt bath on one and he died soon after. I didn't do a bath on the other and he died soon after that. I'm not sure there's anything you or I could have done.

I don't think either case sounds like chytrid to be honest with you but it'd be interesting to hear the results of that. I did do a bit of research on that disease but it was in response to frogs and not salamanders so the presentation could be different.

Personally I nuked my tank. Completely emptied it rinsed the new filter with chlorinated water and let it dry and I'm going to throw away my old filter media. I also rinsed my decor with regular tap water and let it dry out. I'd rather cycle the tank again than risk getting new axolotls only to lose them due to laziness. I didn't have live plants but with chytrid, it can live without a host for 2 weeks so I would just start cycling with ammonia and not put any animals in the tank for at least 2 weeks.

I'm not sure what went wrong, but just wanted to say I'm very sorry for your loss. I'd definitely clean the tank out well, disinfect and clean why you can, let dry and sit for a while. And start over with substrate. Cycle well and make sure water conditions are good, and use a quality tap water conditioner. Again, so sorry to hear about your losses

grace said:

Woke up this morning and my two axolotls whole gills were covered in fungus and one was on its side. They're in tubs while their tank cycles after a crash, it's been 60-64 degrees with 2x a day 100% water changes with same-temperature water. Tap water parameters are 0ppm ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH of 7.6. Last night there was no sign of this fungus, and they each ate 3 earthworms and were acting completely normal. I've transferred them to clean water, and put 3 bags of black tea with them (that's why the water is that color) but they're not moving, I'm not even sure they're alive.

What else can I do here? Do I salt bath? I'm reading about it now, I'll probably proceed with it unless I hear otherwise, since they seem to be so close to passing.

Click to expand...

R.I.P. :angel:
Hmm.. did you de-chlorinate your water?
Personally, I would get rid of everything in the tank if it only costs around $50 to replace that is way better than buying another axolotl for $60 (that's how much they cost me here?) and losing him again so fast. I am not sure if the stuff in the tank is still dangerous but if it is.... don't take the risk.
How high was the ammonia when your tank cycle crashed before you took them out?