Illness/Sickness: Axolotl had fungus on her gills

So I have had my axolotl for a while now, I'm not sure on the gender but I'm calling her a she for now. She's not fully mature yet so it's hard to tell. Hoping for her to be female as I named her Aisling. I'll post pictures of her later, she's super adorable btw.

Last night, when all the stores around me were closed, I noticed a white fluff ball on one of my axolotl's gills. I read that's fungus so I came on here, reading up on salt baths last night. Couldn't do anything about it last night, due to not having any salt. I figured she'd be okay with just a water change for the night. I woke up, it was still there but she was fine.

I came online to read up on it some more to make sure I knew what to do, I think I got it with that really handy picture tutorial. I cannot do the fridging though, as there is no room in the fridge for her and that scares me more than the salt baths. I'm not even sure what temperature the fridge needs to be to be safe and to keep the food inside safe. Just normal temperatures is fine? That is, if there was room. If there isn't, it's okay not to use a fridge?

Anyways, I fed her so she can have something to eat before I went out to get some salt (hopefully aquarium salt can be found at the store I got her from), then that's when I went online to read the tutorial again. I get up, about to get my bag to leave the house, and the fungus is no longer there. Is this normal? Should I still do the salt bath? Or should I do a tea bath instead? If so, what kind of tea should I use? Can it be bought at a grocery store?

I mean, I'm still going to go buy some aquarium salt in case this happens again so I can be prepared to handle this right away. But another concern, some of her gills are missing (the red frilly things she has), will they grow back?

And how to prevent fungus? Do a better job at cleaning up the food? Though when it is eaten, I can't seem to find any left overs but I'll try. Maybe watch her eat and when she finishes, take the jar I put her food in and discard it? I feed her frozen bloodworm cubes in a mason jar.

I am no expert, but I suppose that someone can correct me if I am wrong. You should probably start with a tea bath because it is less stressful on the axolotls. Black tea would work and I believe that you could just by it from the grocery store. Her gills will grow back over time and a tea bath will also help with this. What is the temperature in the axolotl tank? I have heard that to hot of temperature can generate fungus. It is also a good idea to remove any uneaten food right away. That is all I know. I would also wait for people that have more knowledge than I do to post.

dsmagruder said:

I am no expert, but I suppose that someone can correct me if I am wrong. You should probably start with a tea bath because it is less stressful on the axolotls. Black tea would work and I believe that you could just by it from the grocery store. Her gills will grow back over time and a tea bath will also help with this. What is the temperature in the axolotl tank? I have heard that to hot of temperature can generate fungus. It is also a good idea to remove any uneaten food right away. That is all I know. I would also wait for people that have more knowledge than I do to post.

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So far the highest I've seen it go was 19C, it's staying at around 15-17 degrees. I'm working on getting a different water chiller, even though I really like these temperatures, the chiller I have right now does a terrible job when it is hot outside. Right now it is cooling down due to being fall and soon to be winter.

I'll look up on how to do tea baths to see how they are done. Thank you and will wait for others to give their input too.

Edit: It doesn't say how long to keep her in the bath, though someone said they kept theirs in for 10 minutes. Maybe that's a good amount of time? Maybe do that once a day or so? Or is that too many times?

Since I can't edit, I'll say it in a different post. Sorry if bumping is not allowed.

But the water parameters are almost perfect. 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites, but about 5.0 ppm Nitrates.

Thats great that the water parameters are good. 19c is a little too hot, although 15 and 16 are pretty good. You might want to give your axolotl a tea bath for around 10 to 20 minutes. I would recommend one bath daily for around 2 days and then go from there.

dsmagruder said:

Thats great that the water parameters are good. 19c is a little too hot, although 15 and 16 are pretty good. You might want to give your axolotl a tea bath for around 10 to 20 minutes. I would recommend one bath daily for around 2 days and then go from there.

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19C isn't as bad as it was in the summer months when I was setting up the tank. The chiller is bad and the highest it ever went to was 23C. I have a better chiller now but I don't have tubes for it yet, sadly. And okie dokie, I'll be doing that for two days and then see if she needs it after two days or so.