New Mudpuppy Owner... Need Help!

Hello! I'm a new member here and this is my first post, so bare with me... Sorry for the long post.

I just recently had a Mudpuppy(yes he is 110% a mudpuppy) given to me from a friend who's family member couldn't care for it any longer. Since I breed and own crested geckos and leopard geckos (plus a random bullfrog tadpole) he thought I would be better to care for it... I was absolutely psyched and nervous.

I have researched for HOURS about their care and this site has been amazing for information.... I just have a couple questions and to make sure im doing this right...
A little background-

He is about 8in long, currently living in a 30 gallon tank with lots of fake plants and big rocks for him to hide in. I monitor the temp and its kept under 68 and I have a large filter as well as a aerator stone. I keep up with daily maintenance and proper water changes.

I've had him for about a month now. A lot of his care has been trial and error such as keeping bait fish in the tank(shiners, minnows, goldfish). The fish ended up getting Ich really bad, so I discarded all of them and freaked out thinking he would also get it and did a 75% water change and added aquarium salt to the tank, changed out the plants. I was going to treat the tank with Ich medication, but pet store seemed to think it would kill him. I didnt want to relocate him to a bucket for a couple days while i treat the whole tank because of the stress. He seems to be fine and actually is more active and swimming around now without the crowding of fish.

A week or two later he had this white growth appear on his head. I researched and followed the salt bath instructions. Removed the growth gently with a qtip and did a salt bath twice a day for about 12 minutes at a time. I've been doing this for two days now and it seems to be clearing up except for a small scar where it used to be. Also he had the little white worms behind his legs, which I read on another post to pick those off gently (it worked and hasn't come back).

Question- should I continue the salt baths? For how much longer? Any other ways to help clear it up since it is so close to his eye and I don't want to blind him...

Other random questions ...
I'm feeding him nightcrawlers, which I've seen him actually eat (awesome to watch) a few. Do I just throw them in the tank or can I eventually get him to eat them if I dangle them in front of him (hand tame)? They tend to dig into the rocks quickly and I lose them, but I'll see them come out every once in a while... Also I find them dead and gross after a while, which I don't want to mess up the PH...

I have two small crayfish in the tank currently, which i snipped their pinchers off... But he hasnt eaten them and its been like a week now. They are becoming ornaments Lol... Should I remove them or will he eventually eat them?

Goldfish... He's eaten one when I had all the baitfish in the tank, but I'm so scared to have fish in there again and deal with the Ich crisis .... Should I just put one small one in there for him to eat whenever or not bother with it?

Any other food ideas are welcome.

Again, my apologies for such a long post. I have finally found a place that actually can provide information about these amazing creatures... I am so obsessed with this Mudpuppy!! He is absolutely fascinating... He loves getting into the bubble stream from the aerator and riding it like a wave Lol... He is more active than I thought and is always swimming around (now that the baitfish are all gone).

Thanks for reading and any responses are welcome. I hope I'm doing this right!!

I do not have experience with salt baths, so I do not know about that but The author of the caudata culture article on mudpuppies has observed that they do not seem to take crayfish in captivity. and I would not recommend feeding it goldfish, as they are high in saturated fats.

Thank you SO much for responding!!

What article are you referring to? I'd like to check it out..

I kept a mudpuppy for quite a few years, and while I can't help you with the fungus issue, I can offer a few pointers as to what worked for me.
First, water quality seems crucial with this species. They need cool, clean filtered water. They don't seem to mind current. I used undergravel filtration with a big powerhead. They like to burrow underneath rocks. Make sure that the rocks are anchored so that they cannot crush your mud dog when it digs underneath them. I also recommend smooth rocks only, to avoid abrasion.
I fed mine primarily night crawlers, and occasional minnows. Mine would eat from my hand, but I usually just dropped them in one or two at a time. It always knew when I dropped them in; it is my understanding that this species has a lateral line sensory system, similar to fish. They have no trouble at all catching fish or other fast moving prey.
This is a cool species. My parents used to live on a lake with a thriving mudpuppy population. I thought it would be fun to place some clay chimney flues in the water, to see if the mudpuppies would hide inside of them. They were flat, with three chambers. I set out six of them. Yes, I know it was littering, but it was for a good cause. I prefer to call it "structure". The mudpuppies did not hide inside of them; rather, they burrowed under them and made a shallow depression. From then on, every time I snorkeled down to where these things were, I could flip all six of them, and see six momma mud dogs guarding their eggs. Every single time, for almost twenty years. It was pretty neat.

Thanks for the response!!!

His fungus seems to be going away after a couple salt baths, so that's good.

How active was your mudpuppy? Mine is CONSTANTLY out in the open. We have at least five hiding spots for him and he does have a little cave area he will hide in, but mostly he hangs out near the aerator stone. He seems to run laps in the tank. He will go from one side and "run" along the side of the tank and swim to the top, splash water and then nose dive into the aerator bubble stream.... He repeats this over and over throughout the day. Its really cool to watch.

I have tried dangling worms in front of him but as soon as they touch him, he swims away... He literally let a worm hangout on his face for 5 minutes and then swam off. He doesn't look skinny at all and we did just add a ton of fake long plants to his cage within the past two weeks so maybe its him adjusting.... He seems to love the plant coverage, so he is always laying out in the open.

Just want to make sure this is normal behavior...

Here's a picture of him... His gills are so beautiful...

Mine was active at night, and would hide all day. If I dropped a worm in, the mud dog would immediately come out and find it. It almost never swam to the surface. Mudpuppies are very much bottom dwellers.
If your mudpuppy is very active, you might double check your water quality. Sometimes, poor water quality or excessive temps can cause aquatic amphibians to be overly active or spend time at the surface. I'm not saying there's a problem, just that I would keep an eye on it if it was me.

Looks very nice. wish I had one!