Fungus is winning

Hey all. I've got a few larvae (10cm) axolytls and have been having a problem with fungus . I have been bathing one in a salt bath for almost two weeks and doing the fridge thing yet the fungus is still progressing up the tail. I recently got my hands on gentamicin sulfate and am trying that in solution in the fridge as per the recommendation on axolotl.org. I'm still nervous to inject the stuff into the little guys. Any thoughts? I've been monitoring my cycled tank and everything seems ok. Thanks in advance for your help, this forum is awesome!

Salt didn't work on mine

I am very sorry to hear of your problem. I just lost one Juvenile to this. The salt baths seemed to help a little, but by the next day it would look the same. As it progressed up it's limbs(it started on 2 legs) I noticed very red lines and a ball of redness developing next to the body. I imagined it was poisoning it's blood so I took the legs nothing I did helped!
I hope it ends differently for you
All I had was 3 days beginning to end

Methylene blue

I've successfully used small amounts of methylene blue with adults and larvae before. If it's in the water constantly then it gives the fungus less of a chance to fight back between salt baths. It gives them a scary-looking blue tinge, but has never harmed any of my axolotls before and has to be worth a try if they're really sick. What type of salt are you using? I think sea salt is supposed to be best.

its always sad when this happens.

to be honest it seems you have done your best. sometimes there are some Larvae that are simply not strong enough to survive. in the wild, very few survive into adulthood, and yet in captivity, we do our best for every weak individual. and those weaker ones are then purchased and sometimes bred. i am not saying cull all but the biggest, but i think sometimes we have to recognise that there is nothing more we can do, and that this was one of the weaker ones that would not normally have made it. if it is fighting a losing battle, and seems in obvious distress, it might be hime to look at euthanising it.
i know this post might cause an uproar, or mixed feelings, but that is just my point of view.

good luck with the axie, let us know how he/she is getting on.

Alex

thanks all

Well, three weeks out and the little fella is still hanging on, but I doubt it will be much longer. All the advice is both validating and appreciated. I've been trying the antibiotics in solution for a few days and I'm not sure if it has any affect yet. I had another one get bite on the tail and fungus started growing there as well, but that appears to have cleared up nicely. Again all, thanks for the advice, allbeit somber, I agree and undrestand.

Oh Monomike, am sorry to hear about your problem. Can you post a pic of him? Also, I have had one of my axies nearly die of fungus that was taking over her body ( gills, legs, back, fin, tail, eyes). Salt baths didn't cure her, but she recovered when I started using very mild methylene blue baths twice a day. Does he eat at all? Have you tested the water? What's teh watr temperature? Put anything new in his water? I really hope he recovers!!!

gentamicin is antibacterial not antifungal

I'm so sorry to hear about your axies. Just wanted to let you know that gentamicin is an antibacterial agent and will not kill the fungus, you should look for an antifungal. Methylene blue help keep fungus from growing in solutions but does not do a great job of killing fungus that is already thriving. You should try to find a fungicide. Look for one in a pet store. Antifungals often also can harm your pets (most stop the fungus from making cell wall but can also disrupt cholesterol synthesis in your axies) so maybe an antifungal in the salt baths would be a good idea, plus the addition of methylene blue into their water. I hope they recover.

Thanks again for all the advice. I lost one of them yesterday, but the other one is a trooper so I'm still in to win. Even if it dies, the advice should help me keep the others healthy in the future. Darned good point about the antifungal vs. antibiotic. I was wondering that but found myself in dire straits so I went with it. What antifungal should I use? I see lots in pet shops but don't know which are ok. You guys are great, thanks again.