Illness/Sickness: Sick armless axie

Hi my brother's axolotl wilbur had to be separated from his first axolotl leo because leo bit off both his arms. since then his arms seem to be very slowly growing back - we can make out tiny fingers! but he is very thin despite being fed a cube of bloodworms every night. we figured it might just be because he needed all his energy to regrow his limbs.
but i just got home today and i haven't been home since saturday, and the area behind is gills is white and fuzzy. there is a white fuzzy bit attached to the area on his left, but not on his right. i will add some photos below. - the pink bit is actually a lot paler in real life, i was pointing a yellow light at it. and he seems to sit with his mouth open. so i am very worried and would love some help diagnosing the problem. there has been a bit of stray bloodworms collecting on the bottom of the tank since i was here last - we got a friend to feed him but he didn't clean the tank - so maybe that contributed to it?

I can't really see the photos very clearly but i can make out what seems like fungus. I suspect your axie has fungal stomatitis as well as fungal infection around the gills.

The best treatment will be salt baths 2x daily, 8hrs apart for 5 days and then 1x daily for another 2 days. Constantly monitor and assess throughout. It is best to fridge the axie and isolate this axie from any others.

When fridged, you can still offer food. I recommend live blackworms.

well that's going to be hard to do, especially around christmas. we don't have much room in the fridge for him and spare water and all.
how do you do a salt bath?
sorry the pictures aren't better, i did the best i could.
well i'll try to organise something. get my mum and brother to help...

Fridging instructions.

Axolotl Sanctuary

Salt bath instructions.

With fungal infections. I would recommend you give two salt baths per day for 3 days. Space the interval period as evenly as possible, ie. - 8 am in morning, 8 pm at night. An hour or two off is ok. During these baths, the axie will attempt to struggle a bit. This is normal.

Basically just prepare a tub of fresh dechlorinated water and dissolve 2 to 3 flat teaspoonfuls of non-iodized salt per litre of water. You can use salt such as kosher salt, freshwater aquarium salt or sea salt. Do not use table salt. You can then place your axie in the salt solution for about 10 minutes but no longer than 15 minutes per session. Excessive salt solution soaking can cause damage to the axie's gills and skin. Have a look through this article as well.

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/salt.shtml

If you can gently tease off any flaking/peeling lesions that is also fine. You can do so gently with a cotton Q-tip. Roll the Q-tip towards you to gently lift away at the lesion rather than prod at it or roll inwards which can damage the skin.

Monitor the progress and response of the axie during the salt baths. From the 4th day onwards, reduce down to once per day until the end of the week. Continue to monitor. I anticipate a marked improvement by day 3. If by end of the week, the salt baths and fridging did not improve the condition, again a vet appointment will be necessary.

You can also prepare one or two bottles (1 or 1.5 L bottle) of salt solution in the fridge. The most convenient time to do salt baths will be during your daily water changes. As the salt solution is fridged, there will be minimal thermal stress.

Hi pallyndrome,

If there is no room in your fridge at Christmastime, can I come over?

Ok seriously, though: I would guess that old food in the tank certainly contributed to the problem. In addition, Wilbur is weak from his injury - and since you are in Australia, I'd guess the water temperature has begun rising as well, no? The fungus can take hold when Wilbur's immune system is weakened and water conditions can greatly influence the health of both Wilbur and the fungus.

If you can't fit Wilbur into the fridge, you should still try to keep him in water that is as cool and clean as possible. Is there another dark, cool place in your house where he could stay in a tub of some sort? With daily water changes and cool water, you would be helping him a great deal to heal. (This in addition to what Ray has written.)

Also, from the little I can see, I think that Wilbur looks thin. Is he eating ok?

On a side note - to take a picture, instead of using the camera flash, put a light near (or over) the tank so that the surrounding area is well lit. Then you don't get the reflection from the flash and it's easier to make a picture.

Good luck,

-Eva

thank you for your advice!
i put him in the fridge just then, and we're using the glass water bottles to hold more water for him. mum got some salt from the pet shop today.
he's looking pretty bad, swollen mouth, ring of fuzzy white stuff around his neck. and yes he is thin, but he's been thin for weeks. we hoped that it was just because he needs all his nutrients to grow his arms back, because he's been eating fine.
i didn't use the flash for the photos, i shone a torch at him instead. but thanks.
so i 'm going to get my brother to help me do salt changes starting tonight when we get home from christmas party. i hope he recovers. it's so stressful having a sick fish/axie (we have lots of fish tanks too).

hi
i just gave him his first salt bath. he did wriggle a bit at first, and near the end of 10 mins.
boy was it hard to get the pH right in such a small amount of water :S but i think i got it in the end.
practically all the fuzzy white stuff came off fairly easily with a cotton tip. there was a big clump of white mixed with dark brown. and he has a white spot on his back that won't come off at all.
so yeah, it's looking ok, so far.
merry christmas everyone

hello me AGAIN
still continuing with the salt baths. and just changed his water, which i think i should be doing daily? he's still very thin, and seems to be growing back some little bit of fuzz but maybe i just missed getting that off yesterday. new observations:
the gills are very small/wilted
one of his re-growing arms, the tip has gone bright red! is this normal???
and he won't eat - he insists on having his nose facing the corner of the container and when we finally get some food in front of his face he doesn't react!
worried...

Usually when axolotls are fridged they go off their food for a bit. The cold slows down their metabolism so they don't need to eat as much or as often as if they were in their normal tank. Your right, 100% water changes should definitely be done daily. Unfortunately the gill issue is a by-product of the salt baths. They'll grow back after the treatment is done.

How often are you you giving him the baths and for how long each time?

we did twice a day for 10mins for 3 days and now we will do once a day for 10mins for another 4 days. he seems to be getting a little better. but his stump goes bright red when in the salt bath - it doesn't hurt him does it?

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!
the other axie - leopold - is dead! :'(
it seems that it's our fault. his water was a bit acidic, and we forgot to turn the filter back on - it's been not going for at least 4 days and we only realised it when he was dead! and he's been floating the last few days - i didn't know, my brother just told me - but would go back down when poked. oh it's so sad - the poor guy - we weren't sure if he was dead until i felt him and he was awfully squishy. and his body was in a contorted position, curled into the side...
anyway, does this sound like he died from acidity or from no filter? or maybe it was the heat of summer - but he's survived 2 summers already just fine!