Illness/Sickness: Infection

Hey guys,

hope you're all well.

Im a long time reader of this forum but this is my first post. We have had Ned for 7 months now and have recently had a lot of trouble keeping his temperature down. We noticed yesterday that he had small cottony white balls in his gills. After reading up on this we believe it to be columnaris but we could be wrong. As I'm sure many of you know that the main source of info for axies is the Internet and so we got googling. So far we have given him 1 salt bath and kept him in the fridge I guess we are just looking for some advice. There are a lot of contradictions on the web so it's diffcult to know what to do! We have read that salt baths are good and should be for 10 mins, salt baths should be for no more than 3 minutes, salt baths are bad and barbaric, salt baths are useless for columnaris, we should use mecurochrome, we shouldn't use mercurochrome etc etc. Any advice would be greatly received.

Thanks

We got a lot of different advice but in the end just made what we felt would be the best decision for all parties.. Me, hubby and our axie. I believe we had columnaris, as did the woman who saw our pics and gave us the very specific 3 min bath advice, which worked. There is no way we would have been able to pull off three daily salt baths for a week, totally impractical and our axie stresses very easily. It takes her several hours to unfreeze from simple poop scooping!!

Salt should effectively clear up fungus or bacteria, yes it's stressful but I don't believe it to be barbaric, it removes the slime coat along with any bad guys so the axie can recover and regenerate the coating. I personally think disturbing the animal several times a day, chasing it around with a net and handling it when it's sick to be the less desirable option, but that's just my experience.

Salt baths are very effective but really should not be used more than twice a day for about 10 minutes each time. Keeping an axolotl in a salt bath for more than 15 minutes will prove damaging as well as very stressful. Fridging is not always necessary in addition to the salt baths and while in the salt bath, you can use a cotton swab to gently brush away the fungus that you see. Do the salt bath in low light, in a very quiet part to keep the axolotl's stress to a minimum. I do not chase my axolotls around with a net. I gently remove mine with my hand, not a net, to reduce the amount of stress. They are used to my hands in their tanks, not a net. The net can also damage their gills or their delicate fins.

You will get many opinions from pet shops, breeders, web sites. However, here, we try to keep our advice as consistent as possible. This site recommends the use of salt baths for fungus. The proper salt bath consists of 2-3 teaspoons of non-iodized salt per liter of dechlorinated water.

dragonlady said:

You will get many opinions from pet shops, breeders, web sites. However, here, we try to keep our advice as consistent as possible. This site recommends the use of salt baths for fungus. The proper salt bath consists of 2-3 teaspoons of non-iodized salt per liter of dechlorinated water.

Click to expand...

Shannon is correct. THIS is THE site for advice and information. Sometimes opinions vary a bit..... but you'll get the info and advice that you need. :happy:

Thanks guys,

most of the advice I have already acted upon is from this site. We looked and it appeared the white stuff had dissapeared so we put him back in the tank. We noticed after less than 24 hours of replacing him, the white stuff had reappeared on one gill. We have given him another salt bath and thoroughly cleaned his tank including sand replacement. He is currently in the fridge. I don't think he would get in my hand so will have to use the net, he is used to my hand but he bites it a lot!!

Will keep you updated

He got in my hand!! I loved it!! He freaked out a bit when I took him out of the water and put him in his tub but at least I know I didn't hurt him thanks for the advice

He has been having salt baths all week and it just keeps coming back! Getting a bit worried now

Hi,

Describe how you are doing your salt baths...how much salt, amount of water, frequency of baths, duration, etc.

Also, are you fridging him as well, or just the bath? What is the temp of his tank?

Sorry for the questions, just want to see what else can be suggested. Thanks.

Hi Shannon,

he is being bathed in approx 3-4 litres of water, and we have been using just under the reccomended amount of salt (about 1.5 teaspoons per litre). We take him out after 10-15 mins. The salt we are using is ordinary table salt. He is in the fridge as we cannot get his tank below 24 degrees. We have been bathing him once a day

thanks,

Okay, is your table salt iodized? You should only be using un-iodized salt like aquarium salt or sea salt. Also, your solution is too weak. 1-2 teaspoons per liter. The time is fine and 2x a day is fine. Using a weak solution isn't going to do anything which is why it's not really going away. When you put him in, you can also gently brush off the fungus.

Don't ever leave him in for over 15 min. Leaving him in for a longer period will become uncomfortable and potentially damage his slimecoat. Not saying you will, but for clarification to anyone else who reads this. You should see results with the higher solution after a few days at most.

Best of luck.

Hello again,

I bought salt from the pet shop and have been treating him with the stronger solution since Saturday. I have tried myxazin in his water and have applied it directly to the affected area. The fungus is still coming back within 24 hours. It has got better and seems to only appear on one gill but I was hoping for some better results by now.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,