Questions About Sick Axoltol Treatment?

Hi, first off this is my first time ever creating a forum, so I'm new to how this works.

But on to the problems, I have an axolotl of mine that had gotten a fungal or bacterial infection over a week ago. At first I wasn't sure if it was that or a shedding problem and tried looking it up and his condition had worsened. He had gotten pretty bad so I had fridged him and started to give him salt baths. I've been doing this for about a week and three days (give or take) with one or two treatments a day.

His condition had greatly improved but I still see some white fluff on his gills (that look quite tattered by this point) and I was wondering if it might be safe to take him out or would it just spread again. The infection all over his body has disappeared quite a few days ago and it is only located on his gills.

The problem is I am wondering how much longer can he go without eating? I know their metabolism slows down greatly in cold temperatures. But I noticed he had taken a large dump while he was in the fridge, so whatever nutrients he had before hand most likely have passed through his system. And there were a couple days he was not eating before I placed him in there in the first place.

Also problem that had happened while fridging him is that the water had gotten too cold and had a sheet of ice over the top of it (how this happened is that I had gotten a new mini fridge as an early Christmas gift becasue Thanksgiving was coming and my family members were not too thrilled with me placing a sick salamander in the refrigerator next to the food, and I had thought that it was at the standard refrigerator temperate around 40F or so........but it was colder). Also his color had changed from a dark gray or blackish color to what looks brown now.

Overall what would any of your suggestions be, they would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to ask me for any additional information about this situation that you would need to know as well. Thanks.

Pariah said:

Hi, first off this is my first time ever creating a forum, so I'm new to how this works.

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First off, welcome to the forum!

But on to the problems, I have an axolotl of mine that had gotten a fungal or bacterial infection over a week ago. At first I wasn't sure if it was that or a shedding problem and tried looking it up and his condition had worsened. He had gotten pretty bad so I had fridged him and started to give him salt baths. I've been doing this for about a week and three days (give or take) with one or two treatments a day.

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Continue with the salt baths once a day until the fungus disappears. For good measure I like continue the salt baths for up to 3 days after the last visible signs of fungus.

His condition had greatly improved but I still see some white fluff on his gills (that look quite tattered by this point) and I was wondering if it might be safe to take him out or would it just spread again. The infection all over his body has disappeared quite a few days ago and it is only located on his gills.

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To help the effectiveness of the salt baths you can use a cotton swab to remove the large bits of fungus. This is easily done by using a rolling motion of the cotton swab along the gills.

The problem is I am wondering how much longer can he go without eating? I know their metabolism slows down greatly in cold temperatures. But I noticed he had taken a large dump while he was in the fridge, so whatever nutrients he had before hand most likely have passed through his system. And there were a couple days he was not eating before I placed him in there in the first place.

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They can survive weeks without much, if any food. No need to worry about this yet.

Also problem that had happened while fridging him is that the water had gotten too cold and had a sheet of ice over the top of it (how this happened is that I had gotten a new mini fridge as an early Christmas gift becasue Thanksgiving was coming and my family members were not too thrilled with me placing a sick salamander in the refrigerator next to the food, and I had thought that it was at the standard refrigerator temperate around 40F or so........but it was colder). Also his color had changed from a dark gray or blackish color to what looks brown now.

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A little ice is no problem for these animals. Some members tanks, mine included, reguarly freeze over with a light coating of ice during the wintertime with no ill effects. Heck, I've even had them spawn with a very thin layer of ice on their tank.

Alright, I'll continue his treatments then. I never thought about a cotton swab though, I would think it would get pieces caught in his gills, but I'll give it a try.

Thanks for the advice, it has definitely lessened my worries and put a lot less stress on me for the time being.

Although now I must say that there are some strange looking sores or blisters along the back and tail. This is also worrying me now because it had progressed over the past couple of days.

Would you think that this could be caused by the salt in the salt baths? Maybe they were too frequent, too long, or too high of a concentration?

The recipe for the salt baths are 3 tsp of salt for 2 pints of water, and I let him soak in this for about 10-15 minutes, I would do this once or twice a day (depending on how busy I am that day).

But for now I've been giving him a break from the salt baths and seeing if his sores heal in a couple of days, and in the meantime he is staying in the fridge as well. I'll start the salt bath treatment again in a few days.

Sadly my sick axolotl died today........I should have thought of giving him water changes while he was in the fridge, or I probably should have still given him light salt baths despite the sores developing on his body......becasue it might not have been the salt developing them.

Thank you for your helps still, if anything I have learned a lot about how to take care of one when they get sick with a fungus infection, now at least I can possibly catch it ahead of time for any of my other axolotls if they ever develop something like this in the future.