What am i looking at? anchor worm? fungus?

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waster

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My juvie axie has this small white lump on the corner of his mouth

there also seems to be a short strand hanging from the same area

ive attached a pic

im going with a big water change and a cleaning and monitoring the spot over the next week or so. the axies is healthy and eating like a pig, so im hoping he fends it off himself

any advice or ID of the condition?

thanks
 

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I cant really see much from this photo, its very dark and a bit too grainy to make out details.

Have you tested your water parameters, if so, what are they? What is the temperature of the water? What size tank do you have? Is it cycled? What do you feed to your axolotl?
 
i cant upload the better picture.... the site limit is too small.
have not tested the water (no kit). temps are always between 15-19 Celcius. at the moment he is in a 10 gallon tank (temporary housing over the holidays)

tank is not fully cycled. i took the furniture, filter, a bag of gravel from a cycled tank. partial water changes are happening daily or every other day. debris is turkey bastered away everyday. Food selection has been bloodworms, red wrigglers, chopped up dew worm previously, and the odd cichlid pellet here and there.
 
Cant really say much at the moment as I cant see. From what you are saying your water should be ok ... although you say it is still cycling. Perhaps you should step up your water changes a bit more than they are currently. It might be fungus but then that usually attacks the gills rather than the mouth ... perhaps your axolotl has injured it's mouth somehow and then it infected? Or perhaps its something else.

Your tank does seem really dark, Axolotls are not fond of bright light but in general ecosystems do need some light in order for a bit of algae to grow, some plant life etc which then absorbs nitrates and helps 'digest' other bits and bobs of stuff which you might miss with the old turkey baster. Also, I think for most animals, about 8 to 10 hours of lighting helps maintain internal body clocks. (Although I might be miles off the mark with the light thing, are you sure you cant post a better lit picture?)
 
Mine had anchorworm and I couldn't get rid of it for a long time. It looked like a 1-3 mm strand attached to the skin, so by the description it can be that. Try to upload a good quality pic to the internets and paste the link. How I got rid of them? New substrate (actually, they appeared at the same time I bought some gravel, so probably it came with it; using sand now), tank was completelly dry for several months, they were in the fridge for all this time. Tank had to be completelly cycled again. There might be a less radical solution though... :)
 
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bag of gravel --- the gravel is in a bag (panty hose) siting right beside the homemade sponge filter.

ya im pretty sure it is anchor worms. the pet store had feeder fish in with them

im gonna keep a close eye and start planning for treatment so im ready if needed

would any of these fish meds be safe? cant get dimilin in canada

Clout Tablets
General Cure Powder
CopperSafe FW/SW

let me know if anyone has experience with this
 
ill be starting the API General Cure treatment tomorrow. Will post updates.
 
Day 1 of treatment started. 10 gallon tank with 6-7 gallons of water 2 juvie axies i did a 50%+ water change and i used about half a packet of API General Cure
 
Day 2 - axies are fat and eating well. Some of the bumps under their skin seem to have shrunk (or i could be imagining it) One of the axies appears to have fungus on filaments on one of his gill stems. it is white spot, fuzzy looking -- so im certain it is fungus I'll keep an eye on it. I dont want to be giving salt baths and the General Cure both at the same time unless this fungus gets out of hand
 
Day 3 - the fungus has disappeared on its own... under the fungus spot is an anchor worm that is attached. So either anchor worm was dead and had the fungus or the anchor breaking through the skin caused the initial fungus outbreak The good news is the axie was more than healthy enough to fend off the fungus without any help from me Big water change was done 33% - 50%. The other half of the API General Cure was added to the tank. There are a couple of anchor worms attached to the axies, not many. Hoping that by Day 5 these anchors will die off and detach. One thing i have noticed is that one of the axie's gills is a bit more forward facing than 2 days ago. I will make the assumption that the General Cure Powder is making the water a bit harder on the guys.
 
Good! That's what happened with my experience with the treatment. If you leave the little guys in the treated water (without water changes) just a day or so longer than the directions imply, the GC should take care of ALL of them if it hasn't by the 5th day.

Thanks for keeping us updated.
 
Day 4 - still eating like little piggies.

thanks randy.
Anchor worms are still attached. Will keep them in that water with no changes till day 6. If that fails... i may reset the treatment --- Do consecutive days of big water changes -- give the guys a break from the meds for 2-3 days. Then dose again. Not sure if that is a good idea yet. Hopefully all is cured by day 6
 
Day 5 - the few anchor worms they had are still attached

Im really hoping all the free swimming ones have been killed off

Will give it one more day and re-***** the situation. I could either just start the treatment process again or wait a few days before restarting the treatment
 
You have them in a ten gallon container with two animals, correct? I would also suggest, Waster, that you try separating the animals and placing them in smaller tanks or tupperware containers (yes, they will be crowded). The more concentrated the area, the better the treatment will work is my guess.

Thanks for the updates!
 
yeah current setup is a 10 gallon tank with between 5-7 gallons of water.

i used 1/2 a packet of API General Cure for the first dose with about 7 gallons of water. And the other half was used for the second treatment and i dropped the water level to below 5 gallons.

im a bit hesitant to dose in a small container due to not being sure what the correct amount to dose with would be.

i could use a full packet on 5 gallons possibly, but again im worried on over dosing them.

will take a good look at them tonight to see if the anchors have detached

hey randy, did your axie have bump under the skin? cause i am assuming these are anchor worms that have not broken through -- or are they dead ones that the axie will eventually expel?
 
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