Seymore and his 'nemo' gill

Seymour has had a special gill stalk (not sure what it's technically called) for a long time now. It gets recurring bouts of gill fungus, regardless of how perfect his water conditions are. What's extra weird though, is this gill also sporadically looks dead. one minute it'll be totally white, droopy, won't move when he moves the others, like a dead stump where you can't even see the fronds cause they're clear. 30 minutes later I can come back and look again and it's healthy and red and flowing with the others. what the HECK!? sometimes the swings are a day or so in between, sometimes minutes. But inevitably, it ends up getting fungus again every few months. More frequently lately. IT's as if this stalk has a circulation problem that's making it fall susceptible to fungus. Last time, he spent 3 weeks in the fridge. I completely tore down his tank and setup a new one with more water volume to maintain water quality, and less decor to potentially be causing issues. it's been about 1 month. this is ridiculous! I kinda wish I could amputate it and be done cause right now it's causing nothing but problems. of course I won't do that but I'm desperate for ideas

quick stats:

29G
68F stable
0ppm amonia, nitrite and nitrate
7.0 ph

there are a couple of anthuriums that grow out of the top and suck all the nutrients up

no direct light

would a weekly preventative salt bath be a horrid idea??

I wouldn't do preventative salt baths. It would probably do more harm than good. Salt baths are irritating to the skin, and if there's nothing to kill (fungus-wise), you're just stressing your axolotl, which can actually lead to more fungus.

ok fair enough...any ideas on a new course of action? there's something actual wrong with this gill that goes beyond the fungus. I'm not sure how to proceed other than every 4 weeks or so, go through another stressfull salt treatment.

Have you tried just waiting it out and seeing what happens with the fungus?

You're probably thinking along the right lines with the circulation issue. As for how to cure it, I don't know. I would be wary of amputation, just because of the amount of blood flow in the gills.

I have tried waiting it out. Last time, in the span of 24 hours is spread to the other 2 gill stalks on that side. it had never done that before. all the fronds on the nemo stalk were gone. like they rotted right off. it seems to be more aggresive each time it returns, and takes over much faster.

yeah I'm at a total loss.

You could consider contacting a vet about amputating the gill. One would assume that if it's a circulatory issue, it would regenerate with the correct vasculature.

I just wanted to come back and follow up on this thread for anyone else who may be suffering a similar problem.

IT appears to have been caused by my very soft (kh 0, gh 1) water. I read on axolotl.org that very soft water can lead to temporary bouts of anemia of the gills that causes them to look white and limp one minute and healthy the next. sure enough, I took him out of the fridge this last time, started adding a rift lake cichlid salt mix I mixed up to his water to increase the hardness, and his gills are healthy, vibrant, and growing back better than ever, With NO bouts of anemia!! haven't seen a limp gill in 2 weeks which is a record. I beleive this has solved the problem! he's now living in kh 3-4, gh 5-6. Time will tell if the fungus comes back, but I strongly believe there was a connection between the anemia and the fungus so hopefully this is all behind us now.

That's good to know. I never even thought about hardness. I'm glad you got to the bottom of it, and I'm glad Seymore is healthy!

Glad to see everything's ok!!!