Fungus and larvae

I have about 30 larvae at the moment. I had been using cycled water from the parent's tank, for a few months now, with no problems.
However, my adult has now developed a fungus infection, which I am about to treat with a salt bath.

I have been away for two days, and the infection seems to have developed rapidly, I didn't notice it before I went away. Which unfortunately means that I have caused an infection in the larvae as well, by using the adult's tankwater. I have immediately changed the water for the larvae and separated the ill larvae, one but has already died (the biggest and strongest, funnily enough).

I have two questions:
- Can I treat fungus in larvae - they don't yet have front legs

- What causes fungus hence how can I reduce the chances of this happening again?

(I do try and keep the tanks as clean as possible, but I know I'm not perfect...)

Hi Lady Rassilon,

(A Time Lord? Welcome!)

Kapo successfully salt bathed larvae that were smaller than yours, using the same salt bath solution used for adult axolotls. Scroll down to post #4 of this thread:

HELP! Is this FUNGUS its on a baby What do I do??

Fungus outbreaks usually occur due to water quality issues. I know you said that your tank has cycled, but have you tested your water parameters in case of a toxic spike? If you could post your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH readings, and water temperature, that would be great.

Just a thought, but did you feed the axolotl before you left? For if there was some left over food that wasn't removed (as you weren't there), this may have caused an ammonia spike.

Is there a chance that the tank temperature may have risen above 23C during your two day absence? Axolotls are cold water creatures, and need their water kept cold to thrive. Warm water temperature is a major contributor to fungal infections. If the water temperature is kept above the axolotls tolerance level (some axolotls are even more sensitive than others) this gives the fungus the advantage as it thrives in warm water.

Are you able to post a photo of your tank setup? Is there any water flow going on in the tank? Axolotls prefer still water, and find any water movement to be highly stressful. Stress is another major cause of fungus.

Does your adult axolotl have any tankmates? Overcrowding of tanks can contribute to water quality issues if there is too much bioload in the tank for the bacteria to cope with.

I'm sorry for your loss. I hope your adult and larvae get better, and thrive for you.

Please keep us posted.

Thanks Jaquie

I am planning on giving the adult a salt bath everyday.
The fungus (white stuff) looked like it had disappeared overnight, before I started a salt bath. But there is damage to the gill, and the axie is certainly still unhappy, so I will persist for a few days.
He absolutely hated the salt bath though. I started with 1 tsp salt to 0.5 L water, based on directions on the axolotl.org site. He kept thrashing around very stressed as soon as he went in there, so I immediately lowered the salt by replacing half of the water with salt-free dechlorinated water. This didn't seem to help much.
I only had the heart to keep him in there a few minutes, less than 5 mins I think.
Is 1 tsp to 0.5 L too much? Or is he going to be stressed about it anyway, and should I persist with this amount?

Fortunately the babies are not showing any signs of the fungus, but I think I will try and give them a bath anyway.

As for my water parameters - it is entirely possible there has been a spike. I am about to clean the tank and check all the water parameters. I have a visible amonia monitor on the tank that does not indicate any elevated ammonia, but this monitor is new and I don't know whether to trust it yet.


He did have a tank-mate, with a tank separator, until about a week before the fungus infection appeared. I took that tank mate out and now he has a full 3 ft tank to himself. Water flow has not changed - there is more flow then I would like, but I don't think it should cause stress, as its been that way for months.

Temperature - thats harder to gauge.
The tank is unheated and not cooled, so I suppose the temp fluctuates. It seems to be about 16 degress, sometimes moving between 14 and 18 degrees. Its winter here, so the central heating in the house results in a large fluctuation in room temperature over the day and night.
I actually kept these two axies in a tank at work, with a very steady temp of about 22 degrees due to permanent room air conditioning, for about 8 months. They even bred, twice, at this temp, and never showed signs of stress.
Now they are at home, with varying temps, but it doesn't get above 20 degrees in the tank. Could this be a cause of stress?

Well, things are a lot better for some of my axies, still not so good for others.

The sick adult seems to be fine now, a week after I first noticed his distress.
In the end he only got one salt bath, for two reasons.
First, he seemed to be really, really stressed by it.
Second, by the time I did the salt bath the white growth had already dropped off and I could just see an injured gill with no furrther growth.

I did a water change, checked all my water parameters (they were fine).
There was some trapped food in the tank, which must have been the cause, although I couldn't detect any overall spike in ammonia.
(Note to self - don't rely on ammonia readings)

I added a little salt to the tank, to hopefully help with future infections. I have always used a bit of aquarium salt at water changes, but I might have become lazy and forgotten this recently, which might have contributed to my problems.
I also reduced the water flow - although this has not caused stress in the past, he had forward turned gills that concerned me. Now its so low I am concerned I won't get enough filtration...

Anyway, the axie was very stressed for about four days. His gills curled forward and his tail curled right around. And he wasn't eating. But this gradually reduced over the last few days, and now he shows no physical distress signs, and even ate something last night. I think he will be fine.


The larvae on the other hand ...
These have been more than decimated over the last week. From about 30 I am down to 6. I have made frequent water changes for them (once or twice a day, after feeding), cleaned all the containers (no soap) but no matter what I do I keep losing them. Each day they look strong and healthy, but the following morning or afternoon one or two are dead for no reason I can fathom.
I am certain that fungus killed my largest and oldest, because I could see it. But with the small ones I can't even see signs of fungus. I don't know what else I can do.
They get fed BBS once or twice a day.

Could this be natural causes? The larvae are from only the second ever spawning of a pair who themselves are not yet a year old.
Or is it more likely something I am doing - or not doing?

I feel it's a little repetitive to start another thread about this, but I have 5 axolotls in total. Only two are housed together. I had one that had a fungal infection growing on her gills. After about a week of salt baths, it's about gone. This axolotl is housed with another who didn't have a fungus. Today, I noticed that two of my other ones that are housed alone have the problem too. Very slight, just a white spot on the tip of the gill, but this is exactly how the first one looked before I notice it spread to the other gills.

One that has it is still very small and isn't in a tank. However, I do water changes on it everyday. The other is in a tank and I do 30% water changes once or twice a week. The temperature on all axolotls is around 65-70 degrees Fahrenheit. They all eat normally, except for the one that has been having the salt baths. Though she was in the fridge and since being put back in her tank from the recovery, she has eaten again. I just use dechlorinated tap, the brand I use is called Nutrafin Aqua Plus. Both tanks have plants in them.

I'm just wondering what the connection could be. As far as I know, there is no contamination through the water. I mean, when I do water changes, the water does come out warm due to living in a desert, but I do my best to cool it down before adding it. I add ice, then dechlorinate or use dechlorinated bottles of water in the fridge to mix in with the warm water. It's one thing to have one with a fungal infection, it's quite another when it pops up on two others that are completely separate. Any ideas?

The first one with the fungal infection is about 5-6 inches long and housed with another 3-4 inch one in a 20 gallon long, sponge filter, plants, 65-68 degrees Fahrenheit. The one alone is 6 inches long in a 10 gallon tank, plants and whisper filter, no water movement, 68-70 degrees. The last is about 3 inches, in a plastic container with daily water changes, 67 degrees average.