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Illness/Sickness: White Cotton on my axolotl, please help!

GamerKira

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I had come home after work and my little girl axolotl was covered with a white cotton substance, which she wasn't covered with when I had left. I don't know if it's ick or a fungal infection. Right now I have her in the fridge, what temp should the fridge be at? Right now her water in the fridge is 40F and I don't know if that's to cold or if its OK. I'm also doing a salt soak for 10 min a day every day. I was wondering if there was anything else I should do? She's started to get lesions and it looks like what ever this is is getting worse. She cannot move the gill stalks on 1/2 her head.
 

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GamerKira

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An extra note, when shes been in the fridge all day she goes so lethargic that she wont move and you have to watch her for at least 15-20 min to see if shes still alive. Is this normal?
 

Skudo09

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She doesn't look in great shape. Here are a couple of links on fungus and salt bathing

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...-axolotl-general-discussion/96018-fungus.html

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...axolotl/72698-salt-bath-picture-tutorial.html

What are the water parameters of your tank - ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, PH and temperature?

Fridging slows their metabolism so it is normal for them to slow down and they are likely not to eat as much as normal at the lower fridge temperatures.
 

GamerKira

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I no longer have the tank quality information, as soon as I saw her, everyone was removed from the tank and put in a back up tank with all new water, at the same temp the other tank is. She has 4 other tank mates that I didn't want to end up in the same shape. I ended up completely cleaning out the big breeder tank they are normally in, I have 85F+ temps in that tank to hopefully clean out what ever in in the tank.

My guess is it is from the fish tank (actual fish) and it hopped tanks to the axolotl tank (approx 1 ft away). I will be moving their tank to the other side of the living room. Is it possible for anything to jump tanks at that range? If it is this is my mistake and should have known better.

I have a vet appointment set for Monday to get a better idea and see if they have a medication they can give her or a recommendation. They have 2 people that specialize in these guys. I'm just scared she may not make it considering how fast she got this. I've had her for 2-3 years now.
 

EmbryH

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You probably had an issue with your water quality, rather than any kind of germ or disease in the tank. Fungus and other symptoms (irritated red skin, shortened gills) are generally signs of higher ammonia levels.

How many axolotls did you have in your tank? How do they look? If you have any lighter colored axies, do you notice pronounced red veins in their skin? Are their gills shorter?
 

GamerKira

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I forgot to mention that their tank is kept at a constant 64F. They have a tank cooler and thick ice bottles for the hot days. The ice bottles consist of dechlorinated water just in case a bottle cracks.
 

GamerKira

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The golden one (the one with the fungus) has shortened gills where fungus is. The other 4 look clean, long gills. Except the smallest one I have, but hes always had shorter gill stalks than anyone else and always red. I just took pictures of them in the back up tank (only used for breeding not for housing). The very yellowish one is the color the infected one should be, that is a child of hers from the last batch.

Black: Shadow
Gold albino: Ginger
GFP: Rufio
Lusistic: Durza

Please note that the window was opened for pictures, they are not kept in bright lights nor have a tank light. The only light they get is from the other fish tank and from the windows being open through out the day on the other side of the room. Also know that the spots seen in the pictures are water marks on the outside of the tank from when i filled the tank up.
 

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Skudo09

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Fungus is usually caused from damage to the slime coat which is likely from a water quality issue or injury. In solving the problem, it is always good to try and work out the cause so it does not reoccurr and offer the best chance of recovery to the axolotl. How was the tank cleaned?

Is the tank the axolotls are in currently cycled?
 

GamerKira

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I think she passed away some time yesterday. I'm not sure though because she still has her color and her gills haven't curled up. She is going to the vet today regardless for a skin scraping to see what it really is.

Yes the other 4 have cycling water. They are getting a 25% water change every couple days to make sure that they have fresh clean water. Unfortunately because the tank hasn't been used in 6 months it's fogged up a bit. I have 2 more babies left in separate tanks that also get 25% water cleaning every couple days and spot cleaning every day. I do every thing I can to keep their water clean. I also test every month on water levels, I had missed last month because I had run out of solution and working 7 days a week makes it hard to attain more.

I'm unsure if it was an injury, she has a tenancy to hang out next to the filter suction area. So far it's either damage or something from the other tank. Both tanks are pretty close but the fish tank seems to have its own issues with ick and way to much algae. I did find something white in the filter and feel like that may have been the cause of this. I changed the tank filter approx 3 weeks ago, normally I don't have to change it often because of the water changes I do. I did notice the same white stuff in the fish tank, which was quickly cleaned.
 

Skudo09

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I am sorry to hear she may have passed away. Her condition looked quite serious. Hopefully the vet will have confirmation on what the condition was.

If you changed the filter and the filter media all at once, it may have crashed the cycle. This would result in the tank re-cycling and spikes in ammonia and nitrite would have occurred. I think it is important to be testing at least on a weekly basis rather than monthly. The levels can creep up quickly so testing weekly will provide better knowledge on your water quality and ability to ensure the water quality is good.

Do keep us posted and let us know the findings of the vet visit.
 

GamerKira

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They said it was a combination of things, It started with a bacterial infection but with how fast it happened and then was followed quickly with the fungus, she did give me the exact name of the fungus. Unfortunately I don't have the paper with me so I'll have to post it later. I was told that even if i brought her in she most likely wouldn't have made it. They think the reason this happened was because, for some reason, her immune system was extremely compromised. It could have been because she had just laid eggs a couple months ago and then we ended up moving, eggs and all. The cause may have been from resetting up the tank and the stress from the move. Normally i only do a % change and full change every couple months, i also take water samples once a month.
 

GamerKira

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The name of the fungus she had was "Saprolegniasis". I will also be doing weekly checking on the tanks levels.
 

Skudo09

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Thank you for posting the vets findings here. It is unfortunate she didn't pull through but it sounds like there may not have been much you could have done. At least you made her as comfortable as possible.
 
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