Illness/Sickness: Curved tail tip & white fungus (?)

I got a wildtype GFP axolotl from a pet store last week. He’s around 7” long, so I reckon about 6 months old? He’s currently in a temporary 10 gallon tank with a 20 gallon sized filter that was already “seeded” with bacteria from being in another tank. I keep his area as dark as possible while he settles, but there is some light in the room. The plan was to let him settle before joining my other male axie (8 months old, around 9” long) in a new larger tank. I also wanted to watch him for signs of illness or stress.

My new guy seemed fine until today. Over the past week he’s eaten a couple of pellets and an earthworm. But today he won’t eat, and I noticed the tip of his tail is curved. When I started taking photos, I noticed some white stuff like small bits of cottage cheese on his left side near his front and back legs. His gills are laid back along his neck, not up or forward. He seems stressed and has been swimming around the tank, digging at the bottom as if trying to get out. He was so active that some of the fungus fell off as he wiggled around. When he’s not swimming around like crazy he is motionless with his nose pressed against the bottom of the tank. This is all new as of today. He’s been pretty quiet before.

I’ve been doing 30-50% water changes with Prime conditioned water, temp is around 61 degrees (F) and the water values are good - no ammonia, no nitrites, nitrates around 20ppm, ph around 7.6

There were 3 or 4 tiny minnows in his tank, about 1/2” in length or smaller, and I have removed those. They were the type that were in his tank at the pet store. They seemed healthy enough, but I felt it best to remove all wild cards from the setup.

I know people use methods like fridging and tea baths to treat axolotls, and I am doing my research on what best to do. My plan is to watch him and keep testing the water. I’m also going to try adding in some almond leaves. I don’t want to cause him any undue stress, but I am worried of course.

I will post some photos in this thread. Obviously any guidance you all have would be great. Thank you.

Hey, just to confirm, is that filter the type that hangs over the back? If so, it's likely circulating the water a ton and causing more stress. You can take a piece of filter floss and rig it over the out spout of the filter to disperse the flow. Let me know if you need/want a pic of what I mean.

Yeah, keep all other fish out of there for sure. Among other issues, they can carry disease and they are likely to go after his gills.

I'll let the experts speak on the rest, but your quality levels are right on point. He's likely ill from the petshop unfortunately. They tend to be pretty uneducated on these unique animals.

Keep us up to date on his recovery!

Thanks for the reply! The filter in his tank is a submerged filter, and I did put something over the bar where the water comes out. But I’d love to see a photo of how you rigged your HOB filter, as that’s what will be in the larger tank.

I kind of went against my better judgement adding the minnows, but they are so tiny I thought it might be ok. I think you’re right, he probably picked up the fungus at the pet store. They had one axolotl they were going to remove from their axolotl display tank for a tea bath. I was hoping to avoid that. The staff seems to know axolotls pretty well, but it IS a pet shop, and even with decent care he came from a very stressful environment.

Have two large almond leaves in the tank now and will be monitoring him (as well as this thread) closely. Thanks again for your kind reply!

UPDATE

Day 2 and the almond leaves may be helping. Affected axolotl still has some small white fungal patches along his side, and gills are still held back along his neck - not curved forward, also not upright as normal. Tail tip still curved. But there is less visible fungus and he seems calmer.

Off to the pet store to see if they had more in his tank that were affected, and if any other customers have had similar problems. They have some experienced axolotl owners on staff, so am hopeful for good advice.

Right now I am leaning toward adding a tea bath to his isolation tank, and continuing to offer food, monitor water quality and do 20-40% water changes before each tea treatment. Fingers crossed!

Still will welcome any and all advice from this forum. I know there are dozens of similar threads (was up all night reading them!) but there is also a lot of conflicting advice on tea baths, salt baths, fridging, etc. I’m trying to sort out my best options for treating my new little guy!

Thanks, everyone!

I'm glad the leaves are helping! Hopefully it continues to improve quickly!

I'm not really sure the Axolotl forum is super active any more, but I did find this:
https://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=51057
Looks like fridging plus salt bath will be your best bet. Just remember if you fridge you need to do 100% daily water changes and don't leave him in the salt bath longer than 10-15 min.

I've attached a pic of my rigged HOB filter ? I cut a silt in some floss and stretched it over the outflow, securing it with an elastic (no metal). Virtually eliminated the current cause by the filter

Kitan said:

I'm glad the leaves are helping! Hopefully it continues to improve quickly!

I'm not really sure the Axolotl forum is super active any more, but I did find this:
https://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=51057
Looks like fridging plus salt bath will be your best bet. Just remember if you fridge you need to do 100% daily water changes and don't leave him in the salt bath longer than 10-15 min.

I've attached a pic of my rigged HOB filter ? I cut a silt in some floss and stretched it over the outflow, securing it with an elastic (no metal). Virtually eliminated the current cause by the filter

Click to expand...

Thanks again for the help. It looks as if the fungus is mostly gone. If things aren’t continuing to improve, I plan to try a tea bath later today, saving the fridge/salt bath for a last resort. The woman at the pet store who I’ve been working with also has axolotls at home, she’s been helpful and gave me step by step instructions for a tea bath. But the link you gave is helpful if I need to go further. (One of the other step by step salt bath tutorials often linked to here is out of date, and the photos don’t load.)

I’m guessing the stress of the move from the pet store to my home has made my new axolotl susceptible to the fungus. I found out that others in his tank at the pet store have had fungal infections it too. I also brought about 20 tiny minnow fry home too to see if my older axie liked them, and I had some of those in each tank until this all started happening. (They are now in their own little tank awaiting a new home.)

Worst thing is? My other axolotl seems stressed now too, and his tail is slightly curved at the end. No idea why, water in both tanks tests fine, temp is good. And they're not even in the same tank. BUT I did have the minnows in both tanks for a few days, either they stressed my older axie out (even though he is huge and the minnows are barely 1/2” long) and/or they brought the fungus along. Who knows. But now his tail is also curled a bit at the end and he’s acting depresssed. I raised this older axie from a baby and he’s always been healthy as ( and is now almost as large as) a horse. Argh.

I love my axolotls, and I did do some research before bringing my first one home, but I’ve only kept newts and salamanders prior to this, and I didn’t realize how relatively difficult axolotls are to maintain properly. As much research as I’ve done, and as hard as I work to keep their water conditions perfect and feed them and care for them correctly, its been incredibly stressful. I only want the best for them. But every time I try something new, even if it’s vetted by multiple sources and I go slowly and carefully, I get into trouble.

One huge takeaway: if things are going well, do NOT introduce anything new. My older, hand-raised axie was super healthy until I decided to bring home a second axolotl and attempt some minnows as entertainment. Never again.

.....aaand now my older axolotl looks like this. I’m heartbroken. Had to be those damn minnows.

Hey, that ISNT your fault; you can tell you're a really good 'lotl keeper Clearly there was some stuff going on in the tank you got the new 'lotl and minnows from. I've read you should always quarantine new purchases for quite some time before introduction, so lesson learned on that one! And yeah, apparently avoid fish all together; they can have parasites even if they look well and that will make your 'lotl sick. Great treats are blood worms, brine shrimp and my little guy likes defrosted\rinsed peeled shrimp cut into tiny pieces (though you have to watch sodium!) Also PetSmart has frozen cubes called "Super Carnivore" that would be fantastic

Hmm, poor grumpy tail. Looks like shedding, and he looks pretty veiny, so he's reacting to something in the water for sure; what have you tested? Ammonia or Nitrite, maybe even PH dropped hard causing burns. I would do a large water change, say 50-70% and see if he improves. If not, fridge oclock! Again, ZERO experience here, just what my research would say, which is at least AN opinon :s Maybe also check with the woman who has 'lotls. Heck, since the tea did WONDERS, maybe even do the water change and then try that!

Good luck!!

Did a 50% water change on both tanks (and a reference test on my free ammonia test kit to make sure it’s still accurate.) Water and temps in both tanks test perfect. Removed all extraneous stuff and most of the sand from my older axolotls tank, gave it a good siphon to get all the **** off the bottom, and the new axie tank is bare, just one hide, and I cover part of it with towels to give him a place to chill. All as clean as can be. Two big almond leaves in each tank. Which really does seem to be helping.

I got some Repashy and was able to get the new guy to eat some of that yesterday. Today each axie ate an earthworm, although my older axie is definitely not as ravenous as usual. My older leucistic has almost no white fuzz now, and the wild type has no visible fungus. But both their tails are still kinked at the end, which still concerns me.I want to avoid the stress of moving and tubbing and fridging if I can. And, since they are eating, for now it seems as if I can.

I feel the best course now is keep and eye on them both - and probably stop fussing over them so much for a few days and let them both chill!

I know the forums aren’t as active now as they once were, but maybe down the road my story will help someone else. And thanks, Kitan, for being so kind and helpful.