Illness/Sickness: Safely raise pH and Axxie death from Fungus.

[FONT=&quot]Tank Parameters: [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Size: 60 gallon / 227 liters[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]pH: Less than 6.5[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Ammonia: Creeping up to 1.0 all of the sudden, but was 0. I will do a water change after posting this.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Hardness: 300 / Hard. (I live in the Eastern Side of the US, and am blessed with higher hardness.)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Nitrites and Nitrates: 0[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Chlorine/Chloramine: 0 [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Tankmates: 4 Axolotls and a batch of Copepods. (Was 5 Axolotls, but now sadly Fungus claimed the life of the youngest one, right as I was making this post. D: Rest in Peace, my dear Ripley...) I also have 3 mossballs for extra added water quality. Or should I saw soccer/footballs, considering that's how my little ones use them...? [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Temperature: 62 Fahrenheit (16.6667 Celsius)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Substrate: Finely ground sand, so that impactions won't occur.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Diet: Frozen Brine shrimp, that was administered in a feeding container in the tank, to minimize ammonia.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Filtration: A sponge filter, connected to a Top Fin brand Power Head, which produces very little water current, yet provides a good supply of oxygen.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Hello, my name is Jonathan Powers. I am a new poster, but not a new follower of this site. I have run into a plethora of problems with my poor Axxies. (It's 7 a.m., on april 5 2015, where I am now, and right during most of your bed times overseas, so I apologize for the timing of this.)[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]1.) This is sort of an ironic situation. I had a fungus outbreak in my 60 gallon (227 liter) aquarium, so I used Indian Almond Leaves to fix the tank while I cured the sick Axxies in separate containers, only to find out that now that I have finally cured the fungus, through salt baths, fridging, and Pimafix, I messed up and my pH appears to be less than 6.5, according to my liquid test kit. I did not realize going into it, that there was that much risk with the leaves. So my question is this: should I use some aquarium salt and water changes to buffer the water, or use crushed coral or something? I read that with the coral, I have to place it in the filtration for best results, but I use a sponge filter, connected to a Top Fin brand power head, so I wonder if I should place the coral in the large tube that connects the sponge to the bottom of the power head. Any advice would be greatly appreciated![/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]2.a.) Originally, and I would like to cover this as well, I was going to be posting about the Fungus issue, mostly because three Axxies got it at the same time, and I cured two of them in one day, but the youngest one of all 5, had one cloud of fungus that instantly came off, and one that took 3 weeks to go away, and sadly on the very night that the fungus finally went away, I found her dead. I say her, but that was yet to be determined. She was only about 6 months old. The others are almost 9 months old. Back in January, I discovered my Copper / Olive Axolotl, which we had named Spyro, because he was purple when we got him, had a little tuft of fungus growing on his middle right gill, which I was able to quickly identify, and treat with fridging and salt bathing. Then in March, two others got it, and Spyro got it again. Once again there were very little problems treating them. Then my littlest one, Ripley, who was a gorgeous lime colored Wild Type, got two little clouds of fungus on her middle left and top right gills. This would eventually spell death for her, after a long three week struggle. One tuft of fuzz came right off, but the second one remained with her until early yesterday. I treated her with salt bathing and fridging for a week, and when that did not improve her, I switched to Pimafix, which worked a bit, then I did a combination of those two treatments, and then I was in the process of setting up a different treatment, from a poster's advice, which was to heat the water to a constant 71 degrees F / 22 degrees C, and use an air stone to create a steady oxygen flow, but right as that was going under way, the fungus finally came off. And then she passed away... It's a miracle that she lived through 3 weeks of torture, when Fungus is usually fatal as early as 2 days into the infection. It's such a shame too, because I was right about to start acclimating her back into the tank, when I realized she wasn't moving. I waited for about 8 hours to see if she was in a hibernating state, which she has done to me 4 times while in the fridge, but sadly, this time, we weren't so lucky. If anyone thinks they know what happened with that, I would love to know too for future purposes. [/FONT]J[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]2.b.) Some background on me, and how I care for my Axolotls: I am an employee and my local Pet Smart, and I have been with them for about 3 years. In that time, I have taken care of a variety of animals, and have had lots of experience caring for unusual pets, as well as with administering medications to them. I first found out about Axolotls through a video by Matthew Santaro, a youtuber, who made a video called, "10 Incredible Animals With Real Life SUPERPOWERS!" I instantly found myself very curious about the creatures known as Axolotls, and decided to do some research on them, only to find out that people could have them as pets, which got me very excited, so I spent weeks researching them, and even discovered early before I even got them, which kind of illnesses I should expect to see, and how best to prevent them from occurring. That was in October. With my tank setup, I was very careful to make sure I was always checking water parameters, and doing tank maintenance, I fed brine shrimp, and I used a waste disposal tol (turkey baster) to suck up feces and uneaten food nightly. I administered the food via food jar, so that I could minimize the waste caused by brine shrimp.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]3.) In summary, I 'done goofed' on my pH with Cattapa Leaves and was wondering how to safely raise the pH again, either with crushed coral or aquarium salt. And if someone could explain what happened in section 2.a. of this post, as well, that would be awesome! Thanks so much, everyone, for your time![/FONT]

I am sorry to hear the loss of Ripley.

The presence of ammonia in your tank indicates that the cycle has crashed. You will need to monitor the parameters very closely while the tank re-cycles.

I am concerned that the number of treatments given will be causing some damage to their skin and slime coat. You could offer a black tea bath to help soothe their skin? If they have damaged skin and slime coat they may not be able to fight off the fungus as well.

Also raising the temperature to 22c would not have helped the situation. Axolotls tend to heal best in cooler temperatures. Fungus issues are also more likely to occur at warmer temperatures.

To raise the PH I would do some water changes and use crushed coral. If you cannot place it in your filter media you could place it in a sock or stocking and sit that in the tank.

I haven't had too much experience with fungus so hopefully someone with more knowledge can help you further.

Oh, okay, thank you for your response. And it was really only Ripley that got multiple treatments, and that was because for some reason her fungal infection would not go away. So the others should be all right. And I definitely watch it. Thank you for that. I also contacted one of my Pet Care managers at Pet Smart, and when I mentioned all this, she stated that she thinks my particular test kit became defective, because it had sat around for quite some time before I bought it, and other people were getting similar issues. .I'll have to look further into that as well. But either way I will monitor the Parameters closely. I have strip tests too as a backup.