Hoagii
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- Jan 13, 2015
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- Leah
Hello all. I’m fairly new to axolotls, but I wanted to share a recent experience I had with gill fungus, in case it could help someone in a similar situation. I can be long winded, so please bear with me 
You can scroll down for the TLDNR treatment regimen.
So a little background: About two months ago, my 9in axolotl Fozz suddenly developed a fungal infection on her gill. No known trauma to the area. The fungus was confined only to the distal third of her first right gill stalk, and did not spread to the other stalks or anywhere else on her body (I was lucky I guess). I did 10min salt soaks every other day for a month and saw no improvement (I know I could have increased the frequency of the baths, but I felt like she was getting stressed and I was afraid she’s really freak out if she got soaked everyday).
After a month, I decided to take her in to a local exotic vet who I’d worked with before. He said he’d had a lot of success in treating Saprolegnia in salamanders with chlorhexidine (Nolvasan). He usually recommends doing baths in diluted chlorhex for 10min every other day, but warned me that the chlorhex can be damaging to the animals’ eyes. Since Fozz’s infection was fairly minimal (and I freaked out at the thought of hurting her eyes), the vet and I decided to try applying the diluted chlorhex directly to the affected area.
After only two treatments, the fungus was completely gone. I treated for two weeks and I’m now two weeks out from her last treatment with no sign of any white fluff!
Here is my treatment regimen:
- every other day, I would do a 10min salt bath, just like before. However, I lowered the water level in the bath until it was just barely over her head
- I made up some diluted chlorhex per the doctor’s instructions and soaked some cotton swabs in it
- about 4-5 times during the 10 min bath, I’d gently push the affected gill stalk out of the water and hold a chlorhex-soaked cotton swab to the back. I’d hold it there for as long as she’d tolerate before flicking the gill away (usually less than 10 seconds). I’d then let her go back to soaking
- I used the same dilute chlorhex solution to clean her tank and décor to get rid of any fungus in the environment
I had great success with this method. Fozz’s gill is now totally back to normal, and the long, beautiful filaments have grown back. No signs of damage to her eyes either; no cloudless and she's still snapping at anything that moves
****Disclaimer: This was all done at the instruction of a vet, and since there are risks with the use of any medication, I definitely recommend consulting your local herp vet before doing any treatment with your own axolotl. But I just wanted to share, in case it could help anyone struggling with a tough fungal infection! Depending on where the fungus is on your axie, you'd have to tweak the protocols a bit, but I definitely think it's something worth trying!
You can scroll down for the TLDNR treatment regimen.So a little background: About two months ago, my 9in axolotl Fozz suddenly developed a fungal infection on her gill. No known trauma to the area. The fungus was confined only to the distal third of her first right gill stalk, and did not spread to the other stalks or anywhere else on her body (I was lucky I guess). I did 10min salt soaks every other day for a month and saw no improvement (I know I could have increased the frequency of the baths, but I felt like she was getting stressed and I was afraid she’s really freak out if she got soaked everyday).
After a month, I decided to take her in to a local exotic vet who I’d worked with before. He said he’d had a lot of success in treating Saprolegnia in salamanders with chlorhexidine (Nolvasan). He usually recommends doing baths in diluted chlorhex for 10min every other day, but warned me that the chlorhex can be damaging to the animals’ eyes. Since Fozz’s infection was fairly minimal (and I freaked out at the thought of hurting her eyes), the vet and I decided to try applying the diluted chlorhex directly to the affected area.
After only two treatments, the fungus was completely gone. I treated for two weeks and I’m now two weeks out from her last treatment with no sign of any white fluff!
Here is my treatment regimen:
- every other day, I would do a 10min salt bath, just like before. However, I lowered the water level in the bath until it was just barely over her head
- I made up some diluted chlorhex per the doctor’s instructions and soaked some cotton swabs in it
- about 4-5 times during the 10 min bath, I’d gently push the affected gill stalk out of the water and hold a chlorhex-soaked cotton swab to the back. I’d hold it there for as long as she’d tolerate before flicking the gill away (usually less than 10 seconds). I’d then let her go back to soaking
- I used the same dilute chlorhex solution to clean her tank and décor to get rid of any fungus in the environment
I had great success with this method. Fozz’s gill is now totally back to normal, and the long, beautiful filaments have grown back. No signs of damage to her eyes either; no cloudless and she's still snapping at anything that moves
****Disclaimer: This was all done at the instruction of a vet, and since there are risks with the use of any medication, I definitely recommend consulting your local herp vet before doing any treatment with your own axolotl. But I just wanted to share, in case it could help anyone struggling with a tough fungal infection! Depending on where the fungus is on your axie, you'd have to tweak the protocols a bit, but I definitely think it's something worth trying!
