Illness/Sickness: Worried about possible fungal infection to gills?

lucyz83 · Sep 24, 2014

Hi, i have a juvanile melanoid axolotl called toothless he's roughly 7 months old now about 12-13 cm. his water parameters are fine with everything neutral except for ammonia which is steady at 0.25 and the temperature never reaches over 20 degrees.

I've uploaded some photos (hopefully it worked as i'm new at this) in hope someone will give me their opinion as to whether this is the beginning of a fungal infection and if so how i should treat it? it appears to only be on his top right gill so far, the others appear to be free of it.
Please help! i love this little guy so much and i'm very worried :c

Boomsloth · Sep 25, 2014

It might be the slight ammonia but what are the nitrate levels? try to keep them under 40ppm. That looks like a slight fungus infection but something that will heal as long as your axolotl is kept in a good clean environment.

xxianxx · Sep 25, 2014

By " neutral" you mean zero ? If so your tanks not cylced as you have ammonia but no nitrates. Ammonia levels need to be zero, it could be a potential cause of the fungus. If you check my thread out on fungus you can see fungal treatment options http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...-axolotl-general-discussion/96018-fungus.html

lucyz83 · Sep 25, 2014

Thanks so much for the replys, the nitrite and nitrate levels are zero, the ammonia will creep up close to 0.25 over the week when i check and then i'll change two buckets of water with rain water from our tanks and it returns to roughly zero. if you think the ammonia creeping up might be the problem i'll do my best to change his water 2 or 3 times a week for the moment and see if that make any difference. hopefully seeing there's only a little bit on his gills so far i'll be able to clear him up with a bit more matinence.
thanks for the link also i'll check it out

xxianxx · Sep 26, 2014

Your tank is not cycled, google the term. You need to understand how a tank functions.

Elise · Sep 26, 2014

I'll also add that using rainwater for water changes can cause issues with the water chemistry and ultimately with your axolotl's health. Rainwater has a low mineral content, little to no buffering capabilities, is slightly acidic, and poses the risk of introducing pollutants to your aquarium.

If you are insistent on using rainwater, you should research ways to buffer and harden the water prior to using for water changes.

lucyz83 · Sep 26, 2014

Thank you i'll be sure to look into all of these things, i thought my tank was cycled but i guess not.
yes i've just realised this, i think i'll go back to using declorinated tap water seeing it isn't as acidic, my mistake again i thought rain water would be the best option.

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