Question: White thing on Axolot’s tail ridge?

Hi all, been a lurker here for a while but I’ve finally made an account to get some specific advice.

About one or two days ago I noticed an odd little white rod shape hanging off Mae’s tail.





My first thought was maybe it was a fungal growth, but it also looks like it could conceivably be some hanging skin from an injury.

Has anybody here seen this or anything similar before?

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On a separate but related note, I’ve had Mae for a few years now, but only recently have finally obtained water quality testers. He’s been showing signs of stress the past several days and I can definitely see why now. The numbers are 0.50ppm Ammonia, 0ppm Nitrite, and somewhere between 80 and 160ppm of Nitrate.

Obviously I need to get these levels fixed, but how should I go about it? I’ve read the guides for starting Nitrogen Cycles on here, so I understand what to do in theory, but where should I put Mae for the time being? Should I keep him in a quarantine tank with daily 100% water changes? Should I do that and fridge him?

Any advice is super appreciated, sorry if I seem a bit scattered!

The thing on his tail looks like torn skin, maybe from squeezing around a decoration in his tank.

While you let the tank cycle, put him in a tub or smaller tank and do water changes daily. I add sponge filters to my tubbed axies, just to keep the water clear and add aeration.

Don't fridge him! Fridging is only for the extremely sick or severely constipated. What is your room temperature?

His water temp pretty consistently stays around 68.4 F/20.2 C

That’s great to hear it’s only a physical wound and not a growth!

I’ll get him in a room temp tub right away and look into getting a sponge filter.