Illness/Sickness: White ball of fuzz arround Gills

Charlie has developed this white ball of fuzzy looking stuff around his gills over the course of the day. I didn't notice anything there when i left for work this morning, but when i got home this evening he had these balls of fuzz about 1cm across around his gills.

He doesn't seemed stressed by it, and he is eating normally. the only unusual behaviour i have noticed is that he has been floating alot more than usual. he has been floating at the top of his tank, almost like he has an air bubble trapped in is stomache. He will try to swim down but then float straight back up again. I have noticed this on a couple of afternons in the last fortnight, but he is back on the bottom in the morning.

My water temp is 17 degrees celsius, and pH is about 7.2, all other water stats are normal.
As a precation i did a partial water change and put some melafix in his tank.

Any advice on what i should do?

( i will try to take some photos in the morning when there is enough light to see properly )

Hi,

Your axie sounds like it has a fungal infection. Would you be able to post some photos? That will help verify. At this point i recommend you fridge your axie for the time being.

http://www.caudata.org/axolotl-sanctuary/Fridging.shtml

If it is indeed fungus, i recommend you perform salt baths. I would recommend you give two salt baths per day for 3 days. Space the interval period as evenly as possible, ie. - 8 am in morning, 8 pm at night. An hour or two off is ok. During these baths, the axie will attempt to struggle a bit. This is normal.

Basically just prepare a tub of fresh dechlorinated water and dissolve 2 to 3 flat teaspoonfuls of non-iodized salt per litre of water. You can use salt such as kosher salt, freshwater aquarium salt or sea salt. Do not use table salt. You can then place your axie in the salt solution for about 10 minutes but no longer than 15 minutes per session. Excessive salt solution soaking can cause damage to the axie's gills and skin. Have a look through this article as well.

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/salt.shtml

If you can gently tease off any flaking/peeling lesions that is also fine. You can do so gently with a cotton Q-tip. Roll the Q-tip towards you to gently lift away at the lesion rather than prod at it or roll inwards which can damage the skin.

Monitor the progress and response of the axie during the salt baths. From the 4th day onwards, reduce down to once per day until the end of the week. Continue to monitor. I anticipate a marked improvement by day 3. If by end of the week, the salt baths and fridging did not improve the condition, again a vet appointment will be necessary.

You can also prepare one or two bottles (1 or 1.5 L bottle) of salt solution in the fridge. The most convenient time to do salt baths will be during your daily water changes. As the salt solution is fridged, there will be minimal thermal stress.

On a separate note, do not add medications directly into your main tank. Melafix can kill off beneficial bacterial population in the tank. In addition, you cannot monitor treatment dosage properly. As the axie is fully aquatic, it cannot 'escape' out of a medicated tank. Even if you want to perform a treatment, its best to do so in a separate tub.

Cheers.

Here are some photos. Sorry they are blurry i had to take them on my phone.

Hi Phil,

Yep thats fungus, If you follow Raysons treatment plan you should see a marked improvement fairly shortly.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Just a quick question. What causes it, and can it be avoided in the future?

Hi again,

Fungal infections, particularly by saprolegnia are opportunistic. When axies are stressed, has concurrent illness or malnutritioned and hence immunocompromised, they become susceptible to this fungal infection. This fungus exists as an environmental fungus in the water (saphrophyte) and would normally not establish itself as an infection otherwise.

The best way to prevent your axies getting a fungal infection is by ensuring good tank parameters and temperature, low current setting, good balanced nutrition and provision of hiding places and dark shady spots. Keeping them stress free will go a long way.

Cheers.

Any ideas on his floating problem?

He seems to be stuck floating at the top sometimes. I've seen him try to swim down but either wont be able to get off the top of the tank, or will just float back up again. It appears that the point of buoyancy is about 1cm forward from his back legs, as that point sticks a little out of the water.

Hopefully fridging will help that. I thought maybe it was impaction as he was originally on gravel. He is now on sand, and he has pooped one piece of gravel since his move about a month ago.

Hi Phil,

The floating posture suggests possible constipation. Gases accumulated in the intestinal tract as a result of constipation causes the buoyancy with the hind quarters up. Floating can also be a generic sign of stress.

As long as you maintain good water parameters, temperature, low water currents and a variety of food types for a balanced diet, this problem should resolve. Fridging can be effective in facilitating the passage of blocked ingesta so you can also consider that.

Cheers.

Ok, Charlie has been in the fridge with salt baths twice a day for 3 days now.
I have not seen any signs of improvements, and may even be worse

Hi Phil,

Can you describe how the axie's condition is deteriorating? Are the patches more widespread. the axie displaying unusual behaviour etc?

Could you take a recent pic so i can compare?

What are you feeding the axie while its being fridged?

Cheers.

Ok Fungus has spread to cover gills completely, and has started to develop on her back as well.
She is now refusing food all together. I have tried her usual pellets, as well as frozen bloodworm and live earthworm. She has also lost a fair amount of weight since being in the fridge.

After my last post, i went down to give Charlie her morning salt bath and found her dead.

The fungus has almost completely spread accross her back, and had started developing on her face and legs now. She is about half the fatness and when i put her in, but she hasn't pooed at all. She did not respond went put in the salt bath, and has shown no signs of life.

It makes me sad and makes me feel like a bad pet owner. I've tried to look after her. I clean her tank, check water peramaters, and give a partial water change every week. I also check for and remove poo and excess food daily. but i still feel like its my fault.

Hi Phil,

You did all you could so don't feel bad. I really think the axie was already quite terminally ill before, so if the axie succumbed to the illness despite your interventions, there must have a severe underlying condition such as a systemic infection.

Regards

It sounds like you did everything you could for her, and by no means would I call that being a bad pet owner. Don't blame yourself.
I'm sorry for your loss.

Hi Phil,

Very sorry to hear about your loss.

I thought i'd post some late photos of Charlie. I'm pretty sure She was a she, but still not 100% positive.

The first one was taken the night before her passing, and the second and third were taken on the morning she died.

So sorry Phil. The photos were quite distressing. There was severe systemic fungal mycosis and i suspect a bacterial infection as well. There were many tiny microabscesses on the skin.