Fungus.

Markw · Jul 31, 2009

Ok, so my two GFP axies have fungus. I looked in their tank and there was nothing wrong on monday. Fed them again wednesday and there wast much wrong, just a little gill fillament growing. By today, their gills were half gone and there is fungus all over their gills and on their front half of their body. I have put them in a salt bath (1.5-2tbsp of salt per 2 liters of water) and they are now vacationing in the fridge. I have changed the water once back to fresh after about a half hour in the salt bath and noticed alot of fungus floating around in the water when I poured it out. Am I doing everything right? They seem to look much better after being in there just about 7 hours now. I have the container theyre in wrapped with a towel so the fridge light wont bother them. I can upload pics if you wish.

Mark

Kerry1968 · Jul 31, 2009

I think they should only be in the salt bath for a maximum of 15 minutes, I might be wrong. Other than that it sounds like you're doing everything right.

Was there any recent changes in their tank? Big temperature change, anything like that? There must be a reason for them both to seccumb to fungus at the same time (my opinion).

What are your water parameters? Ammonia, nitrates etc, do you keep a close eye on the readings?

Markw · Jul 31, 2009

Ammonia- a little over zero, but not as much as .1ppm
Nitrite- 0pp
Nitrate- 40-50ppm
pH- 7.4

Check twice a week and do a 15-20% water change ever monday. Baste the bottom of the tank whenever need be (almost every day). I have four in a 55gal and all are doing wonderfully. I guess this is what quarenining is for. Theyre eating great on blackworms, but will be switched to mostley night crawlers and pellets soon with earthworms once a week or so. I think the temp may have gotten a little too high one day. It only stays down now because I have a 12oz frozen bottle floating at all times. I dropped two of the bottles on monday and wasnt able to get two more frozen to take its place until tuesday mid-day, so I was working with 1 12oz frozen bottle for a day. Other than that, nothing has changed. The wildtype has it much worse than the leucistic, or it looks that way because he is darker so it makes the fungus more prominant.

Mark

SludgeMunkey · Jul 31, 2009

Temperature is a huge factor here. What do they range around?

Markw · Aug 1, 2009

Normally, the tank is at about 66F. During that time, Im not sure what it got up to, but Ive never seen it go past 72F (during cycling, so no need to be cool). I changed the water again and noticed there are extremely thing pieces of skin floating around with fungus attatched to them. So the salt baths must be working. I checked the axies all over and they dont appear to be missing any patches of skin, so it has to be just the very top layer of the skin. The fungus is coming off great, too by the way. Some in the water every time I have taken them out of the salt and no new growth.

Mark

Kerry1968 · Aug 1, 2009

I'm glad to hear they're getting better.

Darkmaverick · Aug 1, 2009

Hi MarkW,

You are doing everything right but three suggestions for salt baths.

1) It is better to limit each bath session to a max of 10min. I normally don't advise even soaking longer than that. Excessive soaking can cause skin trauma and even though external visible fungus are removed (alongside skin tissue), a lot of the protective slime coat on the skin is also being removed. As a result, the raw, 'unprotected' skin is exposed to the environment and is vulnerable to further subsequent infections.

2) You can also faciliate removal of fungal elements by means of using a Q-tip cotton bud. Just gently trap an edge of a fungal mass with the tip and roll the tip inwards towards you to gently lift off the fungus. Avoid poking or prodding or rubbing.

3) Short frequent sessions of salt baths are more effective than one long one. Two 10min duration salt baths spaced 8-12 hours apart works well compared to lets say a single session of 15min.

Cheers.

Markw · Aug 1, 2009

Thanks alot Rayson, Ill remember that. For now, Im doing only one salt bath a day so I dont stress them too much. I fed them today and they are eating still on blackworms, just takes longer inbetween bites and longer to get them down because of the cold. I will keep the time down. After the first time, I took it down to 15 minutes, so Ill puch it even further down to 10 minutes then. Theyre pooing in the water too (1 poo for each axie.) which I can only see to be a good thing. Ive been doind a 100% water change daily with dechlorinated water to keep the water clean. I will try the Qtip thing, that sounds much better to me than rubbing them with my hands as caudata culture suggests. Theyre in the fridge on the middle shelf towards the front in a sterilite container (6Liters, filled with 2.5L so they both have room and the water doesnt soil too fast. Evens out to about 3" of water in the container.) with a towel wrapped around it so the light of the fridge doesnt get to them. Im actually excited that my first axie mishap is going so well. I give myself a pat on the back. I know its still early, but Im still glad theyre okay. Thanks everyone. I will keep you updated.

Mark

Markw · Aug 4, 2009

Ok, so I got a few pictures today. Theyre not great because theyre with a blacklight, but I got a new one and I wanted to see if it would work since they would be in dim lighting anyway when I gave them the salt bath for the day. Its working wonderfully. They look pretty beat up though. theyve gotten skinny while in the fridge too. Ive been feeding them blackworms, and they eat, just not as much. I dont know what to think about that. It really is a shame what has happened to their gills with this.

Before:

After:

There is a haze because they are actually in the salt water during the shots, not the fresh.

=[
Mark

Critter Mom · Aug 4, 2009

They must be strong little guys! They look in sad shape, but determined to make it. I hope they continue to improve and get well!!:happy:

Please keep us updated!
Critter Mom

axolotlgangster · Aug 4, 2009

Those gills look bad so small i hope thay get better.

Greatwtehunter · Aug 4, 2009

Are those parasites on the leucistic GFP? What I am seeing is real noticable in the third blacklight picture by the right rear leg, middle of the back, and left front leg.

Darkmaverick · Aug 4, 2009

Gills will regenerate and soon they will restore their former beauty. I do still see a small fluff of fungus on the gills though.

Markw · Aug 5, 2009

Greatwtehunter said:
Are those parasites on the leucistic GFP? What I am seeing is real noticable in the third blacklight picture by the right rear leg, middle of the back, and left front leg.

I hope not, but if you look at the last picture, you can see little things shaped like a Y under the wildtypes gills. Any Idea what these are? There are many of them. Ill tey to get a better pic later, but theyre worrying me. They dont seem to move, hes eating fine and everything is notmal, but I dont know what these are...

Mark

Markw · Aug 5, 2009

After a quick search, I do believe my axies have acquired anchor worms! = O I dont know where they could have came from. The only thing going into their tank is blackworms and the same blackworms are going into my 55 with the other 4 axies in it with no problems. Ive been reading about dimilin and how that will treat the little things. I was thinking about, when they come out of the fridge, putting them in a whole new tank instead of cleaning this one out. I dont want to risk any bleach leaking into the water. Theyre actually ready to go into my 55 with the others, but I dont want to risk spreading anything to them be it fungus or worms. Should I requarentine? Here are some photos. What do you think?

The worms (what I think are worms) are circled and some have arrows to them. The ones that look most like what they look like in person have been given more prominant circles or arrows. They lok most like the one circled many times with an arrow in the last photo. Theyre still eating, though, they look so skinny.

=[
Mark

michael · Aug 5, 2009

Do you think the anchor worms came from something in your tank or did they come along with the axolotls? Treatment and a long quarantine is necessary. It is also important to identify the source of the anchor worms so the problem doesn't recur.

Markw · Aug 5, 2009

I dont see how they could have came from the tank. Before these guys were in the 20gal tank, my other 4 were in there. Now the 4 are moved into the 55gal and the 2 new ones were quarentining in the 20gal when this happened. The original 4 are healthy with no signs of fungus or anchor worms and there have been no modifications to the 20gal since they have been in there besides cleanings. I clean both thanks once a week and feed from the same food source, so there has been nothing done that would have brought the worms to this tank and not my other. If they did come in on the axies, they must have been pretty small, because I didnt see any on them. I dont know where they could have came from. I was thinking about setting up another 20gal to put them back into once theyre out of the fridge and use nothing from the tank that they came out of. I was going to cycle this new tank while they are in the fridge so when they come out, they will have a tank free of anything to go back into. Would this be a good thing to do?

Mark

michael · Aug 5, 2009

What are you using for food? My first suspect would be the anchor worms came from live food or exposure to fish somewhere. I think their are few recent threads that popped up about anchor worms.

Markw · Aug 5, 2009

I feed live blackworms. But, I feed both tanks with the same worms, so why would the worms only invade the one tank *knowck on wood that it is only in the one*?

Mark

Darkmaverick · Aug 6, 2009

Hi Mark,

They are anchorworms alright. If you do a search, you can find some other threads that i talked about on how to treat this condition and sterilise the tank. They are also the cause of the stress and secondary fungal infections. One special note thought, do NOT try to remove them with tweezers or forceps. You need to treat them medically first and then if possible get a vet to remove them carefully. They have this hook like bit that 'anchors' beneath the skin. If it breaks off, it can cause anything from a local abscess to even an emboli that can cause blood flow obstruction and tissue death.

Anchorworms can be transported on feeder fish, live worms, or even subclinically in an axie. Once established, they quickly go into a 'population explosion' and become an infestation.

Good thing Justin has eagle eyes and spotted them!

Cheers

Fungus.

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