Illness/Sickness: Another Gill Fungus - Can someone confirm this?

[ThickAsaBrick]

We came home today to find our Little Bit with the end of his gill white and what looks to us like possibly fungus on it. We got a couple pictures. Can anyone who has knows what to look for confirm whether this looks like fungus or not? There was a clump in the tank this morning that looks similar and was just laying on the substrate. I thought it was weird poo this morning. That clump was 5 or 6 times the size of this lump on his gill so I don't know if they are really the same or not.

I have Hofretter salts and I plan to do a salt bath tonight.

He's about 5 inches long and we think about 7 months old.

Maybe I'm paranoid but it seems like we go from one crisis to the next.

 

[HayleyK]

It's hard to tell in your pictures but to me it does. Try salt bathing her.

If it is reoccurring what are your water parameters like and temperature?

 

[ThickAsaBrick]

The water couldn't be much better. We did a tank cleaning on sunday. Ammonia and Nitrite are 0 Nitrate under 5. He has a chiller so the water is a pretty steady 63 F.

We did give him a salt bath. Once in the smaller tub we were able to gently remove the clump from his gill.

Being total science nerds, we have a microscope that can photograph. I got some shots of the fungus. I do believe that is what it is. I also got a couple shots of the fungus clump from this morning. It looks like it is probably the same thing.

I posted pictures from the microscope here: Fungus under Microscope - Imgur
I posted them to imgur because they are not axolotl pictures and at that magnification they wouldn't really help someone identify it on their own axie.

We'll bathe him again tomorrow and keep an eye on him.

 

[auntiejude]

Fungus can be a pain to get rid of, I had recuurent fungus in 2 of my axies in the summer that just seemed to never end.
Fungus tends to set it through a small injury - nipped gills, getting them caught on an ornament seem to be common causes. Salt baths sort it quite nicely, but you may want to add some indian almond leaves to your tank as a preventative measure if it becomes recurrent. It also seems to be more prevalent in a warmer tank, check your temperature and cool it down if necessary.

Use sea salt instead of Holtfreter's. I use a solution with 10g salt per L water. If it's not looking better in a couple of days I increase the salt concentration to 15g per L.

The lump of stuff you found in the tank may well be fungus that your axie has scratched off, I've seen mine scratch at their gills like dogs as it obviously irritates them.

 

[GreerDalrymple]

Once you've gotten rid of all the fungus, you can do a tea bath which helps to close up their pores so the infection can't get back in. Make sure the fungus is completely gone though or you will close the pores over the top, sealing it in.

Best of luck!

 

[ThickAsaBrick]

Thank you for the advise. My wife also questioned the Holtfreter's solution. I was just surprised that it appeared so suddenly. I will look for the Indian almond leaves. Who would carry those? Is it a health thing that a supplement store would have?


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