Axolotl bleeding! Please help!

[ImperialKit]

Hello! I was looking at my axolotl today until I saw bleeding around the gills and the tip of her tail, and some fungus(?). I took her out immediately, gave her a salt bath, which seemed to help get rid of the supposed fungus immediately, the places her in a fresh cool declorinated tub. My tank is going through a cycle and the nitrite levels are getting high. I’m happy that my tank is cycling and I was able to get her out immediately but I’m sad this happened to her in the first place. I just want to make sure that this is ammonia burn/injury and not red leg or any other infection. I just want to know so I can treat it accordingly, before I put her through any more harm.

 

[Calgarycoppers]

Its definitely from the ammonia and nitrites

They are very hard on axolotls as they have no scales.

I never recommend having an axolotl in while you cycle.
Salt baths are actually quite harsh.

Johns solution is a great beneficial long term additive.

 

[ImperialKit]

Its definitely from the ammonia and nitrites

They are very hard on axolotls as they have no scales.

I never recommend having an axolotl in while you cycle.
Salt baths are actually quite harsh.

Johns solution is a great beneficial long term additive.

Oh ok thank you so much! I just gave a pre-cautionary salt bath because I thought I saw fungus. I am planning to add Indian tea leaves and do tea baths regularly. I will check out that Johns solution. I was planning to take her out when the water got too harsh for her, I guess I just didn’t expect it to jump on me so suddenly!

Right now I have her in a tub in my fridge, she’s been doing great and already looks better! I’m doing 100% water changes everyday and like I said I’m planning to help soothe her skin. Thank you so much though! I was very scared it was something like hemorrhaging or red leg and I was getting so sad.

 

[Calgarycoppers]

Fungus frequently only needs tubbing and daily water changes to treat. Adding IAL or meth blue are the milder choices.
I honestly never do tea baths. I make IAL extract if I think I need to pull a ton of tannins.

Johns solution is all of my tanks keeps my axolotls from ever blooming any fungus.

Oh ok thank you so much! I just gave a pre-cautionary salt bath because I thought I saw fungus. I am planning to add Indian tea leaves and do tea baths regularly. I will check out that Johns solution. I was planning to take her out when the water got too harsh for her, I guess I just didn’t expect it to jump on me so suddenly!

Right now I have her in a tub in my fridge, she’s been doing great and already looks better! I’m doing 100% water changes everyday and like I said I’m planning to help soothe her skin. Thank you so much though! I was very scared it was something like hemorrhaging or red leg and I was getting so sad.

 

[ImperialKit]

Fungus frequently only needs tubbing and daily water changes to treat. Adding IAL or meth blue are the milder choices.
I honestly never do tea baths. I make IAL extract if I think I need to pull a ton of tannins.

Johns solution is all of my tanks keeps my axolotls from ever blooming any fungus.

Oh I get ya! Thank you so much! You’re always such a good help to me idk what I would’ve done without you

 

[EasternRomioi3]

@ImperialKit

How is your axolotl doing? Any improvement?

 

[ImperialKit]

@ImperialKit

How is your axolotl doing? Any improvement?

She’s doing a lot better! She is tubbed and I put her in my fridge to calm her down and keep her cool, which is helping a lot! The tank is almost done cycling. She doesn’t have any blood on her gills anymore and the tip of her tail has less blood spots and seems to be healing. She has some blood on her spine, however she doesn’t have any other signs of stress, disease, or parasites and it was there from the same day so I assume it’s from the burns.
TD:LR She’s getting better!

 

[EasternRomioi3]

I am glad she is doing better. How hot was her water, did you get a good temperature reading? Also, was this all caused by fungus or was it the ammonia? Your axolotl is so dark, I can't tell if she has ammonia burns on her from your post, but at the same time, mine's white so it's hard to tell what's just sand in her gills or fungus, or something else. And you made all this progress with your axolotl in what, a week?

 

[ImperialKit]

I am glad she is doing better. How hot was her water, did you get a good temperature reading? Also, was this all caused by fungus or was it the ammonia? Your axolotl is so dark, I can't tell if she has ammonia burns on her from your post, but at the same time, mine's white so it's hard to tell what's just sand in her gills or fungus, or something else. And you made all this progress with your axolotl in what, a week?

Her water in her tank was about 17-18° Celsius. All of this was caused by nitrites it seems, because when I took water readings, the ammonia was .25ppm but the nitrites were 5.0ppm I felt so bad for not noticing sooner! I just did a water change so I took the liberty to take some photos you can see the tip of her tail is a little bit gone, she has some blood on her spine that seems to be going away, but she has no other signs of stress and she’s still as active as she’s always been I checked her skin, there are no burns or bumps anywhere on her, the only thing I see is I think her slime coat might be peeling off a tiny bit but that might be due to her trying to heal. She’s my first ever actual pet so I try to be diligent with her health, I check up on her everyday so I was able to get her out quick before more damage was done! I also gotta give props to her cause she’s resilient lmao

 

[EasternRomioi3]

Woah, that is a super high reading for nitrites. I've never even seen my nitrites go above 0. Though I am glad your little girl is doing better. Yeah, it's good to be vigilant and active but I have learned that it is also somewhat good to be a little hands off. I bought mine some plants, they had worms on them that I didn't know about, did a 100% water change after tubbing her and then got her all new sand, it was a hassle. My own desire to give her a higher quality of life, since the plants were supposed to eat up the nitrates, caused the issues. But again, good on you for checking it.