Bacterial Infection? Cyst? Please help!

[georgemichael]

My axie's not had an appetite for over 10 days now, is not responsive when I come close to the tank, and yesterday I noticed two lumps on his forehead. He also had brown-grey fluffs on his toes, which comes off with siphoning, but I noticed that his toes seemed to have redness at the ends, which makes me think that the grey-brown fluff is an infection, rather than just random fluff.

I came back home from work today and these two lumps have since grown, and one of them seems to have broken out into a sore? (redness at the peak of the lump, see the photo attached). No new grey-brown fluff have grown anywhere on his body since I siphoned it off last night, which I suppose is one good thing?

Since he hasn't eaten, he's lost a lot of weight, and I worry he's very weak. I've had him for a year now, he's about 22cm long if that helps? Not sure of exact age.

I do 25% water changes 2-3 times a week, he is in a 20 gallon tank, and unfortunately all I've been able to give him are axolotl pellets and freeze-dried red shrimp, not the best diet. Temperature of water is about 13-14 degrees celcius, this stays quite constant due to our current cold weather.

I've just put Furan-2 into the tank because I'm afraid he has a bad bacterial infection.

Can it also be a fluid-filled cyst?

Please, any advice will be very helpful, I love him a lot.

 

[snuggly time]

Aww poor little thing. Do you use dechlorinator when you do water changes?
Are the water parameters ok? Ph, Ammonia, Nitrite & Nitrate?

Almond leaves or tea baths might help sooth his skin.
This is from Caudata Culture Articles - Illness Part 2
"Tea bath for axolotls
Contributed by Daniel Weiner, August 2007.

I mainly use teabaths for minor skin problems. It may also be used with fungal problems but on that account I prefer salt baths. Tea has a slightly antifungal and antibacterial effect (resulting from tannins) and additionally it closes the pores in the skin a little bit (mainly resulting from tannin and caffeine). The skin tightens and gets some kind of protective layer, making it harder for fungi and bacteria to intrude the body. On the other hand it makes it harder for salt or medicine to reach pathogens which are already inside the body - that is the reason I do not use it on fungal infections, although a tea bath is sometimes recommended as a cure for fungal infections by some people.

The medication is as follows: I take one bag of black tea without any additional aroma (it is important to use black tea because this kind of tea is fermented and so it has tannins) for every 10 litres of water (preferably used in a quarantine tank). This tea gets dashed with boiling water in a seperate bowl - I leave it there for at least 10 to 15 minutes so the tannins are resolved into the water. The tea has to cool down and is finally added to the quarantine water. After a week I make a bigger change of water (60% at least), the rest of the tea is removed over time by normal water changes. If you have to make more regular water changes (f.i. in a small bowl or tank) the tea concentration can be refilled. As far as I know there are no negative effects even for long term treatment.

A similar effect (although not as strong) may have the addition of dried oak or beech leafs now and then as a precaution".

I'm not sure about salt baths for your axie yet. If the wound looks open then it would hurt him. It might be worth seeing what other people think.

 

[georgemichael]

Thanks heaps, Yeah I looked into almond leaves, maybe after the antibiotic treatment? No idea where to get them though... The antibiotics seem to be working, his lumps burst and oozed white puss, and he has started eating and pooping again. Hopefully it won't come back when he finishes his course

 

[Bellabelloo]

I think you need to take your axolotl to a vet so he can determine what is going on with these lumps.

 

[callina]

Hi,

I agree with Julia, please take him to a vet. The lumps can be caused by an internal infection and can be filled with fluid/pus. Treatening it by yourself can lead to a bacterial inclusion, so that medicine cannot work (outside the body).

 

[georgemichael]

Ack! now i'm really nervous! both of his lumps have receded, one of them is nearly non-existent. you were right about the lumps having pus, it was white pus that burst out when i started him on Furan-2, but they seem to have resolved.

do you think think it's just the calm before the storm and he might show further signs of distress? he's pooing okay, but doesn't take food from me everyday.

i've lessened the dose of Furan-2 that i used, because i read on the forum that many people use as little has half the recommended dose.

also, there is only one certified amphibian/reptile vet in my city, and it's a 2 hour train ride away, will the travel time be too stressful? i might try take him this weekend.

thanks so much for replying!

 

[Niels D]

I understand that your animal started eating (though not every day) and defecating again and that he stopped eating before the lumps appeared. In my experience it's a good sign if an animal starts eating again after he refused eating for a while. It's possible that the infected areas aren't completely free of hostile bacteria of course. If you're planning to visit the vet next weekend I'd suggest you keep on treating your animal until that time.

If your animal eats and acts like he did when he was healthy you could ask yourself if it's necessary to make the 2 hour long trip. It's not a long journey, but since your animal has been through a lot it may be too much for it yet. If it's not making any real progress I'd suggest you take the risk and visit the vet. Good luck with your animal. At least he made some progress, so let's hope he can keep up getting healthy.

 

[georgemichael]

Hi, just thought I'd say George Michael's lumps are almost all gone, just a small red spot on his head where they used to be. While he's not his jovial self, he happily takes food from me, is pooing almost every other day, and responds to me when I'm near (although not as animatedly as he used to, but I have hope!).
I hope he will fully recover soon, I've finished his second course of antibiotics, and didn't end up taking him to the vet. I hope that was not a fatal decision on my part.

I still do water changes daily, and siphon out any debris daily. I've also wrapped sponge all around my filter outlet sprayer to drastically slow down the force of the sprayer - previously I only had half a sponge there, but now I've completely covered it in sponge.

Here's a picture I took of him just an hour ago, for you to compare to the photos I took when he was sick.

One thing though, the end of his tail has curled up a little. If his lumps are almost gone, and I'm doing water changes daily, and the tank temp is about 12-14 degrees, what else can cause him to curl his tail? General stress from being sick?

 

[snuggly time]

He looks really healthy considering how he looked two weeks ago.

Have you checked the water parameters? Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph?
He might just be stressed and run down from recovering.

 

[georgemichael]

Hiya, Yeah, i think he was just stressed from being sick and recovering has tired him out even more.

Good news is, his tail is no longer curled! Today he begged for food at the front of the tank for the very first time since he got sick, and hasn't stopped patrolling his tank since!

I'm still doing a 25% water change 5 times a week, carbon is back in the tank, and I'm trying to get his tank back to cycling again, slowly but surely.

Here's a photo I took of him just 5 minutes ago, first time in over a month he's stood up like that, and I'm really happy he's recovered so well Thanks everyone for all your advice!

 

[snuggly time]

Great news, glad he's getting back to his old self

 

[kattyle]

I also recommend figure out in difference between viruses and bacteria. recommend read differencebtwn.com/difference-between-viruses-and-bacteria