Illness/Sickness: Bad Toe

[CHSBioTeacher]

I got up this morning to check on my baby, Toothless, and this is what I see. It appears that the skin/muscle on his second toe on his back left leg was pulled from the bone, and the bone is now visible. I am wondering what I should do, if anything for him. Is there some sort of antiseptic I can add to to water (he is the only critter in the tank)? Anything I can do to help the healing? Expedite the healing? Stop the pain?

There is a very clear image of the injury attached. Please help me. I worry over my baby, and my students do, too.

 

[HayleyK]

A tutorial on tea bathing is available on the sick forums, follow that as it will help heal and prevent fungus. Keep an eye out on cottony fluffy white stuff which is fungus, and make sur the water is always clean and cool. The axolotl has amazing healing powers so I wouldn't fret much. I would also try and find the culprit in his tank and remove it.

 

[auntiejude]

Ouch!

You know axies heal really well, so he'll recover. Keep an eye on the wound for infection or fungus.

You could try a tea bath to sooth the sore toe and prevent infection (see tutorial sticky), and salt bath of you see fungus (again there's a tutorial in the stickies), other than that keep him cool and feed him worms.

Do you know how he did it so you can prevent it happening again?

 

[CHSBioTeacher]

I have no idea how he did it. But I know he is hanging out near the filter I have. He is really depressed because I had to leave the school I was working at, and he was used to seeing 100+ faces every day. But I think he got it caught in the filter, maybe. It is the only thing I can think of, since nothing is sharp in his tank, and nothing has changed.

 

[auntiejude]

since nothing is sharp in his tank

I've always said axies can cut themselves doing a sharp turn!
But yes, a filter inlet could trap a toe and skin it.
Hope he gets better soon!

 

[usafaux2004]

My idiot castle troll ripped his fin inside the castle. Also has a "c" shaped impression on skin from a slight puncture of skin. Castle is gone now.

 

[auntiejude]

My idiot castle troll ripped his fin inside the castle. Also has a "c" shaped impression on skin from a slight puncture of skin. Castle is gone now.

I can't believe that aquarium decor is sold with such sharp edges. I bought a tunnel for my big tank, the outside looked great but I had to spend forever with my hobby sander to get it to a resonable smoothness on the inside. I actually cut my knuckle trying to figure out if it was smooth enough - it wasn't!

 

[Elise]

It's funny how you develop this new perspective on aquarium decor. You do a sort of risk assessment. I bought a soap dish with suction cups to act as a ledge and when I got home, I spent longer than I'd like to admit trying to visualize how my axolotl could potentially amputate herself.

I think that post a while back, the one where the guy was wanting to pad the inside of his tank, he was on to something...

 

[Petersgirl]

• 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.
  ​
  Here's the famous tea bath recipe. If he got his toe stuck in the filter inlet and you have a typical 'box filter,' say a PF type filter, you can put a brand new tight over the inlet to stop it sucking in his toes.
  As has been said before, just keep an eye out for fungus which is common with open wounds. If that happens then the salt bath tutorial is handy on here!
  
  Good luck with him!