Illness/Sickness: Bumps on Belly/White 'crust' around my Axolotl's mouth & gills-1st time owner..please help!

[colli366]

About 2-3 months ago I noticed a white crust around Phoebe's mouth. I also noticed that the gill "stalk" (or whatever you call the part where the filaments branch off from) had bits of white around some of the edges, as well as a few of the gill filament tips. On the gills, it is not 'cottony' as I have heard fungus' described; for lack of a better explanation it almost looks like her gills are 'dying', although none have shrunk or fallen of. These things are not extremely noticeable unless you really get up close to her, so it is a possibility that these things have been there all along and I just did not notice them.

Also, I have noticed that over the past 5 months she has developed an increasingly bumpy texture to her skin, especially on her chest/throat and armpit areas. They are the same color of her skin.


***Note: I am not sure if this could be related to what I mentioned above, but about a month ago, I noticed about 15 or so tiny (maybe 1/2mm-1mm long) white worms in her tank. They were not near or on Phoebe, but I took her to a local vet who was somewhat familiar with amphibians, and he supposedly talked to his colleagues and concluded that the worms were not parasitic, but rather some sort of water contaminant. I saw several posts saying this was normal to have some critters, and several arguing that it is cause for concern. He gave her some sort of antibiotic and they died. I saw a few re-appear a 2 weeks ago and got them out--and have not seen any sense.

PLEASE help me figure out if Phoebe is okay or not, the vet wasn't any help ($100 later) and I have searched the forums for reports of similar concerns but haven't found much. My main questions are:
1. Has anyone seen these symptoms in their axies? Is any of this normal?
2. Opinions on whether or not symptoms/worm infestation could be related?
3. Suggestions on what I should do, if anything (already have sponge filter and am doing
1/4 water changes weekly)?

 

[auntiejude]

Skin problems are usually more of a water quality thing than parasites, although I wouldn't rule out bacterial infection. Have you checked your water quality? I'm not an expert though, I'm sure someone else will be along shortly with other ideas.

The gills don't look too bad to me - it could be the 'white bits' are just iridophores - my albino's gills suddenly became more shiney when she got to 7". And the gills are quite delicate - any injury and they'll shrivel or fall off and grow back. I'd keep an eye on them - if she looks like she's trying to scratch at them like a dog scratched his ears then there may be a problem.

The little white things were quite possibly planaria - a non-parasitic flatworm - and are not related to anything.

 

[Petersgirl]

Does Phoebe have any substrate in her tank? One user I saw had bacteria and spots on his axolotl's tummy where bacteria had latched to its tummy - it's one of the few downsides to a bare bottomed tank.

A safe and fairly failsafe treatment for bacteria is to give your baby a tea bath. It won't do any damage even if she hasn't got anything wrong with her. I agree with AuntieJude - the bits around her mouth and gills appear to be iridophores - my golden has them too, and my wildie is covered in them! If they're flat, look like shiny patches of skin and shine under a light - you can use a torch if you don't want to freak her out - they are likely to be iridophores and completely harmless.

I also agree that the worms were probably planaria, which are completely harmless. I can't say for sure as I didn't see them but planaria are fairly common and don't do the axolotl any harm.

I would definetely do a tea bath just to be sure. It won't hurt her and will clean off any bacteria if that's what's causing the bumps. Here's the recipe:

• 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.
  ​

Can you also post your parameters and temp, to be sure they're not adversely affecting Phoebe?