Confirmation of sickness and treatment?

[Grawlix]

Hello! First time Axie owner. Freaking out, near tears.

I've had Puppy since she was under 4 inches in January. She's now 8+ inches and was doing well. I did a deep clean and 25% water change on Friday as usual, added some prewashed sand. I was gone for a long weekend, and when I returned today she looked like this (excuse the floaties in the water, I siphoned out 20% of the water right away to do another water change)

She's a good girl and got up close for me to take this one

I'm not 100% it's Columnaris because of how dark the skin is on the back vs. front. It's almost like the top layer is sloughed off. Could this be chlorine burn? I know two other people who had die-offs in their tank this week using the same water supply I wonder if my dechlorinator didn't get it all.

I want to know...

-- How to treat this?
-- Should I fridge her? (This will be difficult for me. I may need to transport her to a different location)
-- Should I continue 20% water changes daily until better?
-- Should I offer food?

All advice will be taken seriously. I love her so much, I don't want to lose her.

 

[xxianxx]

Looks like body fungus, what's the temp ?

 

[Grawlix]

Thank you so much for replying!

74.0 F. I know it is high, but unfortunately it's hard for me to keep it lower in the summer here. That is why I'm extra good about water changes.

I did a 20% water change and an 8-minute salt bath. I got a closer look at her and it seems her gills are unaffected. She wasn't having trouble with floating before the salt bath, but just now she had issues getting back down to the bottom of the tank after gulping some air.

Should I fridge her? If I did, I'd have to bring her home (she lives on my desk at work) and it would be an hour commute.

 

[xxianxx]

Temps probably the cause for fungus, it strips the slime coat allowing fungal infections. Just do whatever you need to to reduce the temp, there's a fungus treatment thread I wrote in the general discussion section.

 

[xxianxx]

You need to deal with this asap http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...-axolotl-general-discussion/96018-fungus.html

 

[Grawlix]

Thank you!

I have read you thread. She's still in her tank for now, and I've started to float ice packs to reduce the temperature (I think I'll have to do this regularly for the rest of the summer since our heat has spiked and seems to have stayed up. I will also use almond leaves as preventative care).

I would classify this as your category 2b. I'm going to take her home to keep her in isolation in the fridge with undechlorinated water/almond leaves, and a supplementary one salt dip a day. Does this sound like a good treatment plan? If not, how would you modify?

 

[xxianxx]

Sounds fine, make sure the salt dip is the same temp as the fridge to avoid thermal shock. Can't keep it in the fridge forever though, you need to find ways of cooling it's tank without ice cubes, it will just cause temp fluctuations.

 

[Grawlix]

She's in the fridge! She's just in her tank water so far, I didn't want to stress her out too much at once. I'm going to change her water to undechlorinated tap water in 6 hours once she's at fridge temp.

While she's fridging, should I continue with water changes to cycle out the fungus? Or does that not matter?

I have a few chilling ideas while she heals up that I'll test.

Thank you so much for your help so far. I'm a mess your support really means a lot to me.

 

[xxianxx]

Fungal spores don't bother a healthy axolotl. Just check the tanks cycled and the water peramiters are acceptable.