Controversial opinion - I don't salt bath or fridge axies with fungal infections

[debadog]

I've had my oldest axolotl for about 3 years and in that time I believe he's had 2 or 3 mild fungal infections (small cotton-like balls on his gills). I've given him a salt bath once, ever, and both he and I absolutely hated the experience. I saw a video on youtube discussing how people should stop using salt baths as they can actually make the situation much worse as it causes the axolotl a lot of stress.

Every time he's had those cotton-like balls appear on his gills, I just do a big water change, make sure the water is cool(ish) by sticking the fans on, and just keep an eye on him. Every time he's come out completely fine. Maybe he only had mild issues and that's why it worked out, but I just think its an interesting observation. Everyone is always so quick to salt bath and fridge, both of which are potentially pretty harmful. This is one of the few things everyone knows about what can be done when an axie gets sick, so maybe there's just a culture of rushing to this option at the slightest hint of an issue.

I thought to post this because 2 days ago my axie had clear signs of a fungal infection, I followed my steps and today his gills are clear. He's eating normally and seems fine.

Just wondering what people's thoughts are on this...

 

[Calgarycoppers]

If it works for you - awesome!!!!

I do not salt bath and never recommend. the stress makes things worse.
Fridging is for severe constipation, slowing bacterial infections and life or death in my opinion. Not fungus.

Fungus is generally temperature and water quality driven.

 

[Murk]

I think this opinion might not be controversial anymore?
I do remember that years ago "salt bath!" was the go-to solution for every unrelated axolotl problem. It's interesting to see how the internet (and the amount of resources on axolotl care) has developed since then.

The "Axolotl General Discussion" forum even has a stickied thread on fungus from 2014, which opens with "There has become a trend in the forum to use salt bathing as the first line treatment for axolotl fungus, in many cases it is unnecessary."

By now, I still encounter quite a few websites that throw salt baths at everything, but I think the amount of people who are scared of it or advocating against it might be larger.


I do agree that almost all fungus issues are due to water quality. If someone doesn't fix the underlying issues, the salt bath will only help temporarily at best. If they do fix the underlying issues, the axolotl will most likely heal without a salt bath. So in both cases the salt bath is unnecessary.

Salt baths still have some advantages: most importantly it gives the pet owner the feeling they are actually taking action right now, rather than taking the slow and subtle route. While that feeling might be a bit misguided, it's a real feeling.