Illness/Sickness: Do you give an injured axie a salt bath or medicine as treatment?

[Goliad]

So over the last three days I have closely watched my axolotl and one of her gills is shrinking and has turned white. The hand on the same side of this gill has white patches with a very red spot in the middle. Have a look at the pictures - is it fungal or has it become infected due to injuries?


I keep the pH at 7 always
I change 20% of the water every 2-3 days
I have been doing 25% water changes over the last 3 days
Could possibly have raised ammonia levels, getting a test kit tomorrow
I always clean her poop and food immediately after she is done!
Stable temperature, she usually swims around and is very happy, now she flicks her gills and her arm is raised, she seems to be trying to scratch her gill with her hind leg


Please let me know if I need to give her salt baths or medicine


Thanks!

 

[SammyTheLotus]

Awe, sorry to hear about your little girl!
I'm not experienced enough to say if you should give her a salt bath or medicine, hopefully one of the more experienced keepers can give their input on that one.
As for the water changing, if I were you I would stick to changing the water once a week, 25% once a week is usually plenty, as long as your cycle has been established and you're using dechlorinated for the tap water you add back to your tank.
And yes, you definitely need a water testing kit! If the ammonia levels are high her injury could be fungus, ammonia burn, etc.
I can't see the pictures you uploaded so it's going to be hard to say for sure what's wrong, maybe try uploading them again?

 

[HitmanSougo13]

Hi there,

Can you upload some pics of the axie? This gives us a sense of age, the tank setup and severity of the situation. Also let us know how long the axie is, another sign of age.

I am guessing your water is not cycled. That can be stressful if the ammonia gets high. Please do post the water readings when you get the kit and let us know the temperature.

If it is a young one I would go on antibiotics or Indian almond leaves because salt baths are very strong.