Fungal Infaction on my little axolotl

[Charlotte123]

Hello there everyone.
My baby axy has sudenly got some sort of skin infection, he was fine yesterday when i cleaned him out and today he has white fuzz round his gills ad mouth, i have put him in a salt bath for ten mininits and i have placed him in a small plastic tank with no filter and clean water. I dont understand where the infection has come from i clean out the tank every week and change about 80% of the water and the tank is filtered i have a spray bar so there isnt much flow in the tank. As he is still small i am feeding him daphnia could the desease/infection hae come from the food, i never put the water from the daphina in the tank i always poor them into a net and rince with water.
has any one any advice on what the infection is and how to treat it. Also i have had hin for at least three months and he doesnt seem to have grown much even tho he is in a tank on his own so he doesnt have to compete for food, he isnt thin hes a little chubby if anything. all my other axys have grown much quicker.
help and advice please
Char
the infection looks like the white fluffy mold that yoiu get on fruit.

 

[dr34mr]

The first thing that always gets asked is that you post photos.

My axie had a similar problem recently. Here is a link to the thread

 

[Charlotte123]

hi phil
yeah its exsactly the same as what your axy had. i'l just keep doing the salt baths im not sure about fridging them im sure the massive change in temp would freak poor old martin out even more. ive just put some daphnia in there with him hopefully he will eat it, cant think what has caused it im so carefull with there water. ive only ever had this problem when ive breed axys and some of the tiny babies have picked it up but martin is about 3 inches long. i dono hope hes ok hes swimming around at least. i will try and take some pics but its defo the same as what your axy had.

char

 

[melfly]

Hiya
The salt baths should clear it up quite quickly.

I'd say your doin all the right things
Fridging him in some water he's already in will allow the temp to drop slowly for him


Mel

 

[Charlotte123]

i will put him in the fridge tomo if there is no improvement, hes lost all his energy and doesnt seem to be eating but he not to thin so he should be ok on that front for a little while,is this sort of infection coman and is there quite i high chance of him recovering??? hes just sort of hovering with his feet on the floor and hes head near the surface,and he swims about occasionally ive put a plant pot in there forr him to hide in but he doesnt seem interested, should i keep him in the dark would that help??

 

[Charlotte123]

another question should i completely strip out the tank that he usallly lives in and give it a really good clean with boiling water to make sure there no bacteria in there or shall i leave it??? i only cleaned it out yesterday so the water should be near perfect. And any ideas what may have caused the infection so if he survives i can make sure it doesnt happen again, could it be the daphnia or is it more likely to be stress?? i cleaned the sides of the tank quite vigoursly cos ther was green alge growing on the sides,could this have caused it??

 

[melfly]

Hiya
If its just fungus it should make a full recovery. One of mine had a bit of fungus cured by salt baths and he was fine after that, he also wen off his food a bit.

If you have a cycled tank cleaning it completely will uncycle it....which is not good.

I'm sure someone else will come along with a bit more advice.
But you're doing the right things with the salt bath for now.
I would probably fridge him as soon ,which will hopefully stop the fungus getting worse and give him a better chance to fight it off.
It will also de stress him.

Mel

 

[Charlotte123]

ok cool thanks for all the advice hes having his second salt bath of the day and i will clear a space in the fridge. the tank is well cycled so i will just clean it out as i usely would. he hasnt got any worse in the day which i supose is a good sign. should i try and clean away the infection away, i have read on some other sites that you can do this with cotton buds...

 

[Kerry1968]

I would say salt baths twice a day until there is no sign of fungus, then for a few days more just to make sure. I know the recommended length of time to fridge an axolotl to aid healing and to help them to fight infection is 3 weeks. I'm not sure if this would be advisable in an axie so small that needs feeding more often, but I would recommend at least 1-2 weeks alongside salt baths.

Leave your tank as it is, the fungus is more likely due to a stressed or poorly axie than from your tank.

Are you feeding live daphnia? Your axie is big enough to take small earthworms now, or chopped bigger ones. A better diet may help the overall health of your axie.

While in the fridge the axie may be reluctant to eat, this is normal and nothing to worry about, they also lose weight a lot slower in the fridge too. As you will be doing water changes every day while your little one is in the fridge, you can monitor how much weight is lost.

Good luck, keep us up to date with progress.

Edit: yes, you can gently remove any fungus with a cotton bud, but if it's strongly attached or your axie becomes stressed then leave it.

 

[Charlotte123]

i have tryed him on earth worms and he never eats them, he likes blood worm which i give him once a week, along with bags of daphinia, but hes not a big eater and hes not growing much any ideas????
and a little update just had a look at him he looks better, he got a little more energy and the fungus looks a little better. so its looking hopefull thanks for the help every one.

 

[Kerry1968]

I would think the bloodworms would be better nutrionally than the daphnia. Have you tried blackworms? I've never tried them myself but I know they are recommended as a good staple food especially for poorly axies. They will even survive in the water in the fridge with your axie, so you can keep tempting him with food (just remove leftovers every day.)

I don't think they are so readily available here in the UK, but I have found an online supplier. If you are interested send me a PM and I'll send the link to you.

I'm glad to hear your little one is looking better.

EDIT: I take back what I said about the link for blackworms, I've just checked and it was for whiteworms! Sorry! Though perhaps whiteworms might be taken by your axie?

 

[Charlotte123]

I shall see if I can get some from the pet shop, they do giant blood worms which he like. I suppose would be a little more substantial. I would like to get him onto food pellets. The other three axys that I have raised from babies have started eating it by this size, but he never seems intrested. Any tips on getting him to eat it??? I might try him again on the frozen food blocks, he occasionally eats some of them and they have a good balance of nutrition. Can you feed axys live mill worms because they sell those in the shop..
char