Fungus on bloodworm and now on axolotl

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KarlM

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Hi,

We have a wild type axolotl and he has been having salt baths recently to get rid of the fungus which has appeared in a few places. The fungus is growing on him and a couple of salt baths and it dropped off a short time later. It keeps returning. In particular on the back of his head (white patch in the photo) and the end of his tail. One of his feet had the cotton wool fungus on it but it's gone now. We found one of our bloodworm bags had fuzzy bloodworm and bits of fuzzy stuff floating in it. This has now been thrown. The worrying thing is that we can't seem to shift this fungus...even with water changes everyday. Nitrates and nitrites are 0. He also seems to be a little bit off his food and not eating so much. There are many threads on fungus on here, including some on cotton wool fungus, but the general belief is that it should stop once the water parameters are OK. Ours are, but this fungus has been here for a couple of weeks. IMG-20161122-WA0001.jpgIMG-20161122-WA0000.jpgIMG_20161119_093442974.jpg

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Hi temperature is staying around 15-17c

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I think you should remove your Axolotl and begin a fridging process along side salt baths once a day. Something is not right with your tank or perhaps your Axolotls immune system is not strong. He should only be reintroduced into the tank once the fungus has receded and you are sure the tank holds a healthy ecosystem.

Can you post some more images of your Axolotl from various angles please?

What testing kit do you use for checking Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate?
 
Hi we have begun the fridging now and he is having his daily salt bath. we have just carried out a ammonia test and it measures 0.25. so does our tap water so could this be our problem? Would the filter have previously been removing this 0.25. I feel so stupid for not for seeing this! our axy is having a pwc everday as his new tanks water is currently preparing. We have the strips for testing, but on the advice of this site we have ordered the master test kit by API which will arrive in a day or so. We are quickly preparing a small fridge tank for him containing dechlorinated spring water at ph7 and 0 ammonia.

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Test strips are largely unreliable. Once you have the liquid test kit you can check the true readings. Keep ontop of the daily salt baths and keep him in the fridge until the fungus has gone. Let us know what the test results are when you get the new kit. Since your Axolotl maybe fridged for sometime you can leave some food in the tank to keep feeding the nitrogen cycle ammonia.

Post some images of your Axolotl from various angles
 
Hi thanks for your help so far. We have him in the fridge now at 7.5c with a thermometer to monitor him as well, he is also having his daily salt baths. I will post some photos tomorrow when I get my camera back as my phone isnt the best camera. The fungus has gone from his gill buy he still has a bit on his tail. What does the fridging do to the fungus. Does it prevent it from spreading?

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Refrigeration - "Scientifically-substantiated as an aid in healing in caudates. Inhibits growth of pathogens without inhibiting the animal's immune system. Appropriate temperature and duration depends on the species, but the temperature of a normal household refrigerator is usually OK."

Caudata Culture Articles - Illness Part 1
 
Our tap water has ammonia but when I use Prime, it blocks ammonia for 24 hours and by then, the filter takes care of it. If your tank is fully cycled it should do the same.
 
Thanks for you replies. It's nice to learn exactly why a salt bath can help him. The fungus dropped off and there is just a small bit left on his tail tip now. Pictures of him are attached showing where it is(axolotls are very hard to catch on camera properly!!).IMG_20161126_234307638.jpgIMG_20161126_234219380.jpgIMG_20161126_234239501.jpg

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Hi quick update. They fungus is still only on his tail but does appear to have spread slightly as shown in the picturesIMG_20161128_202641019.jpgIMG_20161128_202629932.jpgIMG_20161128_202600918.jpgIMG_20161128_202519999.jpg. He has had almost 2 weeks of salt baths and 1 week of fridging, and twice daily water changes. Is there anything else we should be doing? It doesn't appear to get worse, but won't stay away.

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May I ask why your axolotl is so skinny? His malnourishment may be a cause of the fungus, his immune system will be weak and so will his slime coat.


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He is fed bloodworm daily but he has been eating much less recently which we assumed was due to him being in the fridge. Before that he would generally eat some but there was always a few left over which we siphoned out. Now there is more left over. Is it possible he is not eating enough? I assumed the wide part near his front legs was his stomach which seemed fairly full. Is there a reason why he would suddenly dislike bloodworm?

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How big is he? He looks like he should be eating nightcrawlers (earthworms) instead of blood worms. Blood worms do not provide enough nutrition for a growing Axolotl beyond a few months.

It would be the same as feeding a growing teenage boy jar baby food. He could LIVE on it, but he wouldn't get the necessary nutrition to THRIVE on it.

If you have a hard time finding earthworms, Axolotl Pellets are made to provide a staple diet in place of earthworms. Commonly referred to as soft sinking salmon pellets.

I feed mine pellets as a staple diet, and they get earthworms every other day or two for an added boost.
 
Your axolotl is far too slim, all you need to do is look at the healthy ones on here to see how chunky an axolotl should be. How old is your axolotl?
Blood worms are good for babies only. He needs to be eating earthworms, nightcrawlers, prawns and sinking pellets. It has to be salmon sinking pellets.

Our adults eat around 5-10 earthworms each every other day as well as pellets and the occasional wax worm. You should feed them as much as they can eat in 15 minutes. I advise you buy some wax worms as they're quite fattening and perhaps feed him one a week. But to get him to a healthy weight you need to be feeding him daily, maybe twice a day with earthworms or anything listed above.


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Hi I feel so bad as we have paid so much attention to the water quality we have not thought about his diet..I misunderstood that babies and juveniles ate bloodworm and brine shrimp etc. Our axolotl had just had some chopped prawn and he inhaled them quickly, unlike the blood worms which he generally took a while to eat. I have ordered some earthworms and wax worms (express delivery option!) Along with pellets but we will continue some pieces of prawn until they arrive. I tried to do so much research on these before getting one but I have missed something obvious. I hope my axolotls forgives me :-( I am unsure of his age as we didn't have him from a baby, he was already a juvenile. His is around 10cm long.

Thank you for your help. I will start to feed him these alternatives and hopefully this will strengthen him against the fungus.

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It's okay, he's a very very small adult.. he's probably stunted from lack of food or lack of nutritious food. We've had two axolotls like this been given to us. You can fatten them up and their overall health will improve but they'll never be as strong as a well fed from the start axolotl, they also don't live as long. Just generally more susceptible to things as they're stunted. Don't worry, you tried and that's what really matters, that you're willing to change things is great! ?

People on here can seem quite harsh and brash, I'm on another forum (for small furries) and everyone is so lovely and forgiving there. I hope this forum becomes more friendly rather than sarcastic and cold. If you have any more questions don't worry and just ask away!!

Better and more food will help him from preventing getting fungus in the future - there always an underlying cause 9/10 when our axies get fungus. Xx


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You could also try lob worms but they're veeery big. You'd need to cut them up (worms can't feel pain so don't worry, it upsets me even still) if you cut one lobworm up into small bite sized chunks he could have one a day. Just feed him over 30 minutes or so, they're nice and big and juicy.


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I buy dendrobeana worms from bucketofworms.co.uk. If your Axolotl does not accept the worms alive cut into chunks then try blanching them (pour boiling water over some in a small tub for 5 seconds then rinse and chop up).
 
Thank you again for all the advice. Our axolotl enjoyed some chopped prawns over the last couple of days but turned his nose up at the pellets. His earthworms and wax worms should arrive today.

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