Fungus?

[Harpii]

Hi everyone, my axie lottie has had her tail nibbled at the end by my other axie norbert. It looks as if she has developed fungus but I'm not sure. She is currently out of the tank and having 2 salt baths a day. She has only has 3 so far but I haven't seen any change yet so I wanted to be sure it is fungus, it looks soft and fuzzy and when she is lifted out of the water it all sits together so I'm not sure if its dead skin/tissue instead. Any help is appreciated, I just want to make sure I'm giving her the best care I can. I do apologise for the poor quality photos, my camera wouldn't focus at all!

 

[LSuzuki]

I am not good at interpreting pictures, but it doesn't look like fungus too me. I'm guessing dead skin. So, unless someone with more experience recommends othterwise, I would discontinue the salt baths.

I'm concerned about the red rim to the area, but I am not an expert on axolotl injuries. It looks infected. If it seems to progress, I suggest seeing a vet.

Best of luck!

 

[Bette]

I am not good at interpreting pictures, but it doesn't look like fungus too me. I'm guessing dead skin. So, unless someone with more experience recommends othterwise, I would discontinue the salt baths.

I'm concerned about the red rim to the area, but I am not an expert on axolotl injuries. It looks infected. If it seems to progress, I suggest seeing a vet.

Best of luck!

I agree. It's very hard to tell from the photos, but I am going to say it more closely resembles dead skin.
Fungus usually appears as cotton-like tufts. As a preventative, you may want to add a 1/2 teaspoon of plain sea salt or non-iodized table salt to each gallon of water that the main tank contains. This is a nice low concentration mix that will still inhibit fungus growth to an extent. It has never adversely affected any of my axolotls. And you could move the axie back to it's home, too. Good luck!

 

[Harpii]

Here are two slightly better pictures. My phone just doesn't want to focus! Thank you so much for the advice, I am due to do a water change this week should I add the salt after or just leave it and add the salt now and then do the water change next week? She seems fine, she is eating well and her activity is the same as always, she doesn't seem to be poorly in herself. I will stop the salt baths as I don't want to distress her, her tail has other limbs have had a redness around them whenever one of the other axies have mistakenly caught her so I assumed that was just from the wound. She's always regrown any lost limbs of tail ends fine before not that it happens often it just has happened to her the most. Thank you again for the advice I really appreciate it, I've been trying so hard not to panic. I would have taken her to the vet but like I said there aren't any herp vets local to me, the nearest is over an hour away.

 

[Bette]

Here are two slightly better pictures. My phone just doesn't want to focus! Thank you so much for the advice, I am due to do a water change this week should I add the salt after or just leave it and add the salt now and then do the water change next week? She seems fine, she is eating well and her activity is the same as always, she doesn't seem to be poorly in herself. I will stop the salt baths as I don't want to distress her, her tail has other limbs have had a redness around them whenever one of the other axies have mistakenly caught her so I assumed that was just from the wound. She's always regrown any lost limbs of tail ends fine before not that it happens often it just has happened to her the most. Thank you again for the advice I really appreciate it, I've been trying so hard not to panic. I would have taken her to the vet but like I said there aren't any herp vets local to me, the nearest is over an hour away.

I would do the water change now, and add the salt with the fresh water. Be sure to thoroughly dissolve the salt.
Try removing the tissue at the tip. Maybe use tweezers, or grab at it under the water with a piece of paper towel. I still think that it might be dead tissue.

 

[HitmanSougo13]

You should not do too many salt baths as this little guy is quite young. Salt baths burn their skin. So I would stop the salt baths for now as they take a few days to have effect after you do one. It can be dead skin or it can be an infection, when they are that small it is hard to tell so the only way you can is to see if it is growing in size.

Like Bette says, use a q tip, try to rub that stuff off gently. However if it starts growing in size then I would then do another salt bath a week after your first one, give your axie some time to regenerate skin around the body. Or you can use indian almond leaves which is gentler.

 

[Harpii]

Hi and thank you for your advise. I managed to remove some of it with a q-tip but it was quite difficult and the good news is the redness has reduced considerably and the tip is growing back so I do think you are all right about it being dead skin and it has not changed in size at all either. For now I am just keeping an eye on her as I don't want to distress her and I want to give her the time she needs to heal. Thank you for all your advice, I feel like I can worry less, she is still eating and her usual self as well which is good ?

 

[Bette]

Hi and thank you for your advise. I managed to remove some of it with a q-tip but it was quite difficult and the good news is the redness has reduced considerably and the tip is growing back so I do think you are all right about it being dead skin and it has not changed in size at all either. For now I am just keeping an eye on her as I don't want to distress her and I want to give her the time she needs to heal. Thank you for all your advice, I feel like I can worry less, she is still eating and her usual self as well which is good ?

Great news!