Missing toes, possible fungus?

[lemonthelotl]

Hi! I’m Emily and I’m new here. We adopted a juvenile axolotl from someone local about 5 months ago, and he’s been doing great. We went on vacation and the friend taking care of Lemon noticed he was suddenly missing a couple toes and there was some white cotton-looking fuzz on one. He’s happy and eating and acting normally. The tank parameters were all normal:
pH 7.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10

I’m not sure if Lemon ate his toes (honestly wouldn’t be surprised knowing his personality) or what happened. It also looks like his back leg on that side has 4 toes instead of 5 but it also doesn’t look like one fell off there because there isn’t a nub?

Anyway, the white cotton-looking stuff (Saprolegnia??) isn’t there anymore and Lemon just has toe nubs that will grow back. I’m wondering if I still need to do a “hospital tank” like I’ve been reading for possible fungus. Our friend added Indian almond leaves a couple days ago, and I was considering doing a bigger water change today, cleaning the filters, and doing Holtfreters and leaving Lemon in his 20 gallon tank.

I’m just wondering if I need to clean the tank somehow to get rid of any fungus that might still be lingering. I also added some Anubias plants before we left and I’m wondering if that could’ve introduced the fungus.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!!

 

[wolfen]

50% holtfreters + 0.1g/l magnesium sulphate can then be used for healing and to prevent further issues.
methylene blue baths may be required as well due to the redness that can signify infection.
make sure the sand is turned over regularly.
the toes/digits are delicate and easily damaged, this can be from digging, infection etc.. doubtful that it is self mutilation.

 

[lemonthelotl]

50% holtfreters + 0.1g/l magnesium sulphate can then be used for healing and to prevent further issues.
methylene blue baths may be required as well due to the redness that can signify infection.
make sure the sand is turned over regularly.
the toes/digits are delicate and easily damaged, this can be from digging, infection etc.. doubtful that it is self mutilation.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate your response. Is there a substrate you believe is better than sand? I chose it originally because I thought it could be better to build the bacteria colony, but now also see it can also harbor some not-so-good things, too.

 

[wolfen]

because of their digging fine sand is best for axolotls (fine sand tends to be softer then larger sharp sand), any substrate can end up being home for unwanted pathogens etc..
because debris can get trapped in sand where there is a lack of oxygen anaerobic bacteria can breed, although these bacteria are capable of reducing nitrates they can also release gasses which are toxic, this is why it is advisable to turn sand over to release debris and to allow the sand to be oxygenated.