Illness/Sickness: New axolotl owner

[Stripe]

I got 2 axolotls in october and they've been great, i have had no other problems with them other than stress which was addressed by changing the filter. just yesterday i noticed my black axolotl(neither have names yet) has white fluff on his gills.. i'm just wondering if a salt bath or fridgeration is a good route or not? any advice? i've checked the levels of the tank which read normal, the water temp is 62 degrees he has slowed down a lot especially on eating... i need to get this addressed before it affects his tank mate or gets worse.

 

[Chinadog]

Welcome to the forum Whenever my Axolotls got bits of fungus on their gills like that it was a sign of stress. Usually from water quality issues or too high temperatures. On almost every occasion for me it turned out to be high nitrate levels, when you say your readings are normal for the tank, what are they? my Axolotls seemed more sensitive to nitrate than most fish that i've ever kept.

 

[Stripe]

i just have the test strips, i will be buying a liquid test today. our water is harder than most which i'm told the axolotls prefer. right now i have no substrate in the tank because i'm switching from fluval stratum to dead sand(really hated the fluval) the temperature is at 60 degrees fahrenheit or about 15 degrees Celsius, i'm told that's slightly too cold and will make them lazy but not sure how to get them warmer because they're in a basement.. upstairs is way too hot and downstairs is too cold.

 

[auntiejude]

15C is absolutely fine. 10-20C is ideal for axies.

Your picture definatley suggest fungus, salt baths are recommended, but no fridge. There is a really good tutorial on here, just skip the bit about the frdige and do it all at room tempertaure. Salt bath twice a day until the fungus is gone, then once a day for 2 days more.

Fungus usually sets in via a minor injury (if it's not temp related) - your axie could have caught his gills on an ornament, or he could have been nipped by his tank mate, it should clear up in a few days with salt baths.

Bare bottom in the tank is fine.

 

[Stripe]

i had 2 minnows in the tank with them, the last one got eaten yesterday so it's possible the minnow was nipping his gills as well. i have a pleco in the tank but the axolotls seem to avoid him at all costs. after i give him the salt bath do i put him in a separate container or just back in the tank??

 

[auntiejude]

Get rid of the pleco - we have seen some real horror stories with those - have a look here for an example.

Once your axie has had his bath you should rinse him then put him back in the tank. I use 2 tubs - one to catch him, then into another one for the salt bath, then rinse in the first one and back to the tank.

 

[Stripe]

I had no idea that plecos could cause so much damage, when I got the axolotls the guy had 5 minnows and 3 plecos in the tank, one pleco died and I gave one away. My sister has agreed to take the last axolotl so he should be gone in a couple days and will be kept separate in the mean time. Things have been going much better after then salt baths. He's now eating normal, no longer floating and his infection is almost completely gone.