New owner advice on fungal infection

[A42m]

Hi all,

I'm a new owner and I'm seeking advice on a fungal infection. I went to bed last night and woke up to one of my boys (I think) with a white globe around his gills.

I went to my local vet and they advised a salt bath

I joined this board immediately, and have given him one salt bath and I'm about to give him a second now.

I have attatched images below of what I believe is the infection.

If any one has any advice I would love to read it thank you for your time

 

[Murk]

Yes, salt baths can help with the fungus, but they also leave the axolotl with vulnerable skin.

That means that if you don't solve the source of the fungus, he'll probably get new fungus right away - likely even worse (since the salt bath damaged the skin).

It's good to keep giving him regular salt baths, but your main priority should be fixing the water quality of the tank that caused the fungus in the first place.
Do you have recent readings of ammonia, nitrite, nitrates values? Is the tank cycled?

 

[A42m]

Hi I'm taking readings of the tank levels now and was planning on doing a 20% water change daily. The obvious infection seems to have passed by this morning. I'll report back with the tank levels now.
The tank was cycled originally however this is my first tank and I'm worried it went wrong

 

[A42m]

pH 7.8
Nitrate 40 ppm
Nitrite: 0.5 ppm
And the ammonia is 0.25ppm

The tanks temperature is around 18°c on average

 

[Murk]

Yeah, that does look like your tank was cycled once, but I'm not sure if it still is.

Best case scenario, you have a cycled tank with an ammonia spike which was too much for the cycle to handle. How do you feed? Is it possible any food got left over (maybe stuck behind or under the rocks) and has been rotting away? Other dirt (axolotl poop) that might have accumulated in the substrate or the rocks?

If not, it could be that your cycle has crashed and has to start over. This can be done with the axolotl in the tank, but you need to keep a close eye on the ammonia/nitrite values or you'll get problems like this fungus.

At the moment, especially the nitrite level is dangerous. If you do a 20% water change, it will still be 0.4ppm, which is still too much. I'd say a 50% water change to start with. Anytime the nitrites get above 0.25ppm, do another small water change (same goes for the ammonia).

 

[A42m]

Yeah, that does look like your tank was cycled once, but I'm not sure if it still is.

Best case scenario, you have a cycled tank with an ammonia spike which was too much for the cycle to handle. How do you feed? Is it possible any food got left over (maybe stuck behind or under the rocks) and has been rotting away? Other dirt (axolotl poop) that might have accumulated in the substrate or the rocks?

If not, it could be that your cycle has crashed and has to start over. This can be done with the axolotl in the tank, but you need to keep a close eye on the ammonia/nitrite values or you'll get problems like this fungus.

At the moment, especially the nitrite level is dangerous. If you do a 20% water change, it will still be 0.4ppm, which is still too much. I'd say a 50% water change to start with. Anytime the nitrites get above 0.25ppm, do another small water change (same goes for the ammonia).

I will swap to 50%change thank you very much for the advice. I believe that some excrement got trapped under the large rocks I put in for them

I've scrubbed down the tank and plan to move the rocks daily so this doesn't happen again.

Would you recommend I get rid of the java ferns I have in there and replace them?

 

[Murk]

Oh, definitely keep the java ferns, and go easy on the scrubbing as well.

Your filter, decorations, plants, substrate and even the tank walls are all places were beneficial bacteria live. Filter and substrate will be the biggest - since you don't have substrate, the rocks and plants will be very good homes to beneficial bacteria.
These are the bacteria that turn your ammonia into nitrites and nitrites into nitrates - so you want to take good care of them.

I would try not to do big water changes (like 50%) unless it's necessary. One should be enough - after that, more but smaller water changes are always preferable over less but bigger changes.

Edit: Oh, and my favourite advice: don't worry. Keep an eye on it, keep us posted, and you'll be fine.

 

[A42m]

I'll take your advice on the scrubbing then I've just completed the big water change so I'll keep an eye on it from here on out thank you very much this has been a great help