Oh please no!!

[Holly12]

OK, Stelly is roughly 9 months old and about 9" long.
He lives in a 20g long aquarium with an aquaclear 70 on it (filter for a 70g tank) with a sponge to break up the current. He has a bubbler as well.
His ammonia is 0ppm
Nitrites are 0ppm and nitrates are 15ppm. Ph is around 8.0 to 8.2 and we have very hard water.
He gets a weekly 50% water change and I have Indian almond leaves in his tank to combat fungus and bacterial infections (skin on his toes was abraded.)
His temps were 13 to 15 over the winter but are 16 to 18 now. He wasn't eating often. Maybe a worm chunk or two every few days and a poop once every week and a half. But today, he ate a whole worm!!
Two days ago, I "thought" I saw a fuzzy on one gill stalk. Then I couldn't see it anymore. Tonight, when his lights went out, he came to the front and the fuzzy was bigger. I used his feeding tongs to touch it and it fell right off. There's a pale spot on the gill stalk where it was sitting.
If he has perfect water temps and Params, how can he get a fungus???? I've included pics of the fuzzy and his gill where you can see the pale mark.
What do I do with him??

 

[Biev]

Fungus usually shows up as a secondary infection. Even if your water parameters are fine, if his immune system is down for some other reason, that's an opportunity for fungus to develop. That said I think lowering your pH would help. A safe way to do it would be to add driftwood or long lasting botanicals to the tank (alder cones, for instance). The indian almond probably helps some. I'm not sure what you can safely use to treat the fungus, maybe others with more axoltl-specific experience can chime in, but I do know that clean water and good food are the key to recovery! : )

 

[Bellabelloo]

I would just leave every thing alone and just keep an eye out for any more.

 

[Holly12]

If I do see more, what would I do then?

Can I use black tea to add to the IAL to help reduce ph?

 

[Holly12]

Can I do light, light salt dips and put him back in his tank? Salt can be very damaging, so I would use very diluted salt.

 

[Holly12]

Is he ok? His feet and tails are a bit veiny...

 

[emdalliance]

Salt is best for treating fungus not tea.

There's a salt bath guide on the forum

The veinyness and redness looks like a reaction to ammonia?

Tea baths will just soothe his skin.


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[Elise]

Ammonia toxicity is a concern in environments with high pH and may be the cause of illness. I'd test the water from the source and see if any ammonia is present. If so, you can add prime to neutralize the ammonia until it is processed through your aquarium's cycle. With pH at 8 and above, you'll start to see illnesses with ammonia at levels as low as .5ppm

 

[Holly12]

I tested his ammonia. It's 0ppm and I use the liquid test strips. I don't want to use chemicals to mess with the ph.... can they live in 8.2 pH?
Prime is what I use with each water change to dechlorinator his water. Even though we don't have chlorine because we are on a natural well. We do have ammonia from the source, but I use the prime before a water change and after 24hrs it's 0ppm.

If I see veins and redness, do I dose prime just to be safe? I did a salt bath yesterday but couldn't catch him today. I will try again tomorrow when I do a water change.

 

[Nina Willis]

I have seen a lot of debates over tea or salt. In my opinion and experience both work, but salt is more stressful, and if you add too much or for too long it does damage to the slime coat. I typically do tea baths for 15 minutes twise a day for 3-4 days. Black tea with no added flavoring, lipton teabags are my favorite so far.
Hope that helps.

 

[Bellabelloo]

I wonder if it might be worth having the well water tested ?
The pH is fine by the way

 

[Holly12]

I have seen a lot of debates over tea or salt. In my opinion and experience both work, but salt is more stressful, and if you add too much or for too long it does damage to the slime coat. I typically do tea baths for 15 minutes twise a day for 3-4 days. Black tea with no added flavoring, lipton teabags are my favorite so far.
Hope that helps.

So if the fu gusts doesn't clear in 3-4 days, switch to salt baths? Tea bath twice a day for 1t mins and then if that doesn't clear in that time try salt? He is in the fridge. Will fish food keep his bacteria alive?

 

[Nina Willis]

If it does not clear up in a week or so you may need to try the salt. However, i do not believe fridging will have much effect on fungus. That is used for constipation for the most part.

 

[Holly12]

Our fridge is being g stupid any way and seems to be stuck at 3 degrees.

I have him in our cold Cellar basement and with a temperature gun, the floor is 10 degrees. He is in a Tupperware container down there wrapped in a cloth.

I can do 1-2 salt dips a day. BUT, will he run out of oxygen without his filter and bubbler in the tub? (Water will be changed 1 to 2 times a day with the soaks so that will make a bit of movement to add oxygen.)

 

[Nina Willis]

He should be fine with that.

 

[Holly12]

Update: He is in a tub with clean, dechlorinated water and a small bubbler for oxygen. He is sitting between 9.1 and 9.4 degrees.

I was told salt is too harsh, so twice a day, I am putting him 2L of clean, dechlorinated water with 1 cup of plain black tea, for 10 to 15 mins. Then, I put him in to fresh, dechlorinated water again.

If I don't see new fungus in a week and the pale parts of his gills go back to normal, I will do 2-3 extra days then acclimate him back to the tank. If he still gets fungus or the gills stay pale where the fungus was (after a week,) I will try salt dips. (Start with the gentle, move to the harsh as a last resort, basically.)

He's ok with no food for up to 2 weeks yes?

I am doing a light sprinkle of fish flakes into his tank every other day, to keep his bacteria alive and will still do a weekly water change, but probably only 25% instead of 50% since it's just fish food and not giant axie poops and pees fouling the tank.

 

[Donna001]

Ok without food for a while.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you and Steve.

 

[Holly12]

Update:

Day 3 of 2x a day salt dips and being in a quarantine tub in the cold Cellar at 9 - 10 degrees.
No new fungus, but pale spots where fungus was on gills is still there.
Going to 1x a day salt dips starting tomorrow and adding some tea to his quarantine tub.
Hoping to bring the tub upstairs Saturday after a water change on his tank and let his quarantine tub reach tank temps and then put him back in the tank. (Been sprinkling a tiny bit of fish food in his tank every other day to keep the filter bacteria alive.)
He refuses to eat still. Tried night crawlers, red wigglers and pellets. He takes a bite then spits it out. Hoping the fungus doesn't come back on the pale spots when he goes back in the tank.

*bonus: Discovered he can sit out heat waves in a quarantine tub in the cold Cellar this summer when his tank gets over 20 degrees!!! (20/21 was the max it hit last year.)

 

[CarysR]

I've dealt with fungus on my axolotls before, and have personally never done a salt baths as I've been told it's very stressful and can irritate the axolotls. I have a 5 gallon bucket that I put clean, dechlorinated water in, boil a pot of dechlorinated water and let 2 black, decaf tea bags steep for 10-15 mins, then add the tea water to the bucket and allow the water to cool to room temperature before adding the lotl.

In my experience, there is no harm in leaving your axolotl in a tea bath for an extended period of time. I will leave my lotl in the tea bath for up to a week for persistent fungus, changing the water every day or two. This method has always cleared up fungus for me in the past.

 

[Holly12]

Stelly has no new fungus and the pale spots on his gills are gone. I will do one more salt bath tomorrow and then let him sit in a tea bath while I do a tank water change and let his quarantine tub temps reach his tank temps before putting him back in. Not sure why he won't eat though. I've tried night crawlers, red wigglers and pellets while he was quarantined. I'm finding as an adult, he eats one or two bites every week or so.... he doesn't eat much.