Illness/Sickness: Open mouth, swollen jaw, and a ?fungus/bacteria that grows back in minutes

[rreloaded]

Hi everyone,

I have a 2 year old male who's not looking so hot, and I'm very worried for him. I'll present the signs/symptoms as I noticed them. I'm unsure if I'm dealing with 2 unrelated issues or if they're connected. It's weirding me out and I'd really love some advice. Sorry for all the text!

For reference:
1 tankmate, another male who is thriving and happy and fat
No substrate, just lots of head-sized rocks scattered around/ plastic plants
Tank temp 17 degrees, all parameters normal using the test tube method
Normally fed pellets, with the occasional tiny bit of cooked prawn or bloodworms

About 3 days ago I noticed he had a white fluffy thing on top of his head. I thought it was part of a sperm sac or something at the time so didn't worry too much. He was right in the corner of the tank. Later that day it still hadn't come off so I coaxed him to the front of the tank so I could have a closer look. I then realised one of his fluffy gill stalks was missing, and that the white stuff on his head appeared to be coming out of a wound. I then assumed he's had a bit of a scrap with his tankmate and an injury had become infected and there was a fungus or something.

At the same time I was inspecting this white stuff I noticed his mouth was open and thought he might have something in it. I then realised his jaw looked quite round and that something was clearly not right. He hadn't eaten in a couple of days but I wasn't too concerned at that point as he was always a bit on/off with his food.

Immediately put him into a separate tank as I was worried it might be infectious and did a full water change in the big tank. Since then I've been watching him very very closely. He was never as big as his tankmate but I thought that was probably just genetics. He has not eaten for a further 3 days. He is really not himself, I've seen him go to surface to gulp once or twice, and when I try and look in his mouth I can see a sort-of pinkish mound coming from the top but I'm unsure if that's just the inside of his mouth.

I am 95% sure nothing in the tank and nothing he could have eaten could be lodged. Pellets are always pretty soft by the time he gets to them and there is literally nothing in the tank small enough to get in there.

This is where it gets weird. So I'm assuming the white stuff is a fungus or something of the like. It's white and kinda fluffy and weird and it's coming out of a wound. So I do a tonne of research on salt baths and decide yesterday evening to try one out. 4 tsps of non-idodised salt to 2L of dechlor water. He seems ok enough in the bath. While he was in the bath I used a qtip to gently get rid of the white stuff til there was nothing visible. After ten mins he goes back into a nice new water tank. This was last night.

I go back to check on him about 45 mins later. THE WHITE STUFF IS BACK. I actually couldn't believe it. Brushed it off again, new tankwater, tried him unsuccessfully on some food, and then went to bed. This morning the white stuff is back again. Very confused and getting very concerned at that point. I try another weaker salt bath about midday today, wipe the white stuff away and stay with him after it, staring at the wee scrape he's got. Literally the white stuff is coming back within 5 minutes. Starts like a little pinprick of white and then gets bigger til it's the size as seen in the first photo.

I'm so scared for him, I've read around about the swollen jaw thing and it all just seems so negative with most axies who have this passing away. The rest of his body is fine, no bloating. I feel like the salt baths may be a waste of time if the white stuff is just going to keep coming back. Is the next step to fridge? I have prepared the fridge and have cold dechlor water and salt water ready to go of I do infact start the fridging process.

Any advice is much appreciated and I'd love to hear from anyone about their experiences. Any who suggest Vets - I wholly agree with you, but if there's any other advice I'd like to hear that too.

Thanks guys!

 

[Bellabelloo]

This could be an abscess , some of the symptoms seem consistent for this.
For some reason some axolotl can occasionally develop an abscess in this area, unfortunately I have no idea why.
I would advise treatment from a vet as I do not think that this is something that you can treat yourself

 

[LSuzuki]

Here is a thread from a couple of months ago. http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...sick-axolotl/99886-axolotl-w-pimple-head.html Note: this axolotl didn't have a swollen jaw. Also note: I don't know if this treatment is safe - i'm not an expert. However, if you can't find a vet that understands amphibians, perhaps this is something to try.

 

[auntiejude]

I agree with Julia, looks like an abcess and needs vet treatment.

 

[rreloaded]

Thanks for the advice everyone,

I've done some further investigations with Loki and it does seem to be an abscess. I gently used a qtip to brush away what was on the surface and then used another qtip to gently apply a bit of pressure and indeed some sort of pus-like stuff came out. Poor guy!

I'll be ringing around to see if there are any vets in the area who can treat axies.

P.S Has anyone had success with melafix or pimafix for this kind of infection? Someone else recommended it