Illness/Sickness: Persistent Fungus

[Sparxalotl]

Hello,

My axolotl Sparx has had fungus on and off for the last 9 months. Sparx is 1 year and four months old and otherwise healthy, eats 1 large night crawler a day, and always has bowel movements the next day. Sparx even moves around whenever someone is near the tank, so there's no sluggishness. About every other month Sparx gets fungus in their gills. The first time Sparx had fungus I believe it was because the tank temperature was at 65F, which I know isn't that high but I've learned that if the temperature is anywhere above 62F Sparx gets fungus and all other parameters were perfect during the first infection. My treatment plan has been to tub Sparx and give 15-minute black tea baths 3 times a day for 2 weeks, clean the tank and decorations and start over on cycling. Being tubbed so often was extremely hard on Sparx so recently I've started doing tea baths once a day and keeping them in the tank instead of tubbing. I've seen gill growth and less fungus but it still comes back since it's in the tank still. I've started to look into other treatment options but most other treatments are for severe cases and at this point, Sparx has a mild case of fungus it's just very persistent.

So my question are:
What am I doing wrong? and Should I try the more serious treatments such as salt baths?

Water Parameters - All Stable
PH 7.2-7.6
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
GH 5 dGH or 89.5 ppm
KH 3 dKH or 53.7 ppm

The tank has a tile bottom that was glued in place with aquarium safe silicone covering all cracks and edges, silk plants, 2 hides and 1 driftwood hide, 1 sponge filter, chiller set to 61F, canister filter cleaned once a month, UV filter run inline on canister filter runs 8 hrs a day. Water changes are done twice a month (and as needed for issues), first water change is about 20% - 30% second water change is 50%, a Prime water conditioner is used, Poo cleanup is done daily. The light in the picture is only turned on for water changes and occasionally for feedings when Sparx is hiding, the night mode on my phone's camera makes it look much brighter than it is, it's a strip light set at 20% brightness.

 

[wolfen]

go to Axolotls - Requirements & Water Conditions in Captivity and read about using holtfreters solution or a modified solution, the solution will add salts and minerals to the water that will help prevent fungus/stabilise ph and improve the kh gh.
axolotls originate from an environment which is slightly brackish and high in minerals, this therefore causes some axolotls to be prone to fungus/anaemia and possibly bloating issues.

 

[Autistic Catholic]

It's also possible that Sparx has a weaker immune system and is more prone to illness. I can't find anything wrong in your husbandry but if he does better at a slightly lower temperature, you might try keeping it lower then. He might just do better at 60-62F rather than the standard range.

 

[JM29]

If this problem persists in spite of good water parameters (at least the ones you can measure), then try to :
- introduce floating plants like hornwort, water lettuce. Then let the light on for more long. Light is necessary for live plants and the plants will provide shade for the axolotl.
- you can also fix some Java fern on your driftwood hide.
- put some dead oak leaves in the tank.

 

[Sparxalotl]

go to Axolotls - Requirements & Water Conditions in Captivity and read about using holtfreters solution or a modified solution, the solution will add salts and minerals to the water that will help prevent fungus/stabilise ph and improve the kh gh.
axolotls originate from an environment which is slightly brackish and high in minerals, this therefore causes some axolotls to be prone to fungus/anaemia and possibly bloating issues.

Thank you for the advice, I ordered everything for the solution and I should be able to try it in the next couple of days and post an update.