Sparxalotl
New member
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.
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.
