Illness/Sickness: Please help!!

[amyhelen]

Hi there,
We have 2 baby axolotls and they have become very slow and are not eating, our levels are fine nitrite. 0, nitrate between 20-40, ammonia 0. Our water has become very cloudy and one has the dreaded white stuff on his gills so I thought it must be fungal.
I spoke to the aquatic place we bought them.from for advice yesterday and was advised to not do any water changes as this is probably due to stress and they don't cope well.with Changes, and to leave them alone and.it should sort itself out. I came back from work.to find that the white stuff has spread and couldn't get hold of the aquatic place for further advice. I rang my local vet who has a good knowledge of axolotls and have advised me to do a 80% water change today and 50% water changes each day after until the water becomes clear and to add a.fungal treatment. Please can someone help.me as I have two conflicting apinions from aqautics who breed and a vet with good knowledge!!!! ? many thanks Amy

 

[rachel1]

Anyone who advises against water changes doesn't know what they're talking about. The vet gave you good info, please follow his advice. Also make sure they are not too warm, they will heal better in cool water.

 

[amyhelen]

Thanks, I did thinkitwas a strange thing to say no water changes...... do you know of a safe anti fungal treatment I can use in the tank.

 

[auntiejude]

Pimafix is a good treatment for fungus, as are salt baths. Indian almond leaves are good for preventing fungus.

 

[BabySinclair]

Here is an awesome page that I've been using for reference and learning. (I haven't had any major issues yet (knock on word) but I want to be ready for it.
Tho I'm not sure if the same fungal treatments are available in every country.
I hope this page is some help

Axolotls - Health & Diseases


I will say that I have Read many instances (from This Very site -caudata) where fresh clean dechlorinated tap water was all that was needed to clear a mild fungal infection up. All the people did was daily water changes, and the fungal infection went away almost immediately (this method worked for me) - (so long as it's not covering him entirely!!!) I personally would try this method first. For a day or two and see if the fungus stops and drops. Another method (from this site) is giving your Lotl a bath in chlorinated tap water (only works if your municipality treats the water with chloramines. I have Treated MANY fish with this method - using chlorinated water right out of the tap. It worked, and where I live, we have very low PPM's of chloramines. Same method can be done with mild salt baths (instructions are on this site) However I feel and have read that the last two methods can be stressful, because of having to net and bucket the poor little guys. And really, who likes salt water in their eyes And is prolly best left as a later/last resort. I've also read that black tea baths are a life saver as well, tho I have yet to have to do it (knock on wood) But as far as stress, It took almost a month before my guys didn't freak out/stress when my arm was in their tank for cleaning. Dinner time on the other hand.... . Anyways, If your guys aren't used to you yet, you can really stress them out which in turn weakens the immune system and leaves them vulnerable to illness and infections just like people

Btw, a week after my lotls were mailed to me, I had a mild case of gill fungus. Doing 50% daily water (I used aged water instead of using water dechlorination chemicals) changes for 3 days took care of it. I've been back to back to weekly 30% water changes ever since with No problems (2 1/2 months)

Do you have live plants - if not,... Get some floating dwarf water lettuce and frogbit
Your nitrates will drop significantly! My tank is below 20 for nitrates, sometimes even 0. But I have floating plants to suck up any excess nutrients in the water. The floating plants not only block out light, but seem to greatly reduce stress and seems to make them feel safer. (At least mine

My last bit of advice to you...
Listen to what your Vet says!!! I'm dead serious!! The Vets job is the care for all animals. Especially a Veterinarian who has taken the extra time/schooling to learn about amphibians. (They do it because they want to, and if you have any idea what the schooling entails. You'll understand why I'm saying this :happy:
It's a big deal that you Even FOUND a vet that knows about Lotls!!! All that extra schooling means that they genuinely care!!!!!! :supercool: :supercool: :supercool: :frog: :frog:

The fish store on the other hand.. Most care about nothing more that paying bills and making sales They will say anything to make a sale (I'll be doing a post about my lfs/local fish store when I'm done with this one.. )
Anyone who tells you to not do a water change during a fungal infection for any aquatic animal (fish, axolotle, frog, ALL aquatics) is a Complete tool (Idiot, moron, what ever you want to call it) if I could, I'd smack the person in the face with a spawning salmon!! :angel: :lol: It's pretty clear that he either knows little to nothing or, and only cares about his bottom dollar. They are probably figuring that if your little guys die, that you'll be back to buy more. If you don't, someone else will...
When your little guys get bigger and personalitys start to show. You'll realize that they are more than just Amphibians

With that being said. If for some reason your little lovelies don't make it. Please don't let it ruin your experience. Axolotls are amazing and have so much character! But Sometimes, if the critter doesn't have a good start, they just don't pull through. I highly recommend buying them from this site There are some very knowledgable and caring breeders on this site! :frog:


Ok, now that I've written a novel :lol:

Important questions:

I'd really love to see a picture of his size. I'm curious to see if he's under weight if you can post a picture from the top view

Do you know how old they are?

Size?

Temp?

Filter type?

How long have you had them?

How often do you do water changes?

Are there any possible rough or sharp objects that he may have bumped up against?

Substrate?

If you can post a picture of the infected area on your axolotl/s everyone here can much better help you

Cheers! :frog:
Tori

 

[BabySinclair]

Pimafix is a good treatment for fungus, as are salt baths. Indian almond leaves are good for preventing fungus.

I'm curious about long term prevention in conjunction with normal water changes
Are the Indian Almond Leaves in your tanks full time? Do you have any experience with the almond leaf extract? I was reading about it for use in aquariums, but couldn't find anything really informative for use with axolotls.

 

[Shamy81]

Thank you for all the replies but sadly they both died late last night within a few hours of eachother. Infact the first to go wasn't even the one that looked poorly. The second one was removed and placed in a bucket of de chlorinated water, he regurgitated what food he had in him with in a minute or so but then died a few hours later.
The set up we were/are running for that tank is.....60ltr tank with about 50ltrs of water in, stress coat+ added to water during any changes, fluval pump good for abou at 45ltr tank, moss ball, almond leaf, thin layer of black sand, small air stone on minimum and few places to hide. Oh and a small fan unit to help keep temp around 18c.
We had them for about 5 days, they were approx 3 inch long, we did a 20% water change on the morning of the day we introduced them to the tank and then in those days following we did 2 small water changes to help with any sudden spikes that may have occurred. Water used is always treated with stress coat+ and left to sit for about 24hrs before being exchanged in the tank.
We've successfully kept our 3 adults with little issues, 2 of them of which we've had for about 3 yrs so we are scratching our heads as to what went wrong for the poor things.

Thanks again from us both for all replies, help and advice.