Possible Fungal Infection post ammonia spike

[RebeccaS7]

Hello everyone,

I've been using these forums for quite a few years for information but just registered as a user.
Parameters:
Ph: 7.6
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrates: 5ppm
20 gal long

My 6yo axolotl DJ has been doing poorly since October when I had an unexplained ammonia spike and crashed my cycle (I think) by over zealous water changes and a filter issue.

I noticed his gills in October had lost a lot of their filaments (they've since grown back a bit in the picture below but have always been short in length like they are now), and assumed there was something wrong with my water. I did larger water changes but the parameters seemed normal until I had a huge ammonia spike and his fingers/toes turned really red.

A few days later I saw his foot was at an odd angle and took him to the exotics vet.

The vet confirmed that he had ammonia burns, but I had been tubbing him with 2x daily water changes.

As for the foot he said since it was neurovascularly intact he assumed DJ had caught it on his driftwood/a plant root and dislocated or broken it. He advised keeping the water pristine and monitoring for secondary bacterial infections.

I noticed a few days ago the red was significantly less, and he was standing on his foot like normal, but then last night I saw he was missing toes and had a white mass in his gill slit.

based on the advice from the vet and his original breeder, I'm doing salt baths 2x a day and adding IAL to his main tank. The general assumption is that the ammonia damage to the toes caused them to fall off and they will regrow in time.

 

[Calgarycoppers]

I definitely would do things differently but hopefully that will work for you.

Let me know if you want other options

 

[RebeccaS7]

I'm very open to other options, thank you

 

[Calgarycoppers]

Generally I recommended tubbing while they have active fungal infections

I recommend changing the water 100% every 12 hours.

I recommend dosing with aquarium/pickling salt at all times in tubs and tank it makes a HUGE difference. dose range is 1 tablespoon per 5-10 gallons. Start at 1tbsp per 10g and only go up if it doesnt resolve.

I recommend making IAL extract.
Crush a few leaves and boil for 10 mins in full pot. Strain with cheese cloth or fine mesh. Let extract cool before using.
I add to tubs and or tanks - this is a faster release of the tannins which is what helps soothe and has antibacterial properties.

once you get him settled down you need to keep the water pristine!!

Test twice a week - Nitrate hits 20 do a 50% water change if it gets above that to 40 do a 75% water change.
ANY ammonia or nitrite tub ASAP

Axolotls that have been "burned" or had toxicity before are hyper sensitive from then on

I NEVER recommend Salt baths until its a LAST resort as it causes soooo much stress.

 

[RebeccaS7]

Thank you very much - I will take your advice.

I'm really at a loss for what caused the initial ammonia spike back in october that caused all this mess it seems. Since then the tank has tested 0/0/5 consistently, but a tub with 100% changes means no guessing about fluctuations.

This is the tank he is going into, it's cycled but I don't want to put him in it until he is recovered from... whatever this calamity has been.

 

[Calgarycoppers]

Thank you very much - I will take your advice.

I'm really at a loss for what caused the initial ammonia spike back in october that caused all this mess it seems. Since then the tank has tested 0/0/5 consistently, but a tub with 100% changes means no guessing about fluctuations.

This is the tank he is going into, it's cycled but I don't want to put him in it until he is recovered from... whatever this calamity has been.


View attachment 86492

Gorgeous tank

Make sure you are putting some of his poop in the tank to keep it cycled
no ammonia will crash the cycle

 

[RebeccaS7]

yup! I've been seeding it with ammonia as well, since I did a fishless cycle.
Thank you again

 

[Calgarycoppers]

AWESOME!!!! So many forget

yup! I've been seeding it with ammonia as well, since I did a fishless cycle.
Thank you again

 

[RebeccaS7]

I'm updating this since I know the frustration of "Hey, this forum post is about my exact problem but has no resolution"

As you can see from this comparison I made in early january, DJ's gills have recovered nicely.

His foot is much, much better as well, and the fungal infection in his gill slit cleared up almost instantly.

What I did do:
Immediately tubbed DJ when I first noticed the ammonia spike presuming the cycle had crashed (which considering how quickly the parameters returned to 'normal' i'm not sure it was a CRASH so much as maybe some food in the sand/rotting plant roots/etc caused the initial spike)

Added IAL to main tank, and on advise of vet did salt baths in secondary small tub 2x daily for about 10 days - during one of these salt baths the white fungus globule actually fell out/off of his gills, and I was able to inspect it. Very gross.

Once this happened, I dosed the main aquarium with some salt and additional IAL as recommended above^, and in the interim his larger 50gal tank finished cycling so I moved him directly to that tank (with IAL in the water/tannins from driftwood and the natural scape).

By the end of December, DJ's fingers had grown back, his injured wrist was no longer red or flopping around (though there is a noticeable 'dent' in the wrist area), and his gills have returned to their fluffy-normal (again, his gills have always been -short- but they were never as sparse as that october picture).

Now at the beginning of february with the exception of a few short looking toes, you couldn't tell he'd had anything wrong with him at all.

Thank you all for your advice and help here, these forums are a great resource!
And DJ says thank you too:

 

[EasternRomioi3]

@RebeccaS7

I am so glad you got it all cleared up! DJ looks like he's made a full recovery, at least in quality of life. That was some real bad fungus he had and you somehow conquered it. That's something to be proud of.