Small white fluff on one gill. Should I do anything?

[anatomicalheart]

Hi everybody,

New here and this is my first complication with Peppers the axolotl, so I am wondering what to do. I made a mistake and turned the AC up while on vacation for a couple weeks. A few days after getting home Peppers got this white spot on her gill (sorry Peppers! ) It grew rapidly over a day to be about 1/4", only on the tip of one gill. I did a big water change and moved her tank to right in front of the AC, so the temp dropped to 64 F. She was acting fine. Later that night she was eating her worm and when she shook her head it just fell off. The pictures of the big growth are what it looked like at its worst. It was fuzzy like a rotting food granule left in a tank.

Now it has been a couple days and she has a tiny white spot in the same place. The water is still 64. It seems to be growing slower. The blurry picture from the back of her head is from today.

Should I do anything? Will this work itself out without treatment?

Thanks!

 

[Hoagii]

Ugh, looks like gill fungus to me. There are several posts with suggestions for dealing with fungus. Some axies can fight it off on their own if you keep them in a comfortable, stable environment. Definitely keep her under the AC so she stays cool. You may need to try salt baths (there's a pin with instructions). I personally used chlorhexidine to treat stubborn fungus in my own axolotl.

Just check out the Sick Axolotl forum or search for gill fungus and you'll find tons of info on treatments. Good luck!

 

[anatomicalheart]

Thank you for the response! I was wondering if this is what fungus looks like. It seems to be growing and moving down her one gill again today.

I am a little confused about two things:

Do salt baths always go with fridge treatment too? Or can you just do salt?

I saw the recent post about chlorhexidine as a topical treatment, but is this also something that you add to the whole tank while she is in it? And does that disinfect the tank? I assume this is also going to kill the cycle, but maybe I do need to treat the whole tank? Also, is this readily available at a pet store?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Charlotl]

Salt bath only. Everything I have read says fridging is for constipation and as a last resort for very sick axolotl.

 

[charleybambino]

Try a shallow bath enabling you to try to remove the fungus with gentle tweezers or cotton buds first...this sometimes is enough

 

[Fimbriae]

Depending on the severity, fridging has been used in conjunction with salt baths. It is not necessarily a last resort for an adult axolotl. Yes the most common application for fridge treatments, is probably impaction. This is because they end up purging their guts out both ends sometimes, and the cold helps in passing larger things through their cloaca. Colder temperatures (speaking generally) slow many afflictions. Metabolism is slowed right down, at no detriment to their immune system. This helps skew the odds, so they can better heal on their own.

 

[anatomicalheart]

Hi everybody!

Wanted to give an update. Per instructions, I gave her a salt bath. I also pulled the fungus off her gill in the bath. It was stressful to catch her and everything, so I decided to wait and see what happened before giving her a second bath.

A couple days later she got a tiny white spot again, but instead of growing rapidly in one day, it stayed small and was gone the next day. Yay! :happy:

I also have her parked right in front of a window unit AC so she is staying at 60-64 F all the time....unless I can figure out something more efficient.

Thanks everyone for your help!

 

[Hoagii]

yay! Glad she's fixed How lucky that you only needed one salt treatment!

I've had to keep my axolotl directly under my A/C this summer too. Kinda sucks, but you do what you have to.