Throat Issues Continuing

[EasternRomioi3]

Hello everyone, on August 22nd, my axolotl had a red, rough abrasion around her throat and on her hands, like she had gotten stuck, wedged in somewhere and dug her way out. Now today, it looks even worse, and seems to have spread. I removed all the sharp things she could have potentially gotten stuck on. I've kept her water good and clean, I honestly don't know what's wrong. She's eating just fine. She's lounging about as usual, she's not acting ANY different. She's reactive, she swims by when I come to her tank, I just don't understand why she's not healing. How long does this take? I will post a photo of when I noticed her injury, and then photos from tonight as I looked her over before bed. I'm truly worried about her. She's 6 years old, forgot to mention that. She's not had a health issue since a bout of fungus in October 2020.

Like I said, the first photo is when I discovered her injury, during a tank cleaning. The second and third are from tonight, September 9th, 3 weeks later. You can see how messed up her left hand is, it's so red. Now, last year, she did this to her hands before, they were real red and injured and she healed within a month. Is this just an injury or something worse? Nothing to my knowledge has changed with her, at all, other than seeing this injury, and me getting her a new, smoother hidey hole. I will admit I have been extremely sick all these weeks, I have RSV and have been struggling to take care of her and all my other pets. Can anyone tell me what's going on? Should I do a tea bath? I am at a genuine loss, she's never looked like this.

 

[minorhero]

Could be a few things, ammonia burns are probably the most common. How big is the tank they are in and how often are you doing water changes/amount?

Regarding remedies, there is never a bad time to do a big water change. I would make sure you do that. Beyond that, I have had good results using fish medication at 1/4 strength with newts in the past. The concern being an infection here. Erythromycin is available under several different names and brands in most major fish stores and online in the USA. I would treat with that as well as soon as you can following package directions but using 1/4 the called upon amount.

 

[EasternRomioi3]

@minorhero

I do her water change every 3 days, and she's never had ammonia issues before. Nothing in her routine has changed in 4 years so I don't know how that could have happened. Maybe I need to give her sponge filters' plastic interior piece a good scrubbing.

How would I know if she had an infection? I do not know what signs to look for.

 

[minorhero]

@minorhero

I do her water change every 3 days, and she's never had ammonia issues before. Nothing in her routine has changed in 4 years so I don't know how that could have happened. Maybe I need to give her sponge filters' plastic interior piece a good scrubbing.

How would I know if she had an infection? I do not know what signs to look for.

The only way you will know for certain she has an infection is to take her to a vet who works with amphibians.

I am not a vet. However, it doesn't look good what pictures you have shared and if this were my pet I would, 1) do a water test with liquid test kits so you know what is the current parameters. 2) do a 100% water change a few times in a row with good gravel vacuuming to get up old debris. 3) do a proper clean of the sponge filter. 4) treat with Erythromycin at 1/4 strength but otherwise follow package directions.

I would do the water changes today and treat with Erythromycin as soon as possible but certainly within the next couple of days.

This is not my pet so you can do whatever you want. But you asked for advice.. so there it is.

 

[EasternRomioi3]

She doesn't have gravel, she has sand, I usually stir it up. So a 100% water change, I should find her old tub. I haven't tubbed her in years. Oh and you asked how big her tank was I believe, it's 20 gallon. I don't have any room for anything bigger.

I do have a fresh water test kid or whatever it's called, from API, I did the tests. Her ammonia is no higher than it always is.

Oh and she gets one of those Holtfreter's solutions. I add two cups every time I do a tank changing. When I do a tank change, I would say I remove about 75% of her water. Basically down to where she is, so like if she leaned her head up, her face would come out of the water, and then I quickly add 2 gallons of clean water to immediately, than get the main water read to go.

And since I've been sick, I've not be as responsive with her, I will admit she went like 4 days between tank cleanings for a bit. I have no one who can help so it's all on me. I'll look into the Erythromycin, see if I can get a thing of it easily. There's no vets in our area that accepts axolotls, they're all relatively far away, so that's a concern.

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.

 

[EasternRomioi3]

@minorhero

I did another ammonia test just now, like 2 hours after the one I did earlier, just out of paranoia, they both came back with almost no ammonia. Her left hand looks much better than yesterday, now it just looks bruised, like a human bruise, but her redness is still the same. I did give her a worm today to see how she does and she sucked it right up. Came out of her hidey hole to get it herself, didn't have to bring it to her.

I removed all the things I think she could potentially get stuck on and get cut up on, after I noticed this injury. Now, years ago, when my best friend had her (previous owner), our axolotl developed a bright red sore on the right side of her face that bled for a few days, went away slowly, and scarred into that weird bump she has. You can see the scar in the second photo. I wonder if this is a reoccurrence of whatever that was.

Anyways, I haven't had a chance to get a ride to the pet stores yet for the medicine but it's on my things to do list. Thanks again for the recommendation. Oh and her slime coat is fine, no issues, no falling off, you know what I mean? Like, it looks purely cosmetic but you're right, no one wants her getting an infection.

When you say 1/4th strength, do you mean 1/4th of the recommended dose?

 

[minorhero]

@minorhero

I did another ammonia test just now, like 2 hours after the one I did earlier, just out of paranoia, they both came back with almost no ammonia. Her left hand looks much better than yesterday, now it just looks bruised, like a human bruise, but her redness is still the same. I did give her a worm today to see how she does and she sucked it right up. Came out of her hidey hole to get it herself, didn't have to bring it to her.

I removed all the things I think she could potentially get stuck on and get cut up on, after I noticed this injury. Now, years ago, when my best friend had her (previous owner), our axolotl developed a bright red sore on the right side of her face that bled for a few days, went away slowly, and scarred into that weird bump she has. You can see the scar in the second photo. I wonder if this is a reoccurrence of whatever that was.

Anyways, I haven't had a chance to get a ride to the pet stores yet for the medicine but it's on my things to do list. Thanks again for the recommendation. Oh and her slime coat is fine, no issues, no falling off, you know what I mean? Like, it looks purely cosmetic but you're right, no one wants her getting an infection.

When you say 1/4th strength, do you mean 1/4th of the recommended dose?

Yes, when I say 1/4 strength I mean use 1/4 the amount and otherwise follow package directions. I think most of them split it up into packets and want you to use 1 packet per 10 gallons of water. So for you with a 20 gallon tank, you would eyeball using half of 1 packet. That's what I have done in the past with good results.

That said, an established tank like this with as many water changes as you are doing should aways read zero ammonia. If you are using the liquid api test kit, the colors can be hard to read, especially under some light bulbs. Try reading them outside. Also try testing your tap water and see if your tap water has ammonia in it. Figuring out where that ammonia is coming from (if its really there) could be important.

 

[EasternRomioi3]

@minorhero

I did a tank cleaning today, took all I had with this blasted RSV, but she ate her pellets this morning. She's looking a little better but still real red in those spots. Her right hand is looking better, and the redness in her left one is going away finally. I just wish I was home when she got hurt or whatever but I was at work, came home, found her like that, got up the next day, sick as a dog.

As for the API test, yeah it's one of them, I checked it under good light, she had like, the lowest possible level of green and that makes sense given it was right before a tank cleaning and after she used the bathroom. As for my water quality, the water in my area is terrible, and very hard, so it takes time for all the bad stuff to evaporate out of it.

I should probably also add, that while I've been so sick, I've not been able to give her ice packs as regularly, so I'm hoping that's not an overheating issue. Now that I'm feeling a little better, she's getting her tank down to about 62ish degrees regularly. We don't have AC so without ice, it gets up to 72 and that's way too hot.

Thank you for clarifying on that medication, I really appreciate that, I'm gonna write that down so I have it in her notes.