White patches on wild type / tea bath advice

[Neptune]

Hey everyone. :happy:

One of my axolotls, Simon, has started getting white patches on his skin. They're not fluffy or cotton-like, they're just white patches on his skin. He's a wild type with quite dark, black skin, so it is fairly noticeable. I've attached some pictures of Simon's white patches.

He shares a tank with a leucistic axolotl named Audrey. Audrey, despite being a leucistic, doesn't appear to have these patches as there are no signs of them on his red/pink gills. I can't rule it out, though.

The water conditions are as follows:

Temperature - 18C
pH - 7.4
Ammonia - 0.2 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 20 ppm

I'm under the impression that a tea bath would be a good idea, however I've no experience in giving one. Would it be OK to do the following?:

1. Place teabag into a mug, and boil water
2. Pour boiled water into mug and wait for the water to cool
3. Remove the teabag and pour the tea into the aquarium, over the outflow pipe
4. Dilute and remove tea from aquarium with regular water changes

Again, I've no experience with giving tea baths, but I've seen this procedure being recommended before. Any help would be good.

Thanks in advance.

 

[auntiejude]

Those pics are not quite clear enough to make out what the white is.

But yes, that a good procedure for a tea bath. It won't hurt Audrey.

The other option is to take Simon out and put him in a plastic tub with tea and water in it, then put him back in the tank.

 

[Kaysie]

It wouldn't hurt to treat Audrey as preventative.

 

[Neptune]

Thanks for the replies. About the images not being clear enough, those white patches aren't raised, fluffy or anything. It's not even accurate to say they're flush with the skin as, to be honest, it looks as if it is just his skin pigment. When I've fed him, I've had a quick, gentle feel to see if it was something that could've been rubbed off, but it couldn't. He seems his usual, alert self, and still has his appetite.

It's come on all of a sudden though, and with his pigment having always been quite dark, even black in places, it doesn't strike me as pigmentation. I can't really take any better quality pictures because he always knows when I'm about to take one, then swims away haha.

Thanks again, I'll give that method a go.

 

[axowattyl]

My wild types have white patches as well, mostly on their tails.

I've read somewhere that it's a pigment thing, not an ailment.

Mine don't have them on their heads/faces though, but like yours my patches are flush with the normal colored skin, not raised or fluffy.

If your tank is clean, water tests fine and the axie is happy/hungry I wouldn't loose too much sleep over it.

 

[Petersgirl]

My Wild Type has small white patches which appear on his tummy and face too. They're perfectly flat and aren't fluffy. I think it can also be a pigment thing - Wilds aren't melanoids after all and can still carry lighter pigments. The white patches don't bother my axxie at all. He's had them for months.

You can shine a torch on them just to rule out iridophores, but those are harmless too - shiny pigments in their skin. Toothie (my Wild) has those too.

I think this is harmless pigmentation. If he's not showing signs of irritation and it doesn't comes off when he moves, it's not a worry and it may be harmless markings.