Illness/Sickness: White spots?

[GlowingFauxPas]

Hello! I'm hoping someone can identify what this is. My axolotl has developed white spots, mostly on her face but also one on her back. It looks like ich but apparently axolotls usually don't get ich, also the spots aren't "sticking out" like ich does She hasn't lost her appetite at all.
My other axolotl shows no signs of illness and neither of them have curled tails or forward gills, so I don't think the problem is tank parameters. Does anyone know what this is, and what to do about it?

 

[AnnaBingham]

I dont know what the white spots could be, ill leave that to someone else.
What are your tank parametres? Is your tank cycled?

 

[Sweetie]

The only way to know whether your have a problem with your water is to test it with a reliable test kit (not test strips). Otherwise, you are just guessing. Some lotls are more sensitive than others to bad water conditions, in terms of gill curling and so on, so you do need to actually test your water asap.
For now, I would just keep a close eye on the spots to see if they change/spread. They could just be normal markings. You could try Indian almond leaves or a tea bath, both of which have mild anti-fungal properties and are less irritating than salt baths if it does turn out to be a mild fungal infection.
Absolutely gorgeous lotl btw!

 

[GlowingFauxPas]

I'm glad you like her!

I just brought some water to my LFS and they said the parameters were perfect.

 

[HayleyK]

Shine a light on it. If it reflects it's normal. My wild had the same thing and I was adding tea to the tank incase it was slime coat issues but it's been there for many many months and when I actually looked at it, it was just a really odd colour iridophore compared to the others.

 

[GlowingFauxPas]

They seem to reflect, so that's good! Except if they're iridiphores, does that mean my "melanoid" is actually a wild type?

 

[Skudo09]

Looks like a cute little wild type to me (shiny ring around the eye)

 

[GlowingFauxPas]

An update;

She seems to be in perfect health, but her golden spots on her head have become more pronounced. I guess she decided that she wanted to grow more/better iridiphores?! She was completely black when she was a juvenile (see my avatar).

 

[keiko]

Wild types often seem to change color when they grow. Mine used to be a lot lighter when she was little, now she's almost black.

 

[AnnaBingham]

Wild types often seem to change color when they grow. Mine used to be a lot lighter when she was little, now she's almost black.

Wow thats such an interesting photo! I didnt know they could change that drastically!

 

[keiko]

Wow thats such an interesting photo! I didnt know they could change that drastically!

Yea me neither until she did and I started asking people about it.

 

[Boomsloth]

They can also lighten or darken depending on the color of substrate they are in. Mine were on a darker floor and were almost black then moved for a few weeks to a white bath tub and some turned lighter olive.

 

[keiko]

It would be really interesting to see photos, Boomsloth. But I'll go make a new thread so we don't have to hijack GlowingFauxPas's thread.