Axolotl Injury! Fungal infection?

[jhende17]

Hi all! I need some help with my 3 year old little fella, Hank. Just recently I noticed that he had cut himself on something in his tank, which has never happened before. I haven't added any new objects in the tank, but I did find a sharp point on something that has been in there a while that I think is the culprit. I left the injury alone as I figured it was best to let him heal himself. Then a chunk of skin began to peel off yesterday along with some bleeding, and now today it seems like he may be getting a fungal infection (see photos) as the injury spot appears white and fuzzy. There has also been a bit of bleeding today as well. My first thought is that I'm going change out most of his water and to get some almond leaves for doing a tea bath (which I've never done before). Nitrates in his tank are a bit high, as I just fed him a couple days before the injury. Water temp and air circulation/water disturbance aren't an issue. I've also thought that I may fridge him as well. Please give me any tips if you've experienced anything like this before.


P.S. - You may notice his gills are very short, but they have been that way for roughly a year and he hasn't had any mood changes. But do you have any advice as to why?
Thanks so much.

 

[Murk]

Yeah, the wound doesn't look pretty, but it isn't something a healthy axolotl can't handle.

He doesn't look healthy, though. In general. Skinny, gills almost gone, looking quite anemic.
Can you list readings of your current water parameters?
What do you feed, and how much?
Any filter, substrate?

 

[jhende17]

Nitrates are a bit high around 80 ppm, Nitrates at 0, Hardness around 70-75 ppm, Chlorine at 0, Alkalinity a bit low around 50 ppm, pH is neutral at 7.0, and Ammonia is at 0. Temperature is stable around 68-70 F.
I typically feed him 6-8 rosy red feeder minnows every two weeks, and a block of frozen bloodworms 2-3 times a week. Two filters on the tank (as he is separated from his much smaller tank mate for the time being). No substrate. I removed a couple plant decorations from the tank earlier this week that appeared to have some algae starting to grow on them.

I appreciate your help.

 

[Calgarycoppers]

That wound doesn't look good.
I'd recommend tubbing him with minimum once daily 100% water changes, keep the water cold clean and dechlorinated.

You may want to think about adding johns solution to strengthen his slime coat and potentially replace some missing electrolytes from his current diet. Handout HERE.
I use Johns solution in all 13 of my axolotl tanks and if I forget to replace after water changes that is when I see issues. Johns has completely prevented any issues on my Axolots.

Tank
Get your nitrates down to 20 at minimum by doing a 75% water change
Try to get temp down a few degrees

As soon as nitrates hit 40ppm you need to do a 50% water change minimum.
You really want to keep them 5-20

Food

Rosy red minnows as a main diet are not complete nutrition and affect absorption so your axolotl is likely lacking several vitamins, minerals etc and the bloodworms are only 6-9% protein and they need 40-45% so they are like potato chips.

Best foods
Worms - Nightcrawlers - preferably European
Repashy Grub Pie
Most aquatic pellet with >40% protein 5 - 12% fats an 3 of the first 6 ingredients to be fish, seafood or insect/ larva based

Here is a document on diet I give my families.

Fingers crossed for your baby

Nitrates are a bit high around 80 ppm, Nitrates at 0, Hardness around 70-75 ppm, Chlorine at 0, Alkalinity a bit low around 50 ppm, pH is neutral at 7.0, and Ammonia is at 0. Temperature is stable around 68-70 F.
I typically feed him 6-8 rosy red feeder minnows every two weeks, and a block of frozen bloodworms 2-3 times a week. Two filters on the tank (as he is separated from his much smaller tank mate for the time being). No substrate. I removed a couple plant decorations from the tank earlier this week that appeared to have some algae starting to grow on them.

I appreciate your help.