Illness/Sickness: Fungus(?) on Axolotl's Gills

[Sonabu]

Hello!

I just recently got my Axolotl on Friday 1/28/22 and he seemed to be doing fine, but I noticed today there was some white discoloration on his gills. He is in a 55 gallon tank with an acrylic divider separating it in two. I had originally been using an aquaclear 55 filter on one side, and a sponge filter on the other. I swapped them when I noticed that the flow seemed too high for him, and have the aquaclear running temporarily on the empty side of the tank until the second sponge filter has some time to develop beneficial bacteria. I wanted to get some advice on what this white discoloration might be and if I should be concerned.

The temperature of the tank is 64 degrees with the use of an aquarium chiller. The tanks parameters are as follows: 0 Ammonia, 0 nitrite, between 10-25 nitrate, and a ph of 6.8. I've attached photos of the enclosure and of the axolotl in question. The tank is fairly well lit due to the lights in the room, but I've been putting a large cardboard box in front of it in order to keep it darker for the axolotl when I'm not feeding or doing maintenance on the tank.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[The-Axolotl]

Hello, i do think this is fungus on your axolotls gills, i reccomend you look at some other threads to find out how to remove it.

 

[BasilBear]

I do agree with The-Axolotl and think it is fungus. In my experience the best way to clear up fungus is by tubbing your axolotl and preforming 100% water changes every day. This will insure that your axolotl has a nice clean environment so they can recover properly. I would also tub him with something called an Indian almond leaf, the tannins in them will help to heal your axolotl. I hope this helps and your axolotl feels better soon!

 

[Sonabu]

Thank you both for the advice. The fungus seems to have receded since yesterday when I took those pictures, but I'll still tub him with an Indian almond leaf just in case.

 

[JM29]

Ok for clearing out this gill fungus but don't forget to look for the cause.
Fungus causes can be :
- stress. Noise, vibrations ? bare bottom ?
- injuries from contact with objects in the tank.
If you don't find the cause and correct it, fungus will come back from time to time once the axolotl is back in its tank.

 

[Sonabu]

Ok for clearing out this gill fungus but don't forget to look for the cause.
Fungus causes can be :
- stress. Noise, vibrations ? bare bottom ?
- injuries from contact with objects in the tank.
If you don't find the cause and correct it, fungus will come back from time to time once the axolotl is back in its tank.

That makes sense. Is it possible it was stress from the high flow of the aquaclear that caused it, and the fungus just took a few days to be visible? The aquaclear was in there for two days, and the axolotl started moving around and being much more active when I removed it.

Edit: Now that I think of it, the fungus showed up only a day after I removed the aquaclear.

 

[JM29]

Yes, that's a possibility.
Axolotls don't like water flow.
Fungus is basically microscopic. Between the beginning of the stressing conditions and the moment when you can see the fungus symptoms, it can last several days.