Help! Strip of skin coming off tail + fungus?

[Dan S.]

Help! New axolotl owner, 3 month old axolotl (got them for the axolotl-obsessed kid ~a month ago), 20 gal tank . Two days back noticed a thin, fuzzy strip of skin hanging off their tail - I thought maybe they’d injured themself somehow and fungus had gotten to it? So I added a small amount of non-iodized salt, which had seemed to work well (on pet store’s advice) when they developed a small patch of gill fungus early on. (Now gone). Next day the strip was gone with just a tiny patch of (I assume) fungus left, so I wanted to wait and see for a day or two to see if anything more was needed. But now more of their tail skin’s coming off, in a thin fuzzy strip continuing on from before - I think more then even an hour ago. I had just changed the water, but checked tank and nitrate/nitrite was way high; did a ~10% water change and added Prime to tank to detoxify; now reading lower, but still too high - 40 ppm nitrate and maybe 5ppm nitrite (it looks maybe in between but closer to 5 - I have trouble telling with these test strips).

What should I do?!

 

[Dan S.]

Help! New axolotl owner, 3 month old axolotl (got them for the axolotl-obsessed kid ~a month ago), 20 gal tank . Two days back noticed a thin, fuzzy strip of skin hanging off their tail - I thought maybe they’d injured themself somehow and fungus had gotten to it? So I added a small amount of non-iodized salt, which had seemed to work well (on pet store’s advice) when they developed a small patch of gill fungus early on. (Now gone). Next day the strip was gone with just a tiny patch of (I assume) fungus left, so I wanted to wait and see for a day or two to see if anything more was needed. But now more of their tail skin’s coming off, in a thin fuzzy strip continuing on from before - I think more then even an hour ago. I had just changed the water, but checked tank and nitrate/nitrite was way high; did a ~10% water change and added Prime to tank to detoxify; now reading lower, but still too high - 40 ppm nitrate and maybe 5ppm nitrite (it looks maybe in between but closer to 5 - I have trouble telling with these test strips).

What should I do?!

Another pic

 

[Dan S.]

Help! New axolotl owner, 3 month old axolotl (got them for the axolotl-obsessed kid ~a month ago), 20 gal tank . Two days back noticed a thin, fuzzy strip of skin hanging off their tail - I thought maybe they’d injured themself somehow and fungus had gotten to it? So I added a small amount of non-iodized salt, which had seemed to work well (on pet store’s advice) when they developed a small patch of gill fungus early on. (Now gone). Next day the strip was gone with just a tiny patch of (I assume) fungus left, so I wanted to wait and see for a day or two to see if anything more was needed. But now more of their tail skin’s coming off, in a thin fuzzy strip continuing on from before - I think more then even an hour ago. I had just changed the water, but checked tank and nitrate/nitrite was way high; did a ~10% water change and added Prime to tank to detoxify; now reading lower, but still too high - 40 ppm nitrate and maybe 5ppm nitrite (it looks maybe in between but closer to 5 - I have trouble telling with these test strips).

What should I do?!

And another photo

 

[wolfen]

you need to be doing a 50% water change, dechlorinate (no added bells and whistles required if the tank is cycled then the bacteria will deal with the ammonia and nitrites) the water before adding to the tank, the nitrites are the main issue and need to be lowered, the level that they are at is beyond tolerance. are you sure the tank has been cycled? also get a liquid freshwater test kit, the strip tests are ok for a rough idea only plus most don't tell you the ammonia levels which are very important. also what is the tank water temperature.

 

[Dan S.]

you need to be doing a 50% water change, dechlorinate (no added bells and whistles required if the tank is cycled then the bacteria will deal with the ammonia and nitrites) the water before adding to the tank, the nitrites are the main issue and need to be lowered, the level that they are at is beyond tolerance. are you sure the tank has been cycled? also get a liquid freshwater test kit, the strip tests are ok for a rough idea only plus most don't tell you the ammonia levels which are very important. also what is the tank water temperature.

59.5F

 

[wolfen]

the water temp is good, look into using modified holfreters solution, I believe its johns solution that uses only 1g salt per litre, that should hold any fungus a bay, for the nitrites to be so high unless the cycle has crashed seems like the cycle isn't complete.

 

[Dan S.]

the water temp is good, look into using modified holfreters solution, I believe its johns solution that uses only 1g salt per litre, that should hold any fungus a bay, for the nitrites to be so high unless the cycle has crashed seems like the cycle isn't complete.

Will do - I thought it had cycled, things seemed stable, I must have been wrong. Thank you!

 

[wolfen]

Will do - I thought it had cycled, things seemed stable, I must have been wrong. Thank you!

no probs

 

[axolotl nerd]

you need to be doing a 50% water change, dechlorinate (no added bells and whistles required if the tank is cycled then the bacteria will deal with the ammonia and nitrites) the water before adding to the tank, the nitrites are the main issue and need to be lowered, the level that they are at is beyond tolerance. are you sure the tank has been cycled? also get a liquid freshwater test kit, the strip tests are ok for a rough idea only plus most don't tell you the ammonia levels which are very important. also what is the tank water temperature.

adding on to this, because i’m not sure if it was implied or not, but i recommend tubbing the axolotl. if you have questions on what that is, feel free to pm me

 

[axolotl nerd]

Help! New axolotl owner, 3 month old axolotl (got them for the axolotl-obsessed kid ~a month ago), 20 gal tank . Two days back noticed a thin, fuzzy strip of skin hanging off their tail - I thought maybe they’d injured themself somehow and fungus had gotten to it? So I added a small amount of non-iodized salt, which had seemed to work well (on pet store’s advice) when they developed a small patch of gill fungus early on. (Now gone). Next day the strip was gone with just a tiny patch of (I assume) fungus left, so I wanted to wait and see for a day or two to see if anything more was needed. But now more of their tail skin’s coming off, in a thin fuzzy strip continuing on from before - I think more then even an hour ago. I had just changed the water, but checked tank and nitrate/nitrite was way high; did a ~10% water change and added Prime to tank to detoxify; now reading lower, but still too high - 40 ppm nitrate and maybe 5ppm nitrite (it looks maybe in between but closer to 5 - I have trouble telling with these test strips).

What should I do?!

i mentioned this a minute ago in a response to wolfen’s post, but figured id go ahead and write out my advice entirely.
my method for fixing this would be;
1. tub her, using clean, cool, dechlorinated water. change 100% daily
2. apply tea baths at first, to kill the fungus, and if that doesn’t work because the fungus is too agressive, use salt baths. *warning* salt baths can cause more harm than good if done improperly
3. purchase a liquid test kit. it’s much more accurate and an incredibly useful tool for axolotl keeping. highly recommend
4. monitor her closely and keep us updated!
once again, feel free to pm me with questions (though ive been fairly inactive recently due to my chaotic life) and ill try to respond as soon as i can!