Dalton'n'Darwin
New member
TL,DR:
-I've been hospitalizing her in a mini-fridge at 7-10 degrees Celsius (45-50 F.) and giving salt baths/changing water while I sanitize and cycle her tank. (currently nearly ready to begin cycling) (later note: now cycling)
-This morning, the skin on her sides was covered in white growths. (later note: this may be her skin reacting to salt solution ? )
-She is not eating, appears to be thinning out,
-She may have been sick and injured from the infection. (later note, pictures attached)
AS OF July 13 -
My wildtype Axolotl showed fungus/collumnaris on her gills one week ago.
It's been tough to keep the fungus at bay with two 15 minute salt baths each day, but I know she's been sleeping well in the fridge between baths. She pooped about 5 days ago, and last ate about 8 days ago.
Now, she isn't interested in food and is beginning to look thinner than before.
She has been gulping air more and more often, currently about every 10 mins when she's awake.
Her gills have taken some damage from the infection, but not a lot. The fungus has spread over the last week throughout her gills, but is no longer eating down to the stalks, which is an improvement.
Here's where it gets messy; Last night, I messed up. I wanted to do a third salt bath that evening to try to get ahead of the infection and when I put her back into the fridge, I'm pretty sure the water did not stay cold enough overnight. She's been asleep for a while, and was likely awake/moving around in her confined space and probably stressed out. This morning, she had similar white growths spread pretty extensively down the sides of her body. I gave her a salt bath and most of the growths came off with some gentle brushing, but they were obviously damaging her skin. Behind her front legs and dorsally from her back legs (near her pelvis), the infection has left what look like dark brown sores in the skin. They look painful, but she seems pretty stalwart about it. I've offered her food every day, and she hasn't taken anything. I used a pipette to try feeding her her regular bloodworms directly today, and she maybe took in some of the food, but is still not 'eating' normally like she was before hospitalization.
She's tough and pretty smart, but I'm suddenly unsure of how to deal with a situation this severe.
I'm not sure what exactly the infection is, but I have magnified photos of infection samples from my home microscope, not sure it's powerful enough.
I'm going to get a small air pump for her and will continue salt baths.
--> UPDATE: I've kept her cold and in a Methyl Blue solution (almost half-strength), and the growth is starting to return all over her sides and gills less than 8 hours later. I have implemented a low-pressure air pump for water oxygenation, and I'm going to keep doing salt baths, but should I consider wiping all of it off with Hydrogen Peroxide just to completely eliminate it?
(based on the spread of the infection, I think this may be fungus (saprolegnia), but I'm not sure I should really rule out columnaris. Will Hydrogen Peroxide kill fungus? What should I do to treat it directly if it is?)
-I've been hospitalizing her in a mini-fridge at 7-10 degrees Celsius (45-50 F.) and giving salt baths/changing water while I sanitize and cycle her tank. (currently nearly ready to begin cycling) (later note: now cycling)
-This morning, the skin on her sides was covered in white growths. (later note: this may be her skin reacting to salt solution ? )
-She is not eating, appears to be thinning out,
-She may have been sick and injured from the infection. (later note, pictures attached)
AS OF July 13 -
My wildtype Axolotl showed fungus/collumnaris on her gills one week ago.
It's been tough to keep the fungus at bay with two 15 minute salt baths each day, but I know she's been sleeping well in the fridge between baths. She pooped about 5 days ago, and last ate about 8 days ago.
Now, she isn't interested in food and is beginning to look thinner than before.
She has been gulping air more and more often, currently about every 10 mins when she's awake.
Her gills have taken some damage from the infection, but not a lot. The fungus has spread over the last week throughout her gills, but is no longer eating down to the stalks, which is an improvement.
Here's where it gets messy; Last night, I messed up. I wanted to do a third salt bath that evening to try to get ahead of the infection and when I put her back into the fridge, I'm pretty sure the water did not stay cold enough overnight. She's been asleep for a while, and was likely awake/moving around in her confined space and probably stressed out. This morning, she had similar white growths spread pretty extensively down the sides of her body. I gave her a salt bath and most of the growths came off with some gentle brushing, but they were obviously damaging her skin. Behind her front legs and dorsally from her back legs (near her pelvis), the infection has left what look like dark brown sores in the skin. They look painful, but she seems pretty stalwart about it. I've offered her food every day, and she hasn't taken anything. I used a pipette to try feeding her her regular bloodworms directly today, and she maybe took in some of the food, but is still not 'eating' normally like she was before hospitalization.
She's tough and pretty smart, but I'm suddenly unsure of how to deal with a situation this severe.
I'm not sure what exactly the infection is, but I have magnified photos of infection samples from my home microscope, not sure it's powerful enough.
I'm going to get a small air pump for her and will continue salt baths.
--> UPDATE: I've kept her cold and in a Methyl Blue solution (almost half-strength), and the growth is starting to return all over her sides and gills less than 8 hours later. I have implemented a low-pressure air pump for water oxygenation, and I'm going to keep doing salt baths, but should I consider wiping all of it off with Hydrogen Peroxide just to completely eliminate it?
(based on the spread of the infection, I think this may be fungus (saprolegnia), but I'm not sure I should really rule out columnaris. Will Hydrogen Peroxide kill fungus? What should I do to treat it directly if it is?)
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