Phlegm or goop?

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HitmanSougo13

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Hello,

I found this goop in her water today. The rest is just uneaten food. The phlegm isn't like a liquid or just a dirty speck, it's really phlegmy like.

I did find the same goop on her body once a few days ago but thought something must have gotten stuck to her.

She's a melanoid axolotl. Water parameters were good. Long story short she just recovered from a gill eating fungus that I managed to take care and had put her in a small tank and recently transferred her back. I suspect it's similiar to the white patches problem and it may be hard to see on a black axolotl. Photos of Sick Axolotls

I can try a tea bath but it's not something I have done before. Maybe a salt bath?

Thanks!
 

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Salt baths are highly irritating to the skin, they are only for severe cases of fungus. The brownish substance appears to be the residue of Axolotl feces. Though your description of its consistency makes me think otherwise, but then I suppose I haven't actually stuck my hand it and had a feel.. :crazy:
 
I agree, I'm hoping to stay away from salt baths if I can as they become pretty fussy and I don't blame the axies. Interesting...yeah that is another possibility since she was sick earlier and was not really eating that she may not have had anything to poop.

Haha omg I've never actually touched axolotl poop before. I have always gotten a turkey baster to suck the goods up for disposal.

Anyone ever seen a protozoan infection though?
 
How do you know its consistency then?

When I say residue I mean that if an Axolotl excretes feces it can leave what looks like a brown trail behind.
 
Hiya! You raised a very valid point!

I have a set of long chopsticks that I use and I was picking it up so I can see how it moves while picking it up in the water. Here's a picture. It's pretty goopy/mucus like.

She's a female too. I've seen white goop from my male before (who was in another tank) but it was sperm.
 

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An open mouth could be a sign of an infection, I'd start trying to find a vet that can care for Axolotls asap.
 
Hmm I was worried about that too so I took pictures of her...there a little gap and I compared that to pictures with axies with open mouths but certainly doesn't seem as 'bad'. Her tail isn't curved, she wouldn't stay put as I was taking pictures. Gills aren't forward facing so she didn't seem stressed that way.

You may notice in the pics her gills are short as she is just coming back from growing her gill filaments again.

Hmm another angle I want to ask is....what are the chances it is algae? I know sometimes food is left there a little long too which is bad on my part since I'm a gamer.
 

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Alright since I kept the goop aside, I gave the goop some food and it is growing so that rules it out as poop (damn how I wish it was just poop). My axie is now in a small tub with erythromycin and yeah I see some that goop coming from her mouth. It is fungus. :(

I guess the stuff eating her gills is now just in the mouth area so she is now refusing pellets...i am going to do more frequent large water changes on the main tank to get rid of spores and clean the filter. She is 7.5 years old.

I thought of adding erythromycin in the water of the main tank but it will also kill the nitrates. I need to make sure the fungus in the aquarium is gone or killed....anyone tried any particular brand that is okay long term in the aquarium?

I do weekly water changes normally. By the way just tested the water parameters: 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 25 nitrates for friday night and I typically clean on Saturday. The temp is 15-16 Celsius.
 
Snap....after I have left her alone in the small tank...I now realized there is a little bit of white clear mucus coming from her mouth, but the majority is actually being pooped out. I am seeing it happen now coming out of her behind. The poop version has color to it like a light brown. Sorry I ruled out pooping. Atleast this means her digestive tract is working. Wow it's like a human being puking and having diharea...:(

When she was sick with the gill infection, I had given her feeder minnows from petland and pet smart since she was so picky. Normally she just eats pellets. She had eaten a dozen of them. I would suspect one or some may not be that clean. Remind me to never give feeder fish again.
 
I checked on her this morning, no big diharea poop, just a little bit of spat out white stuff and a regurgitated pellet. Changed the water of her mini sick tank, still on erythromycin. She appears to be fighting. I still see a little bit of a mouth fungus on her.
 
Glad to hear that your little one is fighting.
I hope that she makes a full recovery very soon.
:happy:
 
The situation has gotten bleak. She was okay yesterday but this morning (Sunday) she started having some pinkness on her toes, stomach, mouth and tail. Her mouth was open. It really freaked me out. She started having some blood come out of her mouth. I took her to the vet which the vet also gave me antibiotics called enroflaxcin. I administered this today, she was very weak and I had to lower the water yesterday for her to gulp air. Personally I do not see her making it tonight. I just realized she is 8 yrs old. That was fast...a Friday night of crazy puking and pooping.
 
Oh my god, how is she?
What did the vet diagnose?
I hope that the medication works.
 
Truth be told, my vet never knows. He is the more knowledgeable one, the previous one I went to in town to was a disaster as she told me to warm up my axolotl which I did not do.

My vet also says it's an infection related and the only thing he can give is antibiotics, I currently don't have my axolotl on erthomycin since he gave me enrofloaxin. Just to not overdose. He can only try following up and seeing if the situation has improved. The medication would require two weeks of time.

Gah I do keep wondering if I could have tried harder for her but I have been mourning too as there was a death in the family very very recently.
 
I'm sorry to hear that you've had a loss in your family. You've had a very tough time recently. Try not to beat yourself up over your axolotl.
It sounds like it's a matter of antibiotics and time. Excellent water conditions will work hand in hand with the antibiotics to ensure that your little one has the best chance of dealing with the infection.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you and your little one.
 
I highly doubt the substance you found is fungus, it looks nothing like it.

Minnows can nibble at Axolotl gills, which will not help the situation. If you do large water changes and clean out your filter you can easily crash your cycle.

Hopefully the antibiotics will help fight what ever infection your Axolotl has. Perhaps try contact more vets to get more opinions

Unfortunately, considering your Axolotls age, it may not have have much fight left in it.
 
The doctor was sharing the info with another doctor who was going to cover for him. I guess we can't expect vets to all know everything. Scary to think a week ago she was actively chasing for her food.

She did leave this morning...I have never seen a axie in a pool of blood. I did not even realize an axie had that much blood. I suspect she was internally bleeding yesterday and the blood just came all out of her last night. She was also bloated this morning which she was never had bloat before. A part of me wondered if that goop was stuff a part of her body she pushed out. I guess I would never know. I will be careful to not crash the main tank as I still have another axie who I am trying to make sure whatever she had didn't pass along.

She had a good life and she was really big, she was over 12 inches large and weighed 300g on Sunday. Got a wooden wine box as a casket and buried her.

Thanks for all your well thoughts guys.
 
I am so sorry to hear of your loss. I lost my albino axie Boris a year ago (left him for three days in the care of a housemate who should have known better and my baby died very rapidly of septicaemia) and I've been grieving ever since. Hence my lengthy absence from this site. I have a new tank that has been sitting empty for months, waiting for me to find the courage to put some new baby axies into it. Please concentrate on remembering the long and happy life your lotl lived. My heart truly is with you.
 
Thank sweetie... I also remember you. I am also sorry you are under the same pain. I know...It is like you don't want a new guy just to replace the old one :(. But I realized something, we are raising them for them. If we did it only for us, we would give up on such mysterious pets that first don't live forever, that sometimes are very challenging to raise and we are left fearful and concerned when we don't have answers on how to help them. I know it is hard to say this and currently right I also need a few months to grieve and grow that courage as well but when you do have the new little ones, they will honor and bring back the joy you had of giving Axies a good life.

I had heard of red leg/septicemia but I have not come across anything very determining on how to 'spot' it early on. I can't say I am a an expert but the redness that I saw is hintful. Although, to be absolutely fair, she could have had a myriad of problem manifesting.
 
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