Sick axie? Gill fungus?

[mackenzie1115]

Hello All. Recently I've noticed something on my axolotl's gills and I'm not too sure what it is. It doesn't really look like cotton so I don't know if it's a fungus or not so I figured I would get on here and see what you guys think.. both of my axies are in separate tanks and they both have a little bit of this on their gills. Their gills don't look as healthy as they used to, they seem to be thinning out.. Any ideas why or how to treat? Their water stays at a constant 62 degrees F so I know they aren't having any temperature spikes or anything like that.

Any help is appreciated! I don't want my little guys to die

*They are still pretty active and never turn away food, so I believe that is a good sign.
*Sorry about the images, it's super hard to get a decent picture.

 

[TooFastSpindash]

Maybe try getting your water tested to see if it has anything wrong with it. Is it cloudy or green or dirty? Something also important to take note of is the temperature. You want to have it around 20 degrees C. If its too hot their skin will become irritated.

Also have you tried taking them out and cleaning the tank and everything in the tank? Like take out everything, even the gravel/rocks, and run it under clean warm water just to make sure that everything is clean.

Those are the only things I think would help. Mind you I am not an expert on axolotls as I have only have mine for half a year or so.

 

[mackenzie1115]

Maybe try getting your water tested to see if it has anything wrong with it. Is it cloudy or green or dirty? Something also important to take note of is the temperature. You want to have it around 20 degrees C. If its too hot their skin will become irritated.

Also have you tried taking them out and cleaning the tank and everything in the tank? Like take out everything, even the gravel/rocks, and run it under clean warm water just to make sure that everything is clean.

Those are the only things I think would help. Mind you I am not an expert on axolotls as I have only have mine for half a year or so.

Water is fine I believe, I need to have it tested again but no it isn't cloudy or green.. It stays between 16 and 18 degrees Celsius so I don't think that temperature is the issue.

I have not taken everything out and washed it but I have taken them out and scrubbed everything down and let it filter out, I had a problem with slime in the past that we determined to be some type of protein that was breaking down. It's still in my tank but not as bad as it used to be, it comes and goes on it's own with no rhyme or reason - that we can figure out..

I have been kind of weary to take their hides out and wash them cause someone told me it could mess up their cycle.. I'm not sure if that's true or not but I haven't done it just incase. Their substrate is aquarium sand, is it possible to take it all out and replace it? I also haven't done that because I was afraid it'd mess up the tank cycle.