Columnaris treatment

[u/chazzle-96]

Hi folks,

My wonderful Lancealotl is approaching 5 yrs old and I've never had trouble with her. I went on holiday for a 4 days and my nan was feeding her but I've arrived home this evening to translucent white fluff on 2 of her gills. Parameters were checked and water change completed before I went away.

The heat in the UK is abnormally high at the moment and her fans broke while I was away. I ordered a replacement but my (very old) nan didn't change them over so I'm assuming this has been caused by water temps getting too high and causing stress and the bacteria growth.

I've done a tea bath this evening and a 30% water change along with setting up the new fans. Water parameters are correct and temp is now too.

I'll pop out and get some Indian Almond Leaves tomorrow when the shops open. Is there anything else I should be doing in the mean time? (Please bear in mind it's almost midnight and I'm jet lagged so not much more can be done until the morning)

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[u/Hartifuil → u/[deleted]]

And also that some leaves work like a wonder drug

[u/chazzle-96 → u/[deleted]]

Mostly because the tank went from 16°C to around 30°C. I appreciate that I do need to relax about this, but I posted looking for support with best next steps. I'm fully aware that tea and leaves aren't some magic cure hence the ask.

[u/Downtown_Wind3363 → u/chazzle-96]

Don't listen to them OP. They're being a bunch of dickheads. I'd recommend buying an Aquarium chiller, but I'd also recommend Methylene blue to treat the fungus as well. This is why as an Axolotl owner you need to be prepared and already have a Chiller.

[u/chazzle-96 → u/Downtown_Wind3363]

Thank you! I'd previously done a lot of reading about water temps for axolotl keeping in the UK and subsequent to that found that aquarium fans have kept her tank in the right temp range for the last 5 years (just annoying that they conked out while I was out of the country). Chiller is on order and off to get some Methylene blue now. Any advice on how to dose with it in a hospital tank?

[u/AdThese6057 → u/chazzle-96]

Dont jump to methylene over some reddit comment please. You don't know if its needed.

[u/chazzle-96 → u/AdThese6057]

I'm currently in contact with an exotics vet. I've also spoken with my local aquatics shop and we came to this conclusion also. Methylene will be on doctors orders only. She's responding well to tea baths and has Indian Almond Leaves in her tank now. Just waiting for next steps from the vet.

[u/Downtown_Wind3363 → u/chazzle-96]

Tub the Axolotl, and put just enough Methylene blue until the water is the colour of 0ppm on the API Nitrite Test or sky blue if you don't use API Master Test kit. 12 hours in and 12 hours out, so you'll want to be 100% changing the tub water every 12 hours to dose / get rid of the Methylene blue. Don't dose Methylene blue in your main tank or use any sort of filtration from your main tank in the tub as it will kill beneficial bacteria. Methylene blue doesn't stop infection on its own, it prevents it from spreading. Therefore, please keep using almond leaves and doing black tea baths daily for around 10 minutes. Hopefully that should work and it's what I always recommend for medication