How to give tea bath treatments to an axolotl

How to give tea bath treatments to your axolotl

I'm sure that you have all heard the word tea bath, this is one of the safest and most successful treatments for sick and injured axolotls. It is important to remember that tea baths can't cure all ailments and if there is something you are particularly worried about we strongly urge you to seek the advice of an exotics vet near you.

The most common reason why tea baths are given to axolotls is the development of fungus. Fungus usually presents on the gills of the axolotl as a ball of white cotton wool. if left untreated this can spread to other areas of the axolotl and in extreme cases can cause death.

Another common reason why tea baths are used is injuries. whether one axolotl is housed alone or your axolotls are housed in larger same-sex groups there will undoubtedly come a time that your axolotl will present with an injury.

Whether a tea bath is being used for fungal treatment or to heal wounds the process is the same.

Firstly you are going to need to remove the axolotl from their current tank and pop them into a quarantine tub until either the fungus has disappeared or the wound has healed, please see our guide regarding how to safely tub an axolotl.

You will need a shoebox-size roughly 10L plastic tub. you will then add a black tea bag to the tub and fill it with boiling water enough just to cover the axolotl. The axolotl mustn’t be in the tub at this stage. Allow the tea to stew and the water to cool to at least room temperature before adding the axolotl. Before adding your axolotl you will also need to add 2 to 3 drops of Seachem prime to the tea bath, this ensures that the water is safe for your axolotl. Safely remove your axolotl with a net from his or her quarantine tub and place it into the tub containing the tea bath. You may find that your axolotl doesn't particularly like the taste of the bathwater so they can appear to be making faces that some would say appear that they are going to be sick. This behaviour can happen and is nothing to be concerned about. leave your axolotl in the tea bath for no longer than 10 minutes. Once the tea bath is complete transfer your axolotl back into a tub of fresh dechlorinated water. This should be completed daily until the fungus has been removed or that any injury is showing signs of healing.

Once your axolotl is fully healed he or she can be Reintroduced back into their tank.

Another important thing to note is that if you have an axolotl cohabiting with others and one or more have developed fungus, those showing the signs will all need daily tea bath treatment and if none of the others seems to have contracted the fungus you will need to do a 50% water change and add either an IAL leaf or catappa x to treat the tank to prevent further spread.

If your axolotl has been injured you need to keep an eye on all tank mates to determine whether this was an isolated incident or whether there is bullying going on within the group.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us at Southwestaxolotls@yahoo.com