fbn cant swim!

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dani

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one of my chinese fire bellied newts, which ive had for a long time seems to be having trouble swimming, his back end keeps floating up to the top of the water and he seems to have trouble swimming and staying under water without his bottom floating upwards.
I only noticed this today also his chest appears to be sticking out a bit more than usual.
ive heard of fish having swim bladder trouble is this possible for newts to suffer from it too?
ive separated him hes in a plastic critter keeper with shallow water and a log to climb out of the water. should i be worried? any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks
 
update: hes just eaten a bllodworm but it was a bit of a struggle.
good to see that his appitite is healthy at least.
 
Newts do not have a swim bladder, so that cannot be the problem. They do sometimes get gas in their intestinal tract. And they do have some voluntary ability to control buoyancy by taking more or less air into their lungs. If the newt is healthy otherwise, it's probably not serious.

I'd say keep the newt in the shallow setup and see how it goes. Put in plenty of plants (live or artificial, either way) so it has places to rest in the water.
 
thanks for the advice, hes in a shallow plastic tank now the water isnt very deep at all so its not as much effort for him to swim to the top his rather fat female friend is in with him too since after i took him out the 2ft tank she seemed rather stressed and unsettled i know newts cant get lonely and dont really need companionship. anyway they're both eating well and seem really happy. they actually seem to prefer the smaller set up than their big tank, its too small and too shallow for a filter though so its going to be a water change every few days job. worth it if they're happy.
 
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