Illness/Sickness: Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My female has been slightly bloated and not eating for the last couple days and vomiting up white cottony looking stuff!
Today she is more bloated!
Her mouth is so swollen, she doesn't appear to be able to close it!
And when I was moving her to a container in the fridge I noticed her belly was really raw and slightly bloody!
Her cloaca seems swollen and very irritated as well!
I have not made any changes to her diet (which was goldfish, but I am switching to nightcrawlers) and I have sand as my substrate, so I know she did not swallow any pebbles!
PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!
WHAT'S WRONG?!?!?!?!:errr::sad:
As soon as my hubby gets home from work, I will have him help me take a pic of her belly and cloaca.

This sounds like she could already be 'beyond hope'. Goldfish are not a good staple diet, although I can't say if this is part of the root cause or not. What has the water temperature been recently?

I would recommend moving her to the refrigerator right away. The symptom of swollen mouth unable to close is usually an infection of the mouth. Strong antibiotics would be the way to go, in my opinion. It's a shotgun treatment, but the animal is already in very bad shape so there isn't much to lose by trying.

I moved her to the fridge right before I posted.
I just checked her and it seems her mouth seems to be closed now.
Water temp is usually around 74 degrees F.

Hi Abberzoo,

Would you be able to post some photos?

My current concern is scepticaemia. There is evidence of generalised systemic infection based on your description. Veterinary intervention is necessary. I highly recommend you bring the axie to a vet for a diagnostic work up and appropriate treatment.

Cheers.

Here are the pix of my poor Shiva.

She needs to see a vet.

I cant suggest if she would make i through even after the antibiotics.
But i suggest you take her to a VET. ensure they know about about axolotls if you can.
They will be able to help you out.
It could be a long process getting her back to health, but give it your best.
Good luck
Aaron

Dear Abberzoo,

Shiva is actually showing initial signs of bloat as well. The bloody wound around her ventral abdomen and swollen cloacal region are suggestive of a bacterial infection, most likely originating from her alimentary tract (could be enteritis etc.), where her intestines, gut etc. are likely to be inflamed.

In the gut, there are also bacteria that in normal healthy axies would not pose a problem. However, when there is an inflammation in the gut and the tissue mucosa barrier is breached, the bacteria can gain access to the bloodstream and into deeper tissues. This can cause bacteria and bacteria toxins to circulate throughout the body and cause multi organ inflammation and infection.

Your axie will definitely require a vet who can give it antibiotic therapy. There is nothing really much else you can do. Fridging can help palliate but not curative.

Lastly, i know you were trying your best to help shiva but you have to also protect yourself. I highly recommend you not to touch shiva with your bare hands. Other than damaging the delicate axie skin, i am concerned that there are some type of bacteria that can cross infect humans (zoonotic) and the last thing i want happen to you is that you get an infection as well.

You can transport an axie safely by using a container to scoop it up together with some tank water. To view the ventral aspect of the axie, you can put the axie in a clear glass bottomed container/tank where you can still inspect the abdomen and cloaca without any risk to yourself.

Regards