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Bloated throat in LTC Noto. v.v. advice needed

otolith

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This Noto v.v. was caught by a friend nearly 10 years ago and has been with me for three. He is realistically at least 15 years old, bred twice in captivity and has always been extremely active and healthy. Even survived eating twice his weight in rocks and being housed in a 2.5 gallon tank for 7 years before we got him. He has been housed by himself for the last year.

Three days ago we noticed he had a bloated throat (looks like a frog croaking) and bright red discoloration on the backs of all four legs. The bloat is isolated to the throat and has not worsened. He is behaving pretty much normally and remains active and is eating well. I have read the caudata article on bloat and understand what the typical causes are. We initially thought it could be Aeromonas "red leg", but there are no lesions and no way that he could have come into contact the bacteria. We had a pretty significant heat spell last week and the water temp spiked up to maybe 78F during the day (temp is now 67F). I am now thinking kidney damage is the likely culprit but am hoping there is another answer. In previous summers the water temp has been in the low 80s for short periods of time and never caused any problems. I have posted several pictures, any help is greatly appreciated!
 

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Jennewt

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Bacteria such as Aeromonas are ubiquitous. If an animal is having other health problems or stresses, then these kinds of bacteria gain an opportunity to infect. Saying that he hasn't come in contact with it probably isn't right.

What might have made him susceptible to infection? Could be old age, the heat, or other factors you could only guess at. Although the symptoms look suggestive, we can't even know if the problem is infectious without some sort of testing, and most of us don't have access to such things.

This probably hasn't helped much, but I wish all the best for your newt. His habitat looks lovely.
 
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