Does my fire belly have bloat?

I recently got 4 fire bellies from a friend, he got them from a supplier a month earlier. Chinese fire bellies.

One of them was larger than the rest when I got them. I have trouble telling the 4 apart but this one is notably longer and "bigger" than the other 3. All 4 are adults. It seems to have slowly swolen up, but it also eats more than the other newts. I only feed them live earthworms, usually cut up.

I have no equipment to quarantine it for a prolonged period of time. I could put it in a bowl or something like that for a few days if a quarantine is in order, but I do not have another tank for a longer period of time.

I fear it may have bloat, I've seen pictures of CFBs with bloat and it is not as large as them, but I worry it may be on the way there.

Could it just be getting fat?
Could it be large from all the food it eats? I've seen it eat the largest worms the other newts ignore.
Could it be getting ready to lay eggs?

Any tips on identifying if it is bloat or not?

It's hard to tell without photos. As a general rule, check to see if the swollen-ness applies to the neck and throat as well, which would be an indication of bloat. Otherwise, it's probably just fat or gravid.

I don't know if you've seen this or not, but here's a good article: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/bloatEDK.shtml

I really can't tell if it's neck is bloated or not, it is a lot larger than the other 3 newts, besides it's abdomen. I'll post a pic in a few hours, I need to go borrow a webcam.

All 4 lived in the same tank for at least a month and the other 3 show no sign at all. All 4 eat heartily.

I put it in a bowl with water, a little cover and a paper plate with some holes and a weight ontop of it, as a very temporary quarantine.

Sitting on a paper plate:



I had to hold her a bit firmly in this one, I did not hurt her but the "bulge" area is not that clear, I tried to focus on her neck for this one.



In a bowl with a little break in the middle.


I feel pretty bad about handling her this much, she REALLY didn't want to be flipped over, but calmed down eventually. I feel a little bad for stressing her so much . I put her back in a bowl to quarantine her again, hoping to get a confirmation that it is not an illness so I can put her back in the tank. 2 of my notes are pretty "stupid" and don't seem to recognize spots in the tank, 1 I can't tell. This one, clearly has a spot she prefers and she knows how to get to it-and I have her in a dinky bowl with a plate ontop .

I have not handled any of them very much but if it helps the diagnosis, I could feel her ribs on her back, they are a little noticable under the skin.

I really could not tell out how rapidly she got this size.

I keep saying she. I THINK it is a female, I can't really tell.

I can take more pictures of specific areas if needed.

Here are a few more. I don't have a great camera and am not much of a photographer, hope these help diagnose.

I don't have a conclusive answer. Your newt is either very gravid, or it has a slowly-progressing form of bloat. In either case, there is no point in keeping it in quarantine. The slower forms of bloating are more likely to be due to gradual organ failure, not infection.

Very good to hear. Thanks a whole bunch Jenn. I kept looking at the pictures from the link above and thinking "She looks like she is full of eggs... but just a bit too fat". Going to put her back in the tank. If she is full of eggs, how long should I expect till she lays them? Are they uncomftorable when they are gravid?

I have zero interest in raising young cynops, if any of the eggs break free from their moring, will the other newts eat them or do I need to worry about them dirtying up the filter?

My uneducated, optimistic guess goes something like this: My friend did not feed them well and they gobble up everything I give them and, this is their mating season, right? She gorged and kicked the egg production into overdrive due to the sudden availability of food.

She released some waste and is a bit smaller now.

Her nether regions look like they are about to drop something, the good news is I am almost certain she is just stuffed full of eggs and looks like she is about to pop them out.

I have no plants in my tank right now, just lots of rocks for them to hide in, which they seem to like. Will a lack of plants cause her problems as she lays?

If she is gravid, a lack of plants could make egg laying difficult. If you aren't interested in getting silk or live plants, you could try the method explained here, although Cynops tend to prefer plants- http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/eggstrips.shtml

Good Luck!

Her cloaca region being swollen is actually not a good sign. It may protrude a bit during egg-laying, but if it looks swollen I'm not encouraged.

Yes, the lack of plants could be a problem, if indeed she is gravid. Silk plants are OK if you don't want to use real ones.

I put in some some more artficial plants and also made one of the plastic bag things from that link.

hanks for the link!

I had plants in before but took them out when I rearranged the tank

I do not know how to describe her cloaca. It looked as if it was protruding slightly, not swollen. How long should I expect till she lays?

Small update:

She did not have bloat. I think.

I just found what looked like a worm which was deficated out sort of in a line, chunks of it, only partially digested. I think she may have had trouble digesting a worm for some reason and that upset her stomach.

She is gravid, she just looked so huge because she was retaining waste, which is now out.

Glad to hear it. If the cloaca is somewhat pointy-outy, that's OK. Swollen is not OK. Sounds like she's fine. Maybe you should reduce the size of the worms she gets.

I am buying the smallest worms that I can, but it is hard to find really small worms. I end up buying the smallest worms that I can and half of them are too big.

Sometimes they just don't seem interested in the earthworms.

For the last 4 or 5 days i've been feeding the ones who will eat the earthworms, earthworms. They do not seem to find them in the tank unless I feed it to them with tweezers. I can keep track of them when I am feeding them but if I come back later, iI can't tell which which of them were the ones who ate or not. My method for the last week was: Every 2 days, feed the ones who will eat earthworms, earthworms in the morning. That evening, feed them all some bloodworms.

I did not want some of them to starve. I can't tell if it is the same ones rejecting the earthworms or not. When they are hungry they seem to go right for the worms if I keep them near them, other times they see them and move away.