Sick Axolotl? Possible Swollen Cloaca? Please Help!

[TmanTheFirst]

Hello everyone, I have run into what I hope is not unfortunate news tonight when checking my Axolotl‘s tank.

I was going about my usual process of cleaning it’s tank and getting ready to do a water change, when I noticed it laying against the glass a little strange and it’s cloaca looked very large. Is this potentially a swollen cloaca? I apologize for the awkward photos, as I had to get behind my tank to get photos of my axie.

Please excuse the mess, as the last 4 photos were taken prior to the tank cleaning process (I was replacing old plants and cleaning my axie’s cave).

I am incredibly concerned that this could be a prolapsed cloaca, as there are not many vets in my area that I know of that specialize with animals like Axolotls. I did find a list of vets that may be helpful on here, and I will be happy to look there/speak to any vets if possible! To anyone else on here that may know, does this look concerning? Or could this simply be a case of constipation?

I typically feed my axie a piece of an earth worm every 3-4 days varying on how much they ate prior, occasionally swapping it out with blood worms to change up its diet here and there. When I checked my water levels, the readings were as follows:
pH: 7.4 (a little higher than usual)
Nitrite: 0ppm
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrate: 20-30ppm it seems which I know can be very dangerous, so my biggest course of action is to buy some healthier live plants and fix up my cycle a bit tomorrow. If there is any advice anyone can offer here that may help, it would be greatly appreciate!

Thank you so much, and my apologies for such a long-winded post! I just want to ensure I can keep this little guy as happy as possible for as long as possible.

 

[wolfen]

the ph is good, ideal being 7.4-7.6, if it keep going up and down you need to increase the water kh and gh.
nitrates are fine axolotls are tolerant up to 110ppm, provided the water is changed weekly the nitrates are manageable
at this point the cloaca isn't to bad and swelling can be caused by numerous reasons from needing to defecate or just a readiness to breed.
don't worry about how tidy the tank is, nature isn't tidy.
keep him/under observation for a week or so just to make sure he/she is passing food easily.
also see about using holtfreters or modified solution to correct the fluctuating ph which can become stressful

 

[TmanTheFirst]

the ph is good, ideal being 7.4-7.6, if it keep going up and down you need to increase the water kh and gh.
nitrates are fine axolotls are tolerant up to 110ppm, provided the water is changed weekly the nitrates are manageable
at this point the cloaca isn't to bad and swelling can be caused by numerous reasons from needing to defecate or just a readiness to breed.
don't worry about how tidy the tank is, nature isn't tidy.
keep him/under observation for a week or so just to make sure he/she is passing food easily.
also see about using holtfreters or modified solution to correct the fluctuating ph which can become stressful

I just saw your message, and thank you for the info!

The first thing I did this morning was check on them to see how they were doing. The tank has been cleaned, and they are still acting very sluggish/not moving much, and they still look a bit swollen. I did find a vet about 45 minutes away who deals with Axolotls, so I am waiting for a phone call back to see if this may be an emergency or not. so far, there have not been any further signs of stress/discoloration/infection, so I will be sure to keep an eye out and slow down on any feeding/monitor them to see if they pass anything.

I will definitelty take a look at holtfreters, as I have heard about this before and I do have some aquarium salt that I could test out water with, so thank you for the information! I will be sure to update this threat very soon!