Extreme Bloat After One Day

[Zobug]

I would classify this as an emergency, unfortunately. I have a four to five inch juvenile that developed a very serious bloat within the time frame of 24 hours. He's stuck on his back, belly up, and can't right himself. The only thing I can think of is that I've added live blackworms to their diet and that may have caused a spike in the ammonia levels. None of the others are displaying similar symptoms. I want to know if I should be worried about septicemia, what I should do if that is believed to be the case, and also if I can do anything for the ill one. Pictures are included.

 

[Zobug]

Parameters included:
Ammonia: .25ppm (I believe due to the blackworms.)
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 40ppm (it's water change day)

The juvenile affected by bloat is currently in the fridge in a furan-2 treatment.

 

[Canecorsonewt]

I would start with a 50% water change daily in till you're tank cycles. One of the most important things is water quality. Might want to put him/her in a separate tank and do full water changes daily.

 

[Zobug]

The affected juvenile is in a desperate tub in the fridge currently and will be receiving daily water changes. What puzzles me is that my tank had been fully cycled for a while. So either it crashed recently, or I have a mini cycle going on. Or I need to be doing more water changes because the ammonia is building up too fast due to the bioload.

 

[auntiejude]

That is a bacterial infection/septicaemia, and if you don't get it to a vet for antibiotics tomorrow it's not going to make it.
Any axie with a red belly and bloat is a medical emergency.

 

[Zobug]

That was what I was worried about. Should I also be worried about the others in my tank? Is there anything I can do for them?

 

[Zobug]

Update: rushed the baby to an exotic vet. They reduced his bloat and found it was mostly air with some small amount of fluid. I'll be getting a topical medication to apply to him over the next couple of days to see if it helps. They believe it is an infection such as septicemia, but won't know until the cultures come back. I'll attach a picture below. He looks much better, although a bit wrinkly lol. As one would expect when one balloons to such a size. Hoping for the best and that this treatment will work for him. Will keep this post updated.

 

[Donna001]

Such a relief to see him looking so much better.
Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

 

[Zobug]

Hello all, wish I was updating with better news. Unfortunately, Ronnie (my boyfriend decided to name him Ronnie Runtington on the way to the vets ) has passed on to axolotl heaven. The night we got him back from the vets, he bloated again. I successfully deflated him, only to find him re-inflating after a matter of hours. I still haven't gotten the results back from the vets, but based off of his patchy red body when I found him, my bet is it was most definitely septicemia and that's what took him. On a side note, I suppose you know you've successfully forced your love of goofy salamanders on to your boyfriend when you both end up crying over one.

Give your babies extra wormies tonight for Ronnie.

 

[Donna001]

Sorry to hear the sad news about Ronnie. :sad:
My thoughts are with you at this difficult time.

 

[Bellabelloo]

I'm sorry to read about your loss. I am curious, how did you deflate him?

 

[Zobug]

The vet deflated him with a very small needle attached to a syringe and drew outwards to suck out the air that was causing his bloat. She showed me how to do the same should he bloat again, and when he did that night, I was able to deflate him as well. However, I'm honestly too concerned about my lack of professional training to re-attempt something like that. He was a trooper and didn't really move, so I'm not concerned about having poked anything internally, but I didn't want to continue risking it with my lack of professional experience. Especially when he just bloated right back up anyways. Not worth poking him excessively for such a little pay-off.


Edit: there is, of course, always a chance I did poke something while deflating him. I'll never completely know. But it was what I was suggested to do, though I doubt I'll ever manage to convince myself to do it again.

 

[Zobug]

Decided to update this post once again. I got back the culture results from the vet, and unfortunately it left me more confused than before. While there was a small amount of bacteria in his system, it was such a small amount that it should have been responsive to the Baytril prescription. So the vet speculates that if he died within a couple of days even with the medication, it wasn't due to an infection. They offered a necropsy, but at a hefty $400 I opted to just leave him be and bury him.

The vet's best guess after the culture results were some type of internal injury that caused him to inflate rapidly. I can't think of anything else that could've gone wrong, as it looked exactly like septicemia to me. If anyone else has any ideas, I'm more than willing to listen.