Wart / Tumour on Axolotl belly

[Melzy]

My axolotl has had this wart / tumour growing for the last couple of months. He was eating as normal and acting totally fine so I wasn’t too worried. But now he’s hardly eating and has lost a lot of weight. The vet wasn’t sure what it is either and gave me an ointment to try which hadn’t done much.
I’m currently fridging him and giving him two salt baths a day as he had a little bit of fungus on his gills I’m hoping after this his appetite will increase.
Anyone come across this before?

 

[wolfen]

axolotls can get cancerous melanomas which is what it looks like, normally though there is a marked difference in colouration compared to the surrounding tissue.
a biopsy would need to be performed to find out though, bacterial infection, cysts etc.. need to be ruled out.
whilst he is in a weakened state he would be better housed in water that contains either 50% holtfreters or at the least 2g salt per litre water, rather than doing salt baths which would be/is quite stressful.
the treatment would depend on a vet doing tests.