Lump behind axolotl cloaca

[Carrots]

The other day I noticed my Axolotl's cloaca was very swollen. He still had an appetite and the water was getting cooler due to temps dropping this month, so I chalked it up to him being ready to mate or something. This morning before work I noticed that not only was his cloaca still very swollen, but he has a big lump behind it. He always had a white lumpy cloaca, but I don't recall a lump this big being there before. He still has an appetite and even pooped this morning, but I'm still very concerned so I put him in the fridge.

Does this look normal? If there's a problem, how do I go about treating this?

 

[artistea]

Il freddo di questi giorni é lo start per accoppiarsi.
E lo fanno in modo febbrile, sembrano matti. Passano notti di fuoco e a volte la cloaca si irrita.
Quindi credo sia tutto normale. Io lo lascerei in pace. Il frigo ora lo fa ancora più eccitare!
Hai un maschio e una femmina?

 

[Carrots]

Okay, I'll take him out and watch him very carefully for a few days. After thinking it through, if he's still eating and pooping there's probably no problem. This one is a male, and he shares the tank with another male. They are kept separate using a divider, as my other male is much larger and I'm scared he'll eat him.Speaking of which, my other male isn't as swollen, nor is he particularly frenetic aside from a slightly bigger appetite recently which is why I was so freaked out.

 

[AxolotlChris]

Picture quality isn't very good so it is not so clear.

I suspect a prolapse in which case the fridge is probably the best place for him now.

 

[Carrots]

Picture quality isn't very good so it is not so clear.

I suspect a prolapse in which case the fridge is probably the best place for him now.

Yeah, sorry. I couldn't get great pictures of it, but it seems to be alright now. His cloaca is still a bit swollen, and that lump is still there albeit smaller, but he's not looking stressed at all. His appetite is still there, he's still attentive, his gills are either back or straight up, and he still makes his rounds about his living space.

I am having an issue with my other male though. His gill filaments are falling off the tips, and I think I know why. I did a cleaning on the day of the first post I made on this thread, and kept track of the water parameters before and after. Ammonia and nitrites were absent, temp was sitting pretty at 65F, but my nitrates were absurdly high at 80+ ppm. After the cleaning and a 75% water change, it didn't change at all! I tested my tap water, and it turns out my tap already has a ton of nitrates! I have no idea how these guys have been fine all this time with the water being well over the safe amount of nitrates, but I'm hoping to do a large water change with RO water and hope that helps bring it down enough. I have a 60 gallon I bought today that I'll set up and start cycling, and I'll buy a lot of plants soon so I can keep nitrates down.

 

[AxolotlChris]

My tap water contains Nitrate too. So always siting at 40ppm + but has not caused any ill effects.

Is there a lot of water movement? That can cause the fimbriae to recede due to oxygen being easily accessed by not having to use the gills to disturb the water. Plants can help a little but you will need to be heavily stocked. Can you post some images ?

 

[Carrots]

I did a huge water change with some RO water today just in case.

Now that you mention it, my water does move quite a bit. I have a fluval 206 canister hooked up to my tank and it creates a fair bit of movement, and I think my divider isn't helping. However he's been in that half of the tank for nearly two months, and he's had that filter for 3 months with me and many more with his previous owner. It never seemed to bother him before, could it really be the issue? I really hope the water flow isn't an issue, as I got a marineland c360 for the 60 gallon I bought today. I can't seem to get quality pictures out of my phone, but here's a look at what I've got going on.

 

[Carrots]

Also, in the pic he seems a bit stressed because I moved his tank today and neither of them liked it one bit.