Salamander Bloat

[tomclr]

I have a 12 year old Tiger Salamander who has within the last 5 months really bloated up in size. I was reading the article on this site (http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/bloatEDK.shtml) about Bloat in Newts, is that the same illness as in Salamanders? I feel really bad for the poor guy, I've had him his entire life and he is really looking to be in bad shape. He's about twice the size as he was a year ago. Things seem to have gotten worse lately. Ive noticed a white-fungus like substance in his mouth; his mouth has now seemed to have almost filled up with the substance. Small, Filmy Spit-like bubbles are coming out of his mouth. It seems as if he's have trouble breathing as the breathing movement of his throat (on land) has become irregular. No doctors around here have known a thing about Salamanders so I was hoping to hear something here as to what is going wrong and what should we do to help him in what ever way that may be.

Thank You,

Tom
Chicago, IL. USA

 

[joan]

Try salt baths. Newts and salamanders are the same creatures, just different vernacular names. But try a salt bath for the tiger. Not one so deep that he can't get his head out of water, but deep enough to cover him.

Maybe one of the experts will chime in. Good luck