cblockus
New member
Hi Everyone!
I've been a proud owner of what I believe to be a Japanese firebelly newt for 25 years. Recently I've been having some trouble with him and I'd really like to help him out. I was really happy to find this forum and was hoping for some advice. First, a little background:
I've owned 2 of these newts for 25 years. I keep them in a terrarium tank (half land, half water, with a pump waterfall that cascades into a stream) that is filled with tap water and filtered with activated carbon. I change the filter fairly regularly, but wasn't on any kind of real schedule. The water always looked clean, so I didn't clean the tank on a regular basis. When the water got lower, I'd just add more. I realize now that this was not close to best practice, but things went along fine for 25 years and I got them in 3rd grade, so hopefully my ignorance can be forgiven. I feed them a tetra repto-min floating food stick each morning, which they seem to enjoy.
The problems began around 2 months ago when one of my newts passed away. I don't know how it happened because sadly I found him dead on the land part of the tank, so I don't know if any similar factors contributed to his death and my still alive and feisty one's current issues. I was very sad, but honestly because they've lived so long, I didn't consider habitat problems or anything at the time.
Then, (maybe) a few weeks ago (I'm not exactly sure), I noticed my second newt seemed to be favoring his front right leg in the water. He was just letting the front left hang. My wife wasn't sure I wasn't exaggerating, and he still seems to be able to use it with some success on the land, so this just caused me to pay closer attention. I figured at the time that he must have developed arthritis or something, and I've been watching him to make sure that there was nothing more visibly wrong health or behavior wise. Other than not using the leg, he seemed pretty normal.
This Thursday, I woke up in the morning and checked on him as usual. I found that he was missing a sizable piece (for his size) of his upper lip under his right nostril. I've attached a photo. At this point, I became super concerned. I don't know if this is an injury or some type of infection. I'm a teacher so I immediately called the biology teacher from my school who also owns lots of amphibians, and he said it could be fungal or bacterial, or an injury. He told me pet stores often have medicines to treat that kind of thing, so I jumped in my car and headed to petco. I also wrote an email to the vet I take my cat to in the hopes that she could give me some advice.
I talked to the aquatic animal person at the pet store and I found out that I should be regularly cleaning the tank (even if it looks clean), doing water changes, and treating the tap water with tap water conditioner. I bought:
1. API tap water conditioner (says its safe for aquatic life)
2. API Primafix (Marketed to treat fungal infections but also says it works on external and internal bacterial infections)
This medicine was marketed to treat fish, so I called the company to make sure it was safe to use with newts. The company representative said that it would be safe, but couldn't vouch for effectiveness on newts.
Saturday, I had the time to really clean the tank and scrub all of his tank rocks using just water and a fresh sponge. I put the plastic parts of the terrarium through the dishwasher using a gentle, non-chlorine detergent (I didn't know which way to go on this, I wanted to get rid of harmful germs but didn't want to hurt him with the soap). I then scrubbed down the plastic parts again using just the sponge and water to try to remove any residue.
Finally, I added the conditioner and medication to the water (I took out the activated charcoal like the directions said) and put him back in the tank. He seemed to to ok but didn't exactly look comfortable, and I noticed that he was starting to molt his skin within a few moments of being put back into the tank. This really freaked me out so I took him back out and put him into his little holding tank again. He molted his whole skin over the course of that evening, and I stayed up with him to make sure he was ok. I was really concerned and emailed a specialist vet that my vet had referred me to, but they haven't gotten back to me. My wife looked around on the internet and found the tests I should do on the water to make sure its ok, and it seemed more or less fine. Here are those results:
1. The water is hard. This seems to be the least important factor.
2. The calcium hardness, nitrate, and nitrite were all acceptable
3. The ph was about 7
4. The temperature is 73 degrees
5. The ammonia levels were a little high, a little darker than the .25 color but lighter than the .5 color.
After he molted and the tests showed everything was ok, I waited a while and then, because I hadn't heard back from the vet and read that molting was fairly common, I thought maybe it was just a weird coincidence that he happened to be molting when I put him back in. I was hesitant, but I put him back in the tank to see if he'd be ok. This time, he seems fine and it was seemingly a coincidence.
I've continued to follow the directions on the medicine, and I've learned that he is NOT happy when I first put it into the tank, but that seems to pass fairly quickly and he settles. Here are my questions:
1. Does anyone have any experience with these types of symptoms?
2. In a perfect world, I'd like to take him to the vet to get his 2 issues looked at. The specialist is far away and expensive, though. I don't want to injure my newt further by transporting him a long way in a car, and if these issues aren't serious, I don't want to spend the money. Is this a better safe than sorry situation?
3. Should I continue with this anti-fungal medication? He obviously doesn't like it, and I have no idea if its helping or hurting. I've just been following the directions.
4. I also ordered Maracyn 2 antibiotic powder from Amazon because I've read that tetracyline is effective on bacterial infections on Newts. Is this a safe treatment?
Sorry for the exceptionally long post (especially from a noob), but I'm just really glad there are people out there that are committed enough to these great little guys to create this forum. I'd really like to help him out, so any replies are appreciated! Let me know if I can provide any more info.
Thanks again,
-CB
I've been a proud owner of what I believe to be a Japanese firebelly newt for 25 years. Recently I've been having some trouble with him and I'd really like to help him out. I was really happy to find this forum and was hoping for some advice. First, a little background:
I've owned 2 of these newts for 25 years. I keep them in a terrarium tank (half land, half water, with a pump waterfall that cascades into a stream) that is filled with tap water and filtered with activated carbon. I change the filter fairly regularly, but wasn't on any kind of real schedule. The water always looked clean, so I didn't clean the tank on a regular basis. When the water got lower, I'd just add more. I realize now that this was not close to best practice, but things went along fine for 25 years and I got them in 3rd grade, so hopefully my ignorance can be forgiven. I feed them a tetra repto-min floating food stick each morning, which they seem to enjoy.
The problems began around 2 months ago when one of my newts passed away. I don't know how it happened because sadly I found him dead on the land part of the tank, so I don't know if any similar factors contributed to his death and my still alive and feisty one's current issues. I was very sad, but honestly because they've lived so long, I didn't consider habitat problems or anything at the time.
Then, (maybe) a few weeks ago (I'm not exactly sure), I noticed my second newt seemed to be favoring his front right leg in the water. He was just letting the front left hang. My wife wasn't sure I wasn't exaggerating, and he still seems to be able to use it with some success on the land, so this just caused me to pay closer attention. I figured at the time that he must have developed arthritis or something, and I've been watching him to make sure that there was nothing more visibly wrong health or behavior wise. Other than not using the leg, he seemed pretty normal.
This Thursday, I woke up in the morning and checked on him as usual. I found that he was missing a sizable piece (for his size) of his upper lip under his right nostril. I've attached a photo. At this point, I became super concerned. I don't know if this is an injury or some type of infection. I'm a teacher so I immediately called the biology teacher from my school who also owns lots of amphibians, and he said it could be fungal or bacterial, or an injury. He told me pet stores often have medicines to treat that kind of thing, so I jumped in my car and headed to petco. I also wrote an email to the vet I take my cat to in the hopes that she could give me some advice.
I talked to the aquatic animal person at the pet store and I found out that I should be regularly cleaning the tank (even if it looks clean), doing water changes, and treating the tap water with tap water conditioner. I bought:
1. API tap water conditioner (says its safe for aquatic life)
2. API Primafix (Marketed to treat fungal infections but also says it works on external and internal bacterial infections)
This medicine was marketed to treat fish, so I called the company to make sure it was safe to use with newts. The company representative said that it would be safe, but couldn't vouch for effectiveness on newts.
Saturday, I had the time to really clean the tank and scrub all of his tank rocks using just water and a fresh sponge. I put the plastic parts of the terrarium through the dishwasher using a gentle, non-chlorine detergent (I didn't know which way to go on this, I wanted to get rid of harmful germs but didn't want to hurt him with the soap). I then scrubbed down the plastic parts again using just the sponge and water to try to remove any residue.
Finally, I added the conditioner and medication to the water (I took out the activated charcoal like the directions said) and put him back in the tank. He seemed to to ok but didn't exactly look comfortable, and I noticed that he was starting to molt his skin within a few moments of being put back into the tank. This really freaked me out so I took him back out and put him into his little holding tank again. He molted his whole skin over the course of that evening, and I stayed up with him to make sure he was ok. I was really concerned and emailed a specialist vet that my vet had referred me to, but they haven't gotten back to me. My wife looked around on the internet and found the tests I should do on the water to make sure its ok, and it seemed more or less fine. Here are those results:
1. The water is hard. This seems to be the least important factor.
2. The calcium hardness, nitrate, and nitrite were all acceptable
3. The ph was about 7
4. The temperature is 73 degrees
5. The ammonia levels were a little high, a little darker than the .25 color but lighter than the .5 color.
After he molted and the tests showed everything was ok, I waited a while and then, because I hadn't heard back from the vet and read that molting was fairly common, I thought maybe it was just a weird coincidence that he happened to be molting when I put him back in. I was hesitant, but I put him back in the tank to see if he'd be ok. This time, he seems fine and it was seemingly a coincidence.
I've continued to follow the directions on the medicine, and I've learned that he is NOT happy when I first put it into the tank, but that seems to pass fairly quickly and he settles. Here are my questions:
1. Does anyone have any experience with these types of symptoms?
2. In a perfect world, I'd like to take him to the vet to get his 2 issues looked at. The specialist is far away and expensive, though. I don't want to injure my newt further by transporting him a long way in a car, and if these issues aren't serious, I don't want to spend the money. Is this a better safe than sorry situation?
3. Should I continue with this anti-fungal medication? He obviously doesn't like it, and I have no idea if its helping or hurting. I've just been following the directions.
4. I also ordered Maracyn 2 antibiotic powder from Amazon because I've read that tetracyline is effective on bacterial infections on Newts. Is this a safe treatment?
Sorry for the exceptionally long post (especially from a noob), but I'm just really glad there are people out there that are committed enough to these great little guys to create this forum. I'd really like to help him out, so any replies are appreciated! Let me know if I can provide any more info.
Thanks again,
-CB
