Help! Newt won't eat, losing weight!

[Mushi]

I have a blue tailed fire belly newt that's refusing to eat and has gotten very skinny.

Around late summer I purchased a pair of blue tailed firebellies from a reputable breeder. Both animals are young, fully aquatic, and had been doing great up until the start of this month. One of the newts was always slightly bigger than the other, but the smaller one has stopped eating and has been shedding in little pieces continuously for the past couple weeks. When offered food, the small newt will stare blankly or ignore it until the other newt comes over and eats the food. Small Newt also seems a little lethargic, though I do still see him wandering around often.

I've been sure to test the water parameters to be sure that the conditions are good (no ammonia, no nitrate, no nitrites) and the temperatures have stayed in the low 70s. Both newts were eagerly eating thawed bloodworms with no problems until this month Currently, they are being housed in a half filled 9x9x9 plastic "faunarium" with a small, low powered filter, a floating "island" and a few freshwater plants, we were intending to move them to a 20 gallon once it's cycled and more established. The water I've been using should be chlorine free, but I've been adding a little reptisafe to dechlorinate the water just in case.

Yesterday, I temporarily separated the newts so the smaller one can take his time to eat without the other one bothering him, but it seemed like he wasn't interested in the food. When I wiggled the bloodworms, he looked, but didn't bite. I'm going to look for a local place to buy live night crawlers and/or live blackworms to see if they trigger a better food response.

I attached a picture of the newt shedding, and a picture of them both side by side to show the size difference between the two.

If anyone has any suggestions or advice on what I can do, please let me know! I'm so worried about the little guy

 

[Newthanial]

Hey Mushi,
I too recently started housing 2 cynops cyanurus and I had a slightly similar experience but one of my newts kept getting out of the water on the cork bark and wouldn't return to the water for a few days. I didn't have much luck with earthworms for them which was quite surprising because I thought every amphibian ate them but they didn't take to much of anything besides black worms. I did have to do a number of water changes and I had them in my basement which stays in low to mid 60s and my Spanish ribs thrive in those temps there but I think since their an Asian species they prefer mid 60s up to low 70 I hear they tolerate quite well. I would try putting a fan on top of the water if possible. I think my newt just got a lil stressed from the move and not having numerous siblings anymore but once I put some plants and did plenty water changes and got their temps consistent they are both now in water eating and doing well. They still only eat live black worms but if you get lucky like me your local aquarium store sells them at a decent price. It sounds like you're doing the best you can. Sometimes our animals and us get blessed with diseases and things that are out of our control. All we can do is our best and hopefully your newt will turn around like mine did!

 

[Mushi]

Hi Newthanial,
Looks like the black worms are the way to go! I've gotten some live black worms and it seemed to do the trick a couple days ago. The constant movement caught my newt's attention. It took him a very long time and lot of failed attempts, but he eventually ate a few worms.

It's been two days since I last offered the newt some worms, but today he didn't want to eat them. I'll try again tomorrow, maybe he's still full from the other day.

A friend of mine suggested that my other newt may have bitten this newt on the face and damaged one or both of his eyes. Visually, I don't see any signs of injury, but it makes sense that he wouldn't be able to eat properly if he can't see well. I'm not sure if newts are capable of doing that kind of damage to each other, but it doesn't sound impossible.

 

[Newthanial]

What are your water temps currently? Have you ever tried putting a fan on top of water to cool the newts down a few degrees?

 

[stanleyc]

I would separate them for now and definitely get the live blackworms. They will live for quite a while in the water so you could leave them in there overnight easily and let the newt alone to eat as it will. If possible I would also remove the healthier newt and leave the small one in the original tank to avoid the added stress of a new environment. Good luck, I hope your newt will be ok.

 

[Mushi]

It was around the 21st or 22nd when I moved the newt to a "quarantine" set up away from the healthy one. I had to put him in something that would be easier to monitor.
He ate some blackworms on the 23rd, but since then I haven't had anymore luck with getting him to eat. A few days ago moved the quarantine tub to a cooler area to see if maybe he was too warm. The water was about 70 before, now it's at 66ish. I noticed that he's been hanging out on the island more and even though I leave blackworms in the tub with him, he only seemed interested in them on the first day.
Hopefully he'll start eating again soon!