C Orientalis Tail Severed

[Orvilleberta]

Greetings. My first post to this board.

I have a fire belly newt with a severed tail - just behind the cloacal region. I will post pictures soon.

I was wondering what I should do to promote regeration and healing? The injured newt lives with one other tank mate.

Currently it is spending a lot of time under a piece of driftwood. Sometimes it spastically swims around by wriggling its body. It does have trouble remaining submerged and it's rear end starts to float.

 

[Azhael]

Welcome to the forum!

First off, do you have two Cynops orientalis? If so, it´s extremely rare that one has injured the other in such a way, provided that the two are of similar size. This is not an agressive species, injuries are rare.

If there are no signs of infection, and the wound has closed, then providing an excelent diet, and housing conditions (no stress, cool temps, excelent water quality...) will be enough to make the little fella regrow it´s tail. If it´s showing signs of stress for being aquatic (the frantic wrigly thing while swimming might be a sign of stress) you might want to consider keeping it in a quarantine type set-up by itself.

 

[Orvilleberta]

Thanks for the advice!

The wound has yet to close. I put a sponge over the filter (which may have snagge his tail. It's an external pump.

As of right now Orville is in quarantine, and lost the use of her rear legs. Also it keeps floating upwards toward the rear. The injury has lasted about a week now.

The tank mate is doing great though.

 

[Jennewt]

I would suggest moving the newt to a quarantine setup consisting of wet paper towels. This will prevent any chance of drowning, since his swimming ability is impaired. If the newt was in good health and avoids infection he could actually recover from such an injury.

 

[Orvilleberta]

I think it has a very low chance of survival at this point. I have it in a quarantine setup with water up to its legs. Should I go with the paper towels? Salt bath?

I would do anything to save it.

Update:

I thought it was dead but it nearly drowned. This newt managed to begin shedding its skin.

Because it could not use it's hind legs it couldn't get air. I saw it almost choke to death as it spasmed for air. There were bubbles trapped underneath its molting skin. It is now in a shallow quarantine (for good reason as Jen mentioned).

 

[Orvilleberta]

Well, Orville passed away...

Really sad about this. I will miss him

 

[Azhael]

Sorry....
Such a big wound is a lot for such an small animal....
As Jen said, a healthy animal has a chance if it fights infection, but an stressed animal from the pet.shop with virtually no inmune system has it very very difficult...
Best of lucks with the remaining one

By the way, if you think the filter is responsible for the wound, either get rid of it, or mend it so that it can not happen again. This species will apreciate not having a filter creating a current anyway...so you may want to substitute it for live plants.

 

[Jennewt]

I agree - even with a sponge over it, this filter may be producing too much current for this pond-type species. Sorry to hear about the loss of the newt

 

[Crysta]

So sorry

If you still want to have a filter in there, try an air powered [low cost] cheap filter (as long as it's all covered)
or mabey block the current with a rock or decorations of the sort.

best of luck with the other one.​