Firebelly newt help!! Please read!

[kellsnotokay52]

My fire belly newts are in the morphing stage. They still have gills but they sometimes come up to the surface for air. How will i onow when they want land?I also just lost one today, he's the first one that has died in a while. I checked all of my levels and they are all normal except for the nitrites. They are .5 in the "caution" zone. I have no ammonia. I did a large water change but its still at caution. I'm freaking out cause I'm concerned! I'm going to be changing their tank tomorrow and separating them into two tanks.
I feel like they are pretty active swimming around the tank to different plants. I read that they aren't usually active? And that they like space but they all stay in the same corner together!!

Also I have one newt that is missing one gill. I know it's not good. Can they regrow them. Is he okay with one?


Thanks so much! I know I have lots of questions any help would be great!

 

[Niels D]

That gill won't be too much of a problem. If you think your animals are about to morph you can move them to a tank with a heap of gravel at one side which reaches out of the water. This way your animals can easily climb out of the water when they need to. If you fill the water area with a lot of Java moss or something similar they will have a lot of things to cling on to while they're in the water, so it's less likely for them to drown out of exhaustion.