Fungus Infection on Pachytriton labiatus

[paddletail]

Hello. My Paddletail had a small white fuzzy dot over one eye but was acting normally otherwise- always underwater and eating. Because he was still acting normally, the pet store recommended that I change 30% of the water and allow the fungus to take its course and give the newt a chance to fight it off himself.

After 2 days of doing this, he stopped eating and wouldn't come out from his hiding spot. It was then recommended to drop tablets of Lifeguard All-In-One Treatment (active ingredient: 1-chloro-2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-4-imidazolidinone) in the water. The pet store recommended not using a full dosage (dosed my 20 gallon tank with a 12-gallon dose). During the treatment, the newt hid under a rock in a curled up ball fanning his tail at me everytime I checked. He also shed his skin and ate it. The treatment was for 5 days. On the last day of treatment, he came out from under the rocks, the fungus had cleared but he still would not eat.

On day 6 I did the recommened water change and noticed that the fungus returned and was worse- not only above the eye but also 3 dots on the side. The pet store then recommended I do the full dosage for 5 days. I'm now on day 4 of the treatment and it looks worse. He shed his skin again on day 3 and has been out of the water on a floating log for hours every day. He sits on the log with his head in the water or wedges his body against the log so his body is submerged and his head is out of the water. He is not hiding under the rocks and still not interested in food.

I also noticed that he has a wound on his tail that was more of a scar previously but seems to have opened up. I also have a pleco and a betta in the tank with him. The pleco also got the fungus but it cleared up within hours of adding the medication. Both the pleco and betta are eating and acting normally. I also had apple snails in the tank which I removed because they were coming out of the water onto the log and the sides above the water line (perhaps they don't like the meds).

Hopefully this cycle of medication will work but I doubt it. Please recommend the best treatment to follow this one. Can you explain exactly how to do the salt bath and refrigeration. Since he sits on the log out of the water every day for hours, is a weak (5%) solution of tea tree oil dropped directly on the fungus an option? Can you recommend a vet in NYC?

PLEASE HELP!

 

[Black leaves]

actually what is your tank parrameter actually? it seems as heat sterss to me, mine also have similar problem if they are confine in small places and hot water and i just change the water and put some fungus treatment i buy from fish store and evrything will be back to normal.... :talker:

 

[Jennewt]

Get his temperature down, even if you have to refrigerate. I would move him to a secure-but-ventilated plastic tub with wet paper towels and treat the wounds. For starters, it's easy to get Neosporin (without the toxic pain killer). A better option might be silvadene cream, but this has to be gotten from a vet. If you need to keep him in water, you could try treatment with an antibiotic. There are fish meds (kanamycin for example), which you can get in a store, but options from a vet may be more effective.

Is this animal recently acquired? Unfortunately, a lot of newts arrive with pre-existing trauma from the retail process and develop these kinds of problems. For more treatment info:
Caudata Culture Articles - Illness Part 1

This page has links to several listings for herp vets:
Caudata Culture - Frequently Asked Questions