Fungus?

[sharon]

the tip of my newts tail is white and when i touch it, it is slimy and kinda disitigrates. he is also lethargic and has no interest in food. the water paremeters are ok and i put a lil aquarium salt in the water. i do have a fish broad spectrum anitibotic called ampicillex. would that work? also does gravel color make a difference? the tank he is in has blue and black gravel, tuesday im changing the gravel to natural color just to be on the safe side. an update on my newest newt, hes doin good in his own tank, i buy ghost shrimp as the cleanup crew but the brat keeps eating them.

 

[jennifer]

I would not worry about the gravel. However, cleaning all the dirt out of the gravel and doing a water change is probably a good idea. You could try keeping the newt terrestrial for a few days and see if that helps. Keep it on damp paper towels, changed daily. You could also dab the tail with a Qtip with a tiny bit of hydrogen peroxide.

 

[duncan]

I have some Paramesotriton sp. that when I first got them developed swollen lips and grey patches on their bodies. I was keeping them in a bare bottom tank and making frequent water changes with no improvement. In fact they started to get worse and stopped eating. It got to a point when I thought they weren't going to make it. So I tried a last resort treatment using a product called Melafix by Aq'm Pharm., a remedy I had success using in my fish aquariums, made from Melaleuca ( a "natural" antibacterial agent made from the melaleuca tree, I think). Within two days the newts started to eat again and within a week the grey patches had almost totally disappeared. Only 10 days later the infection was apparently gone. Now it would be irresponsible to say that this product was a cure all, and this one case could be pure chance. But I mention it if things get worse with your newt, you might want to try it.
I am curious if anyone else has tried this product on their newts? One of the reasons I did try it was it's claims that it wouldn't even hurt invertebrates in an aquarium. I figured if it wouldn't hurt a shrimp it couldn't make my newts worse. My Paramesotritons have done extremely well since that point in time and have had no reccurrence of the infection.

 

[steve]

I tried Melafix at the level suggested on the package but I really can't say whether it had any effect because (1 day later) my terrestrial tank was prepared. I chose one of the plastic "critter carriers" from PetSmart. These are cheap, easy to clean, come in three sizes and make great backup/emergency aquariums. I also bought a bag of the reptile sand and a box of dried moss. If you fill the carrier with about 1" of sand, a couple of handfuls of moistened moss, a small flat stone (to hide under) and a small bowl of water (for feeding time), your newt should be happy. Mine stayed for approximately 2 weeks and made a full recovery. He now eats hardily and seems pretty happy back in his aquarium. Life is good for my little Firebelly.

 

[sharon]

i meant to grab recycled non chlorine paper towels from work tonight and i got so busy i forgot so ill do that tomorrow but i was plannin on setting up my 2 1/2 gallon tank with that for my sick newt. i do have some organic sterilized potting soil with no perilite thingys in it. could i use that instead of the paper towels? what do you guys think?