HELP!! sick/injured taricha granulosa?

[LloydKJackson]

There are some other threads on this same topic, but I didn't find what i was looking for because the newts ended up dying and the thread dried up...

The situation is: I confiscated three taricha granulosa from my 8 year old secnd cousin. She captured them from the wild and put them into an aquarium with no filter and cleaning it out never once happened, to my knowledge...

I bought a 150 gallon aquarium with canister filter, so that I didn't have to watch them eventually die in increasingly horrific conditions.

When I got the three little guys, they were in pretty sad shape, They were all very lethargic due to living in a polluted environment, but since then two of them have completely turned around and are as lively and curious as ever. But the smallest one has not recovered. He/she spends all of its time on land, and hardly ever moves.

I fed it a red wiggler about 1 week ago on land, and it ate it, but was very slow in doing so. Since then I have not been able to get it to eat anything. The other ones are gobbling everything in sight: slugs, earthworms, crickets, red wigglers, etc. I tried some store bought newt food but only the largest one ate any of it. I also tried blood worms but none of them paid any interest.

So now it's been a little over a week since I moved them, and the sickly one seems to have deteriorated even more. I also have noticed what seems to be a small wound on the tip of its tail.

I've seen some information that suggests putting it in a refrigerator, and salt solutions etc., but i don't want to do anything that may jeopardizes its life even further. I'm very new at this...This is my first aquarium, which is now actually a paludarium, and I am enjoying the process of giving them a nice place to live,

I've got an appointment with a vet, next monday, but by then it maybe too late. Can anyone give me suggestions on how I should treat it in the meantime....?

Quarantine is the first thing I am about to do...what else? Refridgeration??? Salt, peroxide??? Any help is very much appreciated.

Lloyd

 

[tmarmoratus]

Can you get us a picture or several pictures of the newt? If it's too far gone, certain methods of treatment can do more harm than good. How big is the wound on it's tail? You can try a topical antibiotic like neosporin, but avoid those with benzocaine or other "pain relief" ingredients. If the wound is small, it may be best just to leave as is. I would suggest you quarantine the newt in question.

As far as getting it to eat, try wax worms if you can find them. I've had very picky eaters get their appetite back by getting them started with wax worms.

 

[LloydKJackson]

Thanks Jeff,

I'll be ordering waxworms asap. The injured part of the tail seemed to just fall off, and it doesn't even appear to be injured anymore. It looked slimy and rotten on the very tip, and since it is no longer any sign of an injury, I'm presuming that it might have just been remnants of it shedding.
The little newt actually moved a little yesterday. But, nonetheless, I still quarantined him, and put him in the refrigerator with some sand and fake plants, with the other half being water.
I don't know the exact temperature of the refrigerator, but I set it to the 2nd warmest setting out of 7 possible settings.
I'll post some pics later if I can figure it out...