Infected newt?

[robin]

when i bought a young chinese fire bellied newt a week or so ago, i noticed he had a white circle at the base of his tail, on his back between his legs. i thought it was a birth mark, but it appears to have doubled in size and is now a pinkish color around the edge and is indented almost like a hole. today, i noticed a second circle forming on his neck!! thus far, i haven't been able to find any information online as to what this illness/infection is or how to treat it. i am very worried! i began quarantining him tonight, as not to spread to my other newts, if it's contagious. i also have fish in the aquarium, and suspect that they are picking/biting at it and making it worse. its hard to say if the newt has been losing weight since i've only had him a week, but he last ate two days ago.

any help would be very much appreciated!!

 

[alan]

Take a look at the "Health & Illness" section of:

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/articles.shtml

 

[jennifer]

Keeping the newts with the fish may be part of the problem. Most fish need "tropical" temperatures (over 72F). Most newts need cold water (under 70F), especially when they are under stress from other causes (like being abused during import and pet shop care).

 

[robin]

we keep the water at 70 because we have lots of plants that don't do well in warm water. our fish are relaively small.. "feeder" guppies, a couple of small tetras, zebra danios.

 

[robin]

thanks for the link, jennifer. i'm doing a dirt quarantine for my newt and treating him with hydrogen peroxide and water. how should i go about feeding him in a terrestrial environment? usually, i feed my newts frozen brine shrimp or blood worms. perhaps, i will put a bottle cap full of water and food in the container.

 

[robin]

This is Robin's boyfriend.
Our newt is getting very dirty in the dirt quarantine. He's covered in potting soil. Is this desirable?

 

[ken]

My newt has a dirt substrate in his terrarium and a little dirt won't hurt him. They do live in dirt in the wild after all. He'll get clean once he gets wet again.

You can feed him chopped earthworms or small crickets when on land. Chop the worms small because he may be used to using water to aid in swallowing, although mine never had a problem with bigger ones. I recently learned to put the crickets in the fridge for a bit first before feeding my newt to slow them down as they scare the <font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font> out of the poor little guy when they jump and he won't eat them.

Good luck!

 

[jennifer]

Hi Robin,

It was not me who provided the link, so I can't accept the thanks.

If you use plain top soil (even soil from outdoors will be ok), it won't stick the way potting soil does.

You can try feeding from a dish, although the newt is unlikely to identify this as food unless it's moving. Try offering the food on tweezers or a toothpick or a broom straw (it may take several attempts until the newt learns that this is food, not a frontal assault).

 

[ken]

I use a pair of forceps to feed Lenny. Now whenever he sees me come near his tank he thinks it's DINNER TIME!

 

[robin]

How long is he going to need to stay in the dirt quarantine? I don't think this infection is going to be completely cleared up any time soon. How will I know when he is on the road to recovery?

 

[robin]

he died today.

thanks for trying to help, everyone.