Its happining again, how can I get the right salt solution?

J

jeff

Guest
I know Ed was giving good advice on salt baths: "The duration of the salt bath depends on the severity of the issue. I am aware of amphibians (including caudates) being kept in hypertonic salt solutions of as high as 15 ppt as part of a theraputic regimen for weeks. I have personally kept caudates in hypertonic amphibian ringers solutions for more than 5 days." (ED)

Now I noticed that the tail of one of my cynops has a flap of skin hanging on the side. As you may know, I had one death last week due to some kind of simmiler issue, But I am unsure of how much salt to use to reach a safe level. PPT means parts per trillion, but thats not telling me much at this point. would a pinch of salt in about a half gallon of water be ok? let me know as soon as anyone can, who knows if this flap of skin is going to be serious, but I have buried one newt last week and im sure as hell not going through that again. my cell is 360-920-4401 if anyone can call me on this ASAP. Thanks. Jeff
 
I looked this up, but Im not sure if makes sense to what Ed was saying, there is no infection present, but thats what I am trying to prevent.

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

Someone call or respond soon, I don't wan't to make things worse. Will a very low concentration of salt be ok for 6 or 8 hours?

(Message edited by newtsrfun on September 20, 2005)
 
I was referring to parts per thousand not parts per trillion. This shorthand is used for both concentrations. In the future I will have to try to remember to use 0/00 to prevent any further confusion...
quote "Parts per thousand (denoted by '‰' [the per mil symbol], and occasionally 'ppt') denotes one particle of a given substance for every 999 other particles. This is roughly equivalent to one drop of ink in a cup of water, or one second per 17 minutes. 'Parts per thousand' is often used to record the salinity of seawater. 1 part in 103."
from http://www.answers.com/topic/concentration

Is this a lesion or is this due to some loose skin such as that occurs during shedding?

Yes, the newt can be kept in this for six to eight hours but this treatment is not effective against all infections and works best with a prescribed antibiotic.

Hope this helps.

Ed

(Message edited by Ed on September 20, 2005)
 
Sorry Ed, ive been real busy. The tank she was in is now full of the little wormy things(technical name unkown to me)

there appears to be no infection, just a flap of skin(near end of tail), like a cut you would get from slicing yourself while making dinner.
Shes not eating the bloodworms, and I still have her in a special setup. She's acting fine, and we are still doing salt baths, but it confuses the heck out of me why there is a flap of skin. By the way, the newt did poop, which i suppose is a good sign. but what is up with the uninfected flap of skin?, shes not shedding. grrr
 
We need to discuss this salt bath procedure, I want you all to know I messeded up in my concentration and almost killed a newt. I want this to be a lesson to everyone, saline solutions are DEADLY. PPT is too hard to measure without the right equipment so don't advise things that could have(and still might) kill newts.
 
Hi Jeff,

Why do you think you almost killed the newt?
What kind of salt did you use to make up the solution?
And what did you do to make up your solution?

Ed
 
OK here is the story, the condensed version. I had Ducky in her temp. setup and was totally cleaning the main tank outside. I came inside to do some stuff and decided that while inside I would dip her in the salt bath for 20 minutes.
I have used the same bowl and concentration about 5 times allready in the last few days. I couldn't really figure out how to get the right ppt but I figured a pinch, probably 2 grams, of aquarium salt, in a bowl the size of a soup bowl would be ok. I tested it first by tasting some and then I used a small cut on my hand to dip into it and so if I could feel is tingle. I could a just slightly, so I supposed that that would be enough.
SO back to yesterday I stuck her in for 20 minutes and the timer went off, I went in and found her dead. Or at least I thought. She was stiff as a board, and totally lifeless. She remained this way for hours and hours. I cried and cursed myself and all that. And then decided to have a carona and play some Jimi Hendrix for her, I poured my soul into my 1966 Gibson SG and as my mom was watching, she suddenly started moving in the other side of the room. After that, she kind of came out of her coma/catatonic shock, and started barely moving. Now she seems to be fine. So how did I screw up the salt bath and why was it so harmful to her?

Oh, and I assume she got massive dehydration

(Message edited by newtsrfun on September 24, 2005)
 
Jeff,
What was the temperature difference between the salt bath and the normal enclosure? Did you use water right out of the tap?

Some amphibians under stress enter into a form of tonic immobility which can look like it is dead.

I do not think that this was due to the salt bath but it is hard to tell due to the very inexact measurements used to make the solution. Checking the soup bowls at home, I get a range of volume running between 300 ml to 650 ml. These are significantly differenct concentrations.

Ed
 
Ed, she is totally terestrial at this point but looking good. I used declorinated water the same temp as her setup. I figure the ML of the boel must be from 400-500. What do you think of 2-3 grams of salt in this volume?
 
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