Illness/Sickness: Lethargy and not eating

[Moomingirl]

Hi - need some help, sorry for the long post, but I am not sure what may be relevant to his issue...
I had 2 paddle tails for a few months (20 gal long tank, tons of hiding spots) One was much better off from the beginning, the boy loved food, crawled and played and was a nice fat newt. The girl was always a lot more reserved and didn't always eat. I had her in the tank first for a little while, so it's nothing to do with the 2nd newt, she always hid a lot.
I fed them mostly earthworms, grubs and black worms, they also have a bunch of feeder guppies and small snails in the tank that that they could snack on.

I went to NY for 3 days, I fed them every 2 to 3 days so it wasn't an issue, when I came back, the girl was gone. I turned the house upside down as well as the tank, no luck. My guess is she crawled up the filter through the small crack in where the lid is flushed. Or she died and got eaten.
Sad but can't fix, the other newt was still great, eagerly ate fat earthworm when I came back and frolicked around being his fat happy self.
I noticed the male guppie had some fin issue (not sure what but I've seen it before) and it always goes away when I add a little salt to the tank.
Which I did, (table spoon for 20 gal full tank) which is nothing. I didn't think it would matter so much, my dwarf frog and apple snail has more than that and they thrive, plus I couldn't find anything about newts and salt sensitivity - well, stupid me.
After a day, I noticed the newt was hanging on between a wall and a structure, vertical, coming up for air a lot, and would not eat. I took him into a small quarantine tank I have where I breed my grubs and did 100% water change. I assumed it was the salt cause all other stuff is perfect in the water. He did try to eat some extra worms I gave him, but would drop them to come up for air. During the night he managed to crawl out of the little tank as it wasn't as newt proof, but I found him in time alive but dusty.
Once back in the now un-salty tank, he seemed to be doing a lot better - started frolicking around again, not hanging up grabbing air all the time, and then began to shed.
My guess is that the salt was really bad for him and damaged the mucous membrane on his skin, so he wasn't able to breath through it, relying only on his lungs, and now it's being restored.
today I noticed he was again hanging out by the surface on one of the filters, but I increased the current and he went down and seems to be looking for food.
Yet he still won't eat, I tempted him with every type of live food and even frozen and flake food (he sometimes liked the fish flakes)
No luck, and he is no longer nice and chubby - he seems to be doing a lot better as he is crawling around the bottom again and nuzzling rocks to look for worms, but he is STILL NOT EATING and loosing weight.
I am not sure how to fix it.
I will take him to the vet in a day if he doesn't continue to improve- (I gave him some time to recover as he seems to be drastically improving after the un-salting), but I am at a loss again.
This little guy used to be a total glutton.
Any ideas on what's going on?
Again, sorry for the long post...

 

[Azhael]

I don´t think the problem was the salt, it shouldn´t be enough to cause problems. Unless perhaps it was salt with iodine?
What i would do is continue from the start over. When you changed the whole tank you "reseted" the conditions, so you´ll have to cycle the tank again. Be very regular with the partial water changes since water quality will need to be kept in as good a condition as possible.
Try to lower the temperature as this will bust the newt´s inmune system and slow its metabolism.
Don´t give it fish-flakes they are completely inadequate for your newt. Feed it earthworms and waxworms, they should atract its attention and help fatten it up.

 

[Moomingirl]

Oh, he gets all kinds of worms, he just sometimes used to also "hunt" and eat the flakes, so I was just trying to tempt him to eat something.
I would have to disagree, 100% water change does not mean I have to cycle all over again, of cause 100 is bad and I am very regular with partial changes, but in any case, the bacteria lives in the filter pads and the gravel, a water change doesn't make it go away.
He was a good eater before, I just want him to start eating again, and I am trying to find out why he stopped.