Little white "bug" on my newt, making it twitch...

[mattramsland]

Tonight, I noticed one of my Eastern (Red Spotted) newts was twitching in way I've not seen before. Then I noticed 2 of the others were doing the same thing. Upon closer observation, I could see a very small (maybe 1 mm) white bug crawling along one of the newts' side. It would scurry quickly, then stop, and repeat this motion all over the newt, causing him to wiggle, as if it tickled. All three are behaving normally (eating, swimming about, etc.) aside from this twitching. Any thoughts on what these would be? What could I do eliminate them, if needed? Thanks!

 

[Denikar]

My guess would be a springtail, which is a harmless nice little snack for your newt!

 

[mattramsland]

Ok...that's good I guess. But why is the bug on the newt, and making the newt twitch? Will that harm the newt?

 

[jbherpin]

A springtail would have had to climb onto the newt while it was terrestrial. The springtail would not be infesting the water section. If multiple newts have them and there is a provisory land section, you may want to investigate how large the springtail culture is. Too many will stress them, and also suggests there is a lot of mold to be eaten. Springtails live solely on mold and won't reproduce without this food available. Let us know some more specifics, and maybe we as a community can solve this.

-jbherpin-

 

[mattramsland]

Ok, thanks. It's a 20 long with about 1/4 inch of sand along the bottom, with about 8 inches of water throughout. There are live (moneywort and java moss) and plastic plants, and some mid-size rocks forming some hides in a few places on the bottom. The land area is small: it's just a vase with a small flat rock on top of if. Some of the plants extend out of the water. There are 4 Eastern Newts inhabiting the tank, with a screen top and a typical flourescent hood light on a 12/12 hr. timer cycle. I feed them frozen bloodworms and reptomin sticks, and have a stone bubbler aerator. I change 25% of the water every 2 weeks. Anyway...that's the set up. I can't see any of the bugs anywhere in the tank, just the 2 I've seen on the newts. All 4 of the newts are basically fully aquatic. They mostly swim around and crawl along the sand, and rest on the plants near the surface. Ocassionally, they will rest on the part of the plants sticking out of the water (with their bodies fully out of the water) for portions of the night, but return to the water before long. I'll keep you posted when I check on them tomorrow...Thanks!

 

[jbherpin]

If the bug is still on the newts, I'd remove it personally. No need for a parasite to sicken your animals, or stress can depress the bodily systems as well. Let us know how it turns out!

-jbherpin-

 

[mattramsland]

I checked on them this morning, and couldn't see the bugs anymore. One of the newts seemed to twitch a couple times, but it may have just been a normal flick of the tail. Thanks for the info, and I'll post again if anything else develops.

 

[jbherpin]

Good to here, and thanks for keeping us updated!

-jbherpin-