Question: My Giant Fire Newt and his bamboo

[YellowSloth]

This question is more about the bamboo than the newt, but I wasn't sure where else to put it and I am a little worried..

We set up a tank for our new Hong Kong Warty Newt, Fezzik, about a month ago. As well as lots of rocks and bubbly things we also added 3 small-ish stalks of bamboo. Once we were sure he was happy in his new home (eating lots, exploring and shedding his skin all in one piece) we added a large snail. They both seemed a little stressed for the first day or so, then everything went back to normal and after about a week and a half we even had snail eggs. This was about two weeks ago and I've seen no changes in the tank or eggs since...

That is until I went to give Fezzik his bloodworms today. I noticed one of the bamboo chutes has some white-ish fuzzy looking bumps near the bottom. This piece of bamboo is very light, more yellow than green around the bottom, but the top is green and still growing, I have had this piece for at least a year...It doesn't look at all like eggs...I have seen both the newt and the snail climbing and playing with the bamboo... any ideas what this stuff is? should I take it out? neither of them seem bothered by it. I'm going to try to post a few pics, any thoughts on this are appreciated! thanks!

Jess

 

[Azhael]

Well it looks like fungus to me. That stalk seems to be dead and rotting...

Also i don´t think it is a hong kong warty newt(P.hongkonghensis), it looks more like Paramesotriton chinensis.

 

[YellowSloth]

Thanks! I thought it might be fungus, just have never seen it on any of my other plants or things in the tanks, I'm going to take it out and see how it does in a pot on it's own.... If it was rotting, wouldn't the rest of the stalk look the same? the top half is still bright green and the leaves look great.

thanks for the species info too! I wasn't 100% sure, just from comparing photos, that's what he looked like.

your quick reply is definitly appreciated!

cheers!

 

[pete]

Most likely it's fungus. I suppose there is a chance that it's a root bud, but I think it's more likely rot. I'd suggest trimming the yellow part of the stem off.

 

[YellowSloth]

Thanks Pete!

I've got some other bamboo chutes that have pretty much died since I cut them, I have moved the plant into it's own pot and will re-assess in the morning Any tips on the actual trimming?