Need some EXACT instructions for care of Chinese FBelly Newt

P

pam

Guest
Ok..I have been reading and reading trying to figure out some things about my Chinese fire belly newt. They said Japanese but he is looking a lot more like a chinese..I purchased him from Petsmart..Need I Say more? They should hire some people that care. I even asked a 100 questions at the store..but everything I have read here is totally different? Thats why I am asking a hundred more questions (Petree) is my newts name...and I am learning a lot from reading..but a few things still remain unclear..
I have a 10 gallon aquarium..how much water..6-12 inches? and should I just find some mountain rocks..or would a brick be better for land, now he only has 2 inches of water..I am adding some tomorrow. I know now he needs more I feel like i should put a drop of dechlorinator in for every normal drinking sized glass of water i add..is this ok.? how much chlorine can he actually stand?
I have a small filter in the tank how often should i clean the tank? its a submersible filter?
What is the best and safe way to clean the tank and do I put the newt into a seperate place.
In 10 inches of water how much dechlorinator is good enough?
Should I do water testing? and what am I testing for..?
I have been using "stress coat" with aloe vera as the dechlorinator..can i actually use too much of the stuff and what is the normal dosage?
the ingredients aren't labeled but it replaces natural slime coat..removes chlorine..detoxifies heavy metals and neutralizes chloramines is this a good combination..he doesn't like to swim but he stays in the water with his head poking out most of the time.. I feel terrible to ask so many questions..but I want to do what is best and I feel ashamed that i didn't learn more about newts before bringing one home..but I am gonna try my best to give him the best life..If you would rather email me to give me the information it would be fine..my email address is Pwlittleducky@cs.com..
Thanks again.
Pam
P.s. please add any good things to know about newts too please
 
Sadly, most pet stores don't know anything about newts.

6-12 inches will be great...the more water volume you have, the greater buffering capacity against wastes and toxins. Use the mountain rocks, some bricks have cement-like chemical residues. Dechlorinator drops have directions on the bottle, read them, don't just add drops on instinct. He should not be exposed to any chlorine. Clean the tank as often as it needs it, get some water-testing kits from your local pet shop. Change your filter media as needed. Visit these links for some more detail on cleaning and filters:

http://www.caudata.org/caudatecentral/articles/ten_rules_water.html

http://www.caudata.org/caudatecentral/articles/cyclingEDK.html

http://www.caudata.org/caudatecentral/articles/filters.html

http://www.caudata.org/caudatecentral/caresheets/C_orientalis.html
 
General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
  • Katia Del Rio-Tsonis:
    Dear All, I would appreciate some help identifying P. waltl disease and treatment. We received newts from Europe early November and a few maybe 3/70 had what it looked like lesions under the legs- at that time we thought maybe it was the stress of travel- now we think they probably had "red leg syndrome" (see picture). However a few weeks later other newts started to develop skin lesions (picture enclosed). The sender recommended to use sulfamerazine and we have treated them 2x and we are not sure they are all recovering. Does anyone have any experience with P. waltl diseases and could give some input on this? Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
    +1
    Unlike
  • Katia Del Rio-Tsonis:
    sorry I am having a hard time trying to upload the pictures- I have them saved on my hard drive... any suggestions-the prompts here are not allowing for downloads that way as far as I can tell. Thanks
    +1
    Unlike
    Katia Del Rio-Tsonis: sorry I am having a hard time trying to upload the pictures- I have them saved on my hard... +1
    Back
    Top