Newt Wont go into the water.

J

john

Guest
I have 2 chinese firebellys. I shut off there standing filter at night cause I cant sleep with it on. One morning I turned on there light and filter and couldnt find the newt named Stash. I looked all over and finally found him in the filter. He must have crawled into it and was probably stuck there all night. He must have rissen with the water level in the filter. It has been a couple of weeks now but he doesnt go into the water too much anymore. He just stays on the land in the moss. I have to put him in the water to feed him live bloodworms. And even then, it take him awhile to go fully under the water. He doesnt seem to want to get his head wet. He has been eating fine and so has his friend Cavern. I'm just wondering if there is anything to do to get him to go into the water again? He used to only come on the land at night and in the morning him and Cavern would swim all over and stuff and come to the glass to see me. Do u think if i changed their enviroment around it might help him forget what happened?

(Message edited by Nuggular on December 02, 2004)
 
So he used to like to swim? I don't know what to suggest. One of mine has had one leg now for about a month, and he perfers to be more terrestrial, or close to the top of the water, and he also has a hard time "sinking". Does yours have any injuries, because maybe that is why he is out of the water. that is good that you can get him to eat though. It sounds like you should fix or get a new heater.
 
What do u mean heater? You shouldnt have a heater in with newts. They live in 70F or below, preferably below. It was the filter he crawled into. And the filter is fine. No problem with it. I dont think he'll ever crawl in there again. I checked him out and dont see any injuries. He is just spooked or something.
 
Hi John,

It is possible that your newt suffered some degree of stress while he was in the filter but this is highly subjective and difficult to determine. Anyway, newts have the habit to crawl into crevices and very tight places and don't seem to be bothered. Some newts also tend to be more terrestrials in some parts of the year...

Problably there's another reason for this change of behaviour but my best advise would be to decrease the water level to a minimum or keep him in damp moss and for a few days and then slowly increase the water level to the former level.

Hope this helps

Filipe
 
Just out of curiosity, what kind of filter is it? I would still worry that, if it happened once, it could happen again.
 
Yeah, sorry, I meant filter instead of heater, what was I thinking! newt=heater=Duh! Ha Ha
 
Lol. Dont worry about it Mark. The water level isnt that high to begin with. only about 3-4 inches. He has plenty of moss to stay on. Hopefully he will regain his sea legs. He has always been a water newt. The filter I have is a standing Tetra Internal Power filter. Here is a link to what it looks like.

http://www.tetra-fish.com/catalog/category.aspx?id=53
 
Thx for the info and pic. Awesome lookin tank man. Those are all live plants eeh. Were would I need to look to get these plants. I would love to have that for my newts. How do u feed your newts. I have live blood worms and just drop it in front of them. But with so many plants how would they find the bloodworms that get into all the moss. My newts wont eat any frozen food. It has to be alive and wigling.
 
Pet stores sometimes have Java moss, but the most reliable place to find it is eBay. It's great, it needs very little light.
 
MikeG: Wow...that looks so much like my tanks! I agree that having lots of plants works wonders as far as water goes and stress levels for shy fish. I use mainly java moss, duckweed, and Najas. Java fern works well too.

It takes a while to grow enough to fill your tanks to the extent the photo shows but it is worth the wait. If you have a planted tank with more powerful lighting you could get java moss jump started in there and then pull pieces as they grow to your other tanks.

(Message edited by fishkeeper on December 05, 2004)
 
John,
you can also get duckweed for free at most pet shops...Its a nuisance to them and grows like crazy with a flourescent light.
 
really. Very nice. I will go check around. Thank you all. OOh. BTW. Stash is back in the water. In and out I should say, but a good step. At least hes back swimming around and stuff.
 
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