Illness/Sickness: Pachytriton Labiatus refusing to eat :(

[Tofujoshi]

I've got a 9 year old paddletail who's been refusing to eat and exhibiting some really worrying behaviors. She seems very lethargic, yawning and snapping as if she's about to shed but no evidence of doing and swishing her tail. I tested the levels in her water and the nitrates were very high so I've cleaned out the tank and done a partial water change. I can't see any physical changes on her skin or eyes. She last ate 4 days ago. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, I'm really worried about her

 

[Chinadog]

Hi, welcome to the site.
The behaviour you describe sounds like something irritating her, hopefully it was the high nitrates causing the problem and she'll start feeding again once things get back to normal. Pacytriton come from mountain streams, so probably have a low tolerance for nitrate as levels would be very low in the wild.
What does she usually eat?

 

[Tofujoshi]

Hi, thanks so much for getting back to me

She usually eats a couple of small earthworms three times a week. She's stopped yawning and snapping now, but she still seems very subdued, and even turned her head away from the tweezers when I offered her a worm an hour ago

 

[Tofujoshi]

Just an update. I've got all the water levels back to normal now, but still no changes in her behaviour She's still refusing to eat and swishing her tail. At a bit of a loss.

 

[jewett]

If she was at a healthy weight before this happened, she should still be OK, as healthy newts can go for even a few weeks with no food. I think she may still just need a little time to recover from her stress.

Like Chinadog said, this species comes from mountain streams so in addition to benefiting from pristine water conditions they also like cold water. If you can, get the water temps to the low 60sF or cooler to help her recovery, if not that cool now.

Best of luck!

HJ

 

[Chinadog]

Just an update. I've got all the water levels back to normal now, but still no changes in her behaviour She's still refusing to eat and swishing her tail. At a bit of a loss.

The tail swishing thing could well be normal. Pachytriton often "tail fan" when perfectly healthy. It's thought to be a means of communication or a territorial warning to other newts. A great deal of the Pachytriton life cycle and ecology is still unknown and captive breeding almost never happens.
Off her food and tail fanning... she could just be looking for a mate?