Please help! Triturus dobrogicus can't move legs

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Rudi

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My Triturus dobrogicus female can't move her legs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBfyEe6dTcM , she molts every other day, now she spend her time on surface, is not specially interest in food but few days ago she ate an earthworm with strange behavior YouTube - strange behavior of Triturus dobrogicus female tank is 52l, Webshots - Full Size Photo has no filtr but I was cleaning filthiness and rechanging more or less 20% water for 1day stayed water. now I don't do this because in my opinion bad water conditions is the reason of this things. I think about using aquasafe- how much should I pour it? I will also buy tests on the properties of water and pour some water from stable aquarium. the temperature is about 20*C. tank is prevented from escape. partner of this newt is walking on the bottom, he eats well. they was bought from eljorgo. please help me to save her!
 
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mabye is is an infection or paralysis? what do You think? this newts are with me two weeks, I am giving them alive garden earthworms, bloodworms and Asellus aquaticus. female preffers earthworms
 
Strange. I´ve had them both since last november. Coming from Alex Kenter, Netherlands. So a year in my hands. I´ve even had larvae from her. I guess you may have put her in a very stressful setup. Mine were at heavy planted tank that with sand and filter and not much light. I noticed in your video that she is perfect from her legs cause she articulates her digits and knees well as usual. But she has sinking problems cause she is always using her tail to control position while swimming. You may want to move her to shallow heavy planted setup. I cant help more than this because i dont know what is the sort of problem but i remmeber now that Rodrigo (member Azhaels) have had also problems with some of his dobros with no reasons too... maybe ha can tell you something more than this.
cheers,
 
I don't know what's wrong with your newt. It appears to have reduced back leg function, although it can move them and swim normally. The main problem appears to be the floating. My guess would be whatever is causing the floating is likely to be causing the leg issue too. Floating would suggest trapped gas, perhaps caused by digestive problems. Maybe something is pushing on nerves affecting leg movement.

The good news is that in the second video the newt is definitely interested in food. The bad news is that the worm you are offering is nearly the same size as the newt. Try chopping a small piece off the end of the worm and offering it with forceps. Sometimes regular small meals can alleviate floating problems caused by trapped air in the digestive tract.

The only other observation is that the enclosure looks remarkably clean, which is not always good. Is the tank cycled? It would be worth investing in a water test kit to check for ammonia and nitrite.

Dechlorinator is essential if your tap water contains chlorine or chloramine. Read the instructions on the bottle for the correct dosage.
 
maybe this photo will help You to find the reason. her belly is not normal. Webshots - Full Size Photo now she is in 30x30x15cm Webshots - Full Size Photo with water from the previous tank where male is. female ate this worm from the movie. when she was in 52l, I noticed that she couldn't dive, only floating on the surface. I thought that for newts aquasafe dosage is smaller than for fish aquarium. so do You recommend me use it for 52l tank wiht male?
 
Try placing the newt on some damp paper towels to see if it can walk.
 
the paper towels should I make in 30x30x15cm with female, yes? she can walk using front arms but in tank with no substrate on the bottom it is difficult, so it is better to use 0.1 - 0.3mm granulation sand for aquariums or sand from garden? in my opinion it is strange that she also makes bubble from mouth when I take her on my hand to make a movie.
 
It doesn't matter what size the towels are. You just want to establish if the newt can walk on land using it's back legs. Bubbles are most likely a sign of stress through increased respiration. Handling newts should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.
 
today I noticed that sometimes her legs are vibrating, however tail seems to be immovable. You mean that towels should be under water, yes? on the land it is harder to walk.
 
Looks EXACTLY as what happened to my female.
The floating, the apparent lack of control....it is the same. It´s like watching a video of my female!
Mine also had a hearty appetite until pretty much the end, but kept loosing weight (i see yours is loosing some, you can notice the hip bone).
Bad news is...i eventually euthanized my female because she had gone beyond recovery.
I hope your case is different.

I´m thinking...yours and mine look remarkably similar, did you get them from Holland? If they are related, it might just be a condition developed in the bloodline, perhaps due to excessive interbreeding? I know these T.d.dobrogicus are very extended among dutch hobbyists, and if i´m correct they all come from the same origin.
 
today female has eaten small earthworm. she moves rarely. I think that ammonia in water is the problem so I have changed most of 52l for 1day stayed water, and installed 50l/h filter. I have also added few plants. I am going to buy more soon. in my garden there are a lot of lysimachia nummularia but i'm scared that galenical chemicals from cuted stalks will harm them if I would put them to newts tank. apparently they are from holland but for me it is hard to believe that at jorge they were alright ;( do You htink that I should put female to 52l tank as water conditions are probably better?
 
damn ;( yesterday i have put there bore flowerpot and today when i touched her, there is almost no react. is it possible that not dropped molt caused it? i noticed that her face "evolved" and now her cheeks looks strange. Webshots - Full Size Photo i think that it is caused because of molting
 
That´s normal. The difficulty in shedding is bad news, though, very bad news.
I can´t give you any specific advice since i dot know what causes this, but you could try the general stuff, like keeping it stress-free in a shady, cool area, etc...
 
Azhael, have you breeded this species, haven't You? fortunately, female is moving sometimes. today she have molted. now her tank looks like this Webshots - Full Size Photo and male's setup now looks like this Webshots - Full Size Photo . i am afraid that male will become ill the same as female, in my eyes he seems to sliding back legs during walking on the bottom. however he is hunting very well. Azhael maybe You suppose what is the reason? though You had same problem
 
I do breed them, although the female that died wasn´t bred by me, she was one of my original trio i got from holland.
I have no clue as to what caused the problems with my female and neither what might be hapening to yours...i´m sorry.
In my case, the animal wasted away becoming thinner and thinner despite eating well. The other symptoms were just like your animal. The only difference was that at the time, my two females suffered a weird reduction of the fingers. It, however, cleared out in her daughter and she now has perfectly normal hands.
 
hmm and i guess that Your newts had good nitrogen cycle. if it is true, illness of newt that i am taking care for, is not caused by bad water quality. tomorrow i will start feeding her every day with small portions- alive bloodworms, waxworms, shelfordella lateralis and small earthworms etc. i understand that Your male was completely healthful then, hmm it is strange
 
Both males, perfectly healthy as far as i could tell. Her daughter too, except for the receding fingers (i still have to figure out what that was).
I do believe water quality was good, i never had a problem with it before.
I really wish i could help you....sorry.
 
female eats well, she has got convexities on her trunk and she can not flex back part of the trunk. :(
YouTube - Triturus dobrogicus but she sometimes twitches back limbs.
YouTube - Triturus dobrogicus
alex kenter says that he hasn't ever had problem like this but probably is is due to lack of calcium when they were larves..
 
now she has got problem with keeping balance in water using only front limbs. and few days ago she started quite often snapping jaw making then bubbles. unfortunately she is also loosing weight despite eatting small food every day. during female is eatting, her rear part of torso grows fat, and after meal, it comes back to previous state. male seems to feel good.
 
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