Sudden die-off Kaiser Newts

[rebel12345]

I had a very disappointing set of losses. I had 5 Kaiser newts which i had purchased from 2 different sources over the course of about the last year. Within the last 2 weeks, ALL of them died.

They were housed in a 2 foot long aquarium containing about 6 inches of water, several feeder guppies, java moss, and several poplar bark islands. They were feeding on blackworms, earthworms, and dried shrimp. Water changes were performed with dechlorinated water. Lighting was on 12 hour cycle with 2 watt led strips.

Any direction would be appreciated.

 

[michael]

It is tough to say what happened without more details. I can hazard some guesses.
Cork bark is more inert than poplar bark and might be a better choice for islands.
Feeder guppies can carry disease.
For an aquatic set up I would fill the aquarium pretty high. The more water you have the easier it is to maintain water quality. Good biological filtration is important. If your water us not hard something should be added to make it hard (eg limestone rocks, nonabrassive coral, coral sand.)
Temp should be under 72F.

Depending on the size of the dried shrimp they can cause digestive problems. Leftover food in the tank can cause the ecosystem to crash.

N. kaiseri are often kept aquatic year round. Some people have better luck keeping them on land for part of the year. I keep mine totally aquatic with floats year round.

I hope these tips give you some help in figuring out what might have happened.

 

[Chinadog]

It might be worth having a read of this thread, I don't think there has been a definitive solution, but it might be worth adding your experience to the list?

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-...rergus/41994-demise-my-neurergus-kaiseri.html

 

[rebel12345]

Thanks for all the ideas everyone.

Okay at least i have some direction now: i added the guppies in the hopes that the newts might eat the fry. They did not, so nevermind. I raise the earthworms on kitchen scraps so they shud be okay but i buy the blackworms. I have to note that i raise 2 other species of newt in nearly identical setups, the only difference being that i feed them mainly reptomin and fish flakes, which the kaisers refuse. Also in recent weeks my basement has gotten warm, high 70s.

So before trying again i will use a larger tank with higher water volume, larger land area and external filtration, like a canister. Im guessing these guys might be a little more sensitive to water quality than other species?

 

[michael]

For high 70s temps I would use a fan over the tank for evaporative cooling.