"Tadpole" gone belly-up

[angelina]

I have several P. Waltl larvae that hatched in March. I just noticed tonight that one of them was just floating. On closer inspection, it looks like it has flipped over..belly up! I've removed him from the rest of the little ones. What's wrong with him?

 

[jesper]

Gas bubble disease no doubt

No, just joking.

Probably just a little gas in the intestine, this seem to happen every once in a while for newts. Especially larvae and metamorphs it seems even though I have seen adult newts float too.

Floating upside down is very stressful though, I used to put my metamorphs in very shallow water so that they could walk around instead but that's not good with larvae....

I'd guess you just have to for the gas to be squeezed out

Bacterial activity in the intestine can cause too much gas but I don't think its dangerous apart from the induced stress.

 

[angelina]

So, it sounds like it will resolve itself. I did see him burp up a bubble this morning! It cracked me up! I'll just keep him separated from the rest of the herd until he rights himself.
Thanks for your help!

 

[caleb]

You can put larvae in very shallow water, as Jesper suggested, to cure this- I'd recommend using a very small container with just enough water to cover the larva, and lots and lots of food.

Once it's eaten a bit, it will probably be stable enough to stay the right way up.

It's usually caused by underfeeding- are the other larvae getting all the food?

 

[angelina]

He's been in shallow water in a separate container since Thursday. I'm feeding him chopped blackworms with tweezers. I can actually see the worms in the cranial portion of his belly and an air bubble in the caudal portion. It looks like he's going to have to "poop" it out!

I wish I had a good camera to catch the moment!!

(Message edited by greenwicche on May 01, 2004)

 

[angelina]

Larva update: He's upright and back with his tank-mates! Yahoo!
Thanks for the good info...