Illness/Sickness: Tail and fin problem

[mortisia]

Hi,
I have my spanish ribbed newt for 4 years now with no problems before and suddenly today I checked him and saw that his tail is like eaten at the end, and there are 2 small pieces missing on top of his fin...He doesn't have a tankmate, he is alone in the tank.
I hope the photos will help...
I really need your help because I dont' know what to do and I'm afraid that something will happen to him...

Thank you very much

Emmanouela

 

[Azhael]

It does look like a typical bite, but if it´s alone in the tank, that´s definitely weird.
Maybe it bit himself? I wouldn´t think they´d do that, but weirder stuff has happened.
If it´s an infection, which is the alternative, you should see progressive changes in the wound. Keep an eye on it and avoid stressing it just in case. If there´s any change, let us know.

 

[mortisia]

So I do nothing and just wait how it goes? ok thank you very much.
It has to be like that for some days though, because I haven't checked him the last 3-4 days.
The good thing is he is eating and is active. Hope it goes well.

 

[Bellabelloo]

What else do you have in the tank ? And what is the current water temperature. Is it possible its caught its tail/ fin in the filter intake?

 

[mortisia]

Nothing alive is in there and the filter is not an inside filter.
Maybe he caught it under a piece of wood?
The temperature is a little bit high for him (25 C), with frozen water bottles and a fan over the tank as always, but it's like that every summer all these years I have him, and nothing has happened.

I took a photo of some weird little creatures that are all over the tank, and are like worms but are not, and they crowl. This is the only tank that these creatures are in, out of the 9 tanks I have. Could this be the reason of the injury?

 

[Ziv]

Hey, actually, these creatures in the wild eat almost anything that smaller than them, but! it is not in the wild, and you should control these tiny worms population. if you can, look closer and seek for tiny eyes like organs at the tip of their heads, if you find it it is probably planaria that indicates that the water quality is bit poor, most of the time worms are a good indication of it... i thing you should take your newt, just in case, and make him a salty water bath as described in here Caudata Culture Articles - Salt Solutions in Treating Salamanders just to disinfect...
the good thing is that they regenerate rapidly, and if it did caused from any of the reasons above, you should deal with it and things will get better
one last thing, i can't say that is the case, but, i did seen one time in my life a salamander miscalculating and thinking that it's tail is a worm... kind of a stupid thought but, maybe... who knows...

keep him calm, and it will be ok! keep updating!

 

[mortisia]

Yes you are right, thank you very much for telling me! I looked it up in the internet and they are planaria after all. So I will reduce feeding and do water changes every 1-2 days as it says and hopefully in 1-2 months I will get rid of them. Although it's difficult. Strange that they are only in that tank...
Anyway the wound doesn't look like it has fuzzy stuff around it so I thing that is a good thing.
I'll keep posting. Thank you very much for your help!

 

[Ziv]

Anything for the amphibians
Oh, and btw, i suggest you'll keep some planaria after all, in a little bowl or something, cause if you are planning on raising caudata's tadpoles, it is a great food for them! while tey are small, but beware of their population... you can pick one at the time with a tweezers to control it...and if you want to see crazy mutations, try to cut a few of them... they regenerate in a crazy way! they can grow as many "heads" they need if you cut it in the middle!!!
Oh and you can do really cool stuff with them cause they can actually learn! for example, put them in box where you drew a star in the bottom, and take the thing that makes the spark in a light device... now, any worm that is coming out or the shape you did, give it a electric shock! and then, after a week or so, you'll have a star shape planaria group!
but you really don't have to do it if you don't want to...

 

[Yahilles]

First, planarians are NOT indicator of bad water quality (you can see them in large numbers in perfectly clean tanks), second, they're a very dangerous food for newt larvae - planarians are predators and they can attack and eat young newt larvae, while they're very rarely eaten themselves.

 

[Ziv]

I disagree... planaria found in an aquerium or so indicates that the water is nutrisious enough for Platyhelminthes to breed... anyways, i've read and studied different, but it is worth to check your source, can you give me a link or something?

 

[Azhael]

Janusz has a point. Planaria are not necessarily an indicator of bad water quality. They can be present simply because the aquarium is mature and contains a variety of microorganisms, which far from being a bad thing can be a good indicator of excellent water quality. However, it´s true that they can explode in numbers when there are sufficient amounts of uneaten foods, which can cause problems with water quality. A moderate amount of planaria is nothing to worry about, and can be a good thing (all microorganisms do their part in maintaining an equilibrium), but a large amount of them is certainly a bad sign.
In my experience, and that of many others, planaria make very unsuitable food items for caudates, larval or otherwise. Most individuals will spit them out quickly and avoid them in the future.
I do agree that they are fascinating little things with some amazing behaviours and regenerating skills, they can be a lot of fun if you have a magnifying glass and a sharp blade xD

 

[Yahilles]

I disagree... planaria found in an aquerium or so indicates that the water is nutrisious enough for Platyhelminthes to breed... anyways, i've read and studied different, but it is worth to check your source, can you give me a link or something?

Where do you see a relation between nutrients in water and planarians breeding? They're carnivores, they don't take nutrients, at least not much (if so, the same way as other water organisms do it), from the water. Not to mention, that nutrient-rich water is NOT a bad quality water. People often confuse this - having algae in your tank doesn't mean that your water is toxic too. As Rodrigo said, planarian breeding is caused by food availability - as it is, simply saying, working with any other organisms. Large numbers are not a bad sign of water quality, they're just a bad situation for larvae as under such conditions they have to live in tank full of predators ready to eat them. On one planted aquarium forum i saw a thread where somebody had a planarian bloom in a perfectly beautiful dutch-type planted aquarium, planarians were breeding so fast and were so voracious that they hunted down Neocaridina sp. shrimps.

 

[Ziv]

Ok, i won't argue with you, but when your water is filled with organic waste, lots os small critures will live there, wheather you'll see them or not, and the planaria eats it... when you have amphibians, they don't need the water to be that way, they need fresh and clean water with no extras... a i said, we can keep talking about this but it won't help... bottom line, you agree with me that she needs to get rid of it and clean the water! finito!

 

[Azhael]

Ziv, a variety of microorganisms can be present even if the water contains few nutrients. In fact, an excess of nutrients can kill off many of those microorganisms.
Caudates don´t "need" clear and clean water. Many species inhabit water masses that are anything but clear or pure (P.waltl is a good example). Nutrient content and water quality are not the same thing. You can have pure, cristaline water with terrible parametres and have "muddy" water with excellent parametres. What matters is the specific contents, not the general level of nutrients.
Many people make the mistake of thinking that clean water is good water, but that can be very untrue.
For example, a newly set-up tank will have fresh, clean water, but will offer nill stability and the parametres can very easily go wrong, whereas a mature tank can look "awful" in terms of algal, microorganism or debris content, but offer excellent conditions.

 

[mortisia]

Triggered by the conversation about water quality I did a water test with "eSHa aqua quick test" strips (don't know if it is reliable). And the results are:
NO3: 10
NO2: 0
GH: >14˚ d
KH (carbonate hardness): 10˚ d
PH: 7,6-8

Are these good or bad?

The newt changed it's skin today and the wound looks like it's healing fortunately, but the planaria are hundreds in there. I'm continuing with less food and water changes. What I did is put some food in and then the planaria came at the feeding bowl and I syphoned them with the turkey buster. I still have a lot of work though!!