The shine

[PowerNewt]

I have this male FBN and he appears to have *the shine*
It started as a tiny darker spot 3 or 4 years ago and gradually looked like a piece of skin that wouldn't shed properly... it got a bit icky looking, white, fluffy, but mostly like dead skin that wouldn't come off... he started biting at it. I was desperate to treat it, so I used un-Newt-approved API fungus cure. That seemed to help quite a lot but didn't remove it. I treated for weeks. Then he went terrestrial.
He's been on land for over a month. He still looks pretty normal and has always been with other Newts. They don't catch it.
He's 10 years old, so I'm doing something right-ish...
I have pictures from today, I want to try to add them.

 

[Azhael]

That´s a localized skin infection, plus the animal has good weight, so i wouldn´t classify this under "the shine". Salt baths or neosporin (without painkillers) may be the most suitable treatments. I would separate the newt ASAP.

 

[PowerNewt]

Re: Treating 'The Shine' and fridging newts.

20gal.
Small power-head and fluff container type-filter.
Screen/Mesh hinged top.
Lots of air, he's near a door, but not drafty too much. (tank is deep too, so not much wind makes it down to the bottom)
All live plants.
Live moss.
He hasn't been eating so well on land because I can't find white worms that I want to feed him. He ate frozen bloodworms when aquatic. He goes to land every few years for a while.
He has quite a good bit of land space.
The girl Newt tank is fine, chubby, happy, and about 6-8 years old. There are 5 of them.

I was wondering if there was anything I could try on that spot that isn't too dangerous.
I only treated them with the API fungus cure in desperation because I didn't know what to do. I wish there was something tested and good to use.

Thanks for any help.

 

[PowerNewt]

That´s a localized skin infection, plus the animal has good weight, so i wouldn´t classify this under "the shine". Salt baths or neosporin (without painkillers) may be the most suitable treatments. I would separate the newt ASAP.

But it's been like that for over 3 years.... The others for sure aren't getting it.
They sit together all the time... for years... and nothing shows up on anyone else...
Antibiotics didn't do anything for it.
I used Amoxicillin directly on it with no effect.

Do you know if the neosporin ever causes bad reactions?
maybe it's resistant to Amox, I don't know...

 

[Azhael]

The powerhead is not necessary in a planted 20gallon, particularly if there is a lot of vegetation including some fast growing species. The current could be causing stress as these newts much prefer still water, and that stress might be causing the animal to go on land periodically and might even be related to it developing an infection.

Since you said there´s plenty of air space i wonder how much water the tank has. There should be a minimum of 10 gallons of water.
Are frozen bloodworms all it ate? That makes for a very poor diet, lacking in calcium, that can eventually cause severe health problems and even deformities and death.
Whiteworms are enough, either. You should feed them a staple of earthworms, with other invertebrates as an occassional complement.

 

[PowerNewt]

The powerhead is not necessary in a planted 20gallon, particularly if there is a lot of vegetation including some fast growing species. The current could be causing stress as these newts much prefer still water, and that stress might be causing the animal to go on land periodically and might even be related to it developing an infection.

Since you said there´s plenty of air space i wonder how much water the tank has. There should be a minimum of 10 gallons of water.
Are frozen bloodworms all it ate? That makes for a very poor diet, lacking in calcium, that can eventually cause severe health problems and even deformities and death.
Whiteworms are enough, either. You should feed them a staple of earthworms, with other invertebrates as an occassional complement.

You seem to be assuming that I'm new to this. I've bred heaps of them and have had them for 10 years. There is absolutely no current in the water at all... or that might be an exaggeration... there is a slight ripple to the surface for about 6 inches, max around the water outlet. I said it was power-head type pump, on a hose running to a fluff cup and barely trickling. I've set it up that way always and it's been amazing.
It would be a disaster without a filter at all. I don't have a lot of plants, I have some plants. I have to push water around with a turkey baster to help keep it clean. When the power goes off and there's no movement of water at all, they always go on land for some reason.

Even the tadpoles survive in the tank with that filter, and with an undergravel there's no risk of sucking them up.
They have plenty of water.
I never said they only eat bloodworms.

My Newts lay eggs constantly and the survival rate is nearly 100%... that's why there's a boy tank now. I can't raise them all.
The females don't like deep water, when I increase the depth, they struggle, and act like they can't make it to the top, have a fit etc.


I want to know if the ointment is ok to use on them, it seems that putting petroleum on a Newt would be a bad thing.

Where are you from that you can get earthworms year round?
No stores sell them here and no places sell white worms, black worms or anything else... just crickets and mealworms.

 

[Azhael]

You said you had had it for 10 years so no, i wasn´t assuming you were new to this.
If the filter causes no current, then fine, i commented on it based on the fact that you mentioned a powerhead, as a precaution.
You said it ate frozen bloodworms when aquatic and mentioned nothing else, so that´s why i asked if that was the staple.

I can´t comment on the ointment because i know nothing about it.
As i said, though, you may want to try Neosporin or salt baths.

As it says in the flag, i´m from Spain and we don´t have earthworms available year round either, that´s why i culture them. I also buy rations of them at bait shops and fridge them. They last for months.

 

[PowerNewt]

You said you had had it for 10 years so no, i wasn´t assuming you were new to this.
If the filter causes no current, then fine, i commented on it based on the fact that you mentioned a powerhead, as a precaution.
You said it ate frozen bloodworms when aquatic and mentioned nothing else, so that´s why i asked if that was the staple.

I can´t comment on the ointment because i know nothing about it.
As i said, though, you may want to try Neosporin or salt baths.

As it says in the flag, i´m from Spain and we don´t have earthworms available year round either, that´s why i culture them. I also buy rations of them at bait shops and fridge them. They last for months.

I had an earthworm container but I was away for 3 days one time in 5 whole years and the person didn't water them... they dried out and I've been having a hard time getting a new batch going.
Is your worm set-up small?
Here I can only get worms ... well, never until I move... But there are 3 months or 4 months. I can't cut them up. I just can't do it... so I have to find small ones that are the right size.
Do you get what they call red wigglers?
The ones with pointy noses, my newts always spit out or can't swallow them, they come back up... the round nosed ones that live in the first 3 inches of topsoil get eaten right up.
My water has a lot of calcium in it, and I use eggshell too...
I wanted the white worms because I just want something plentiful for right now.

 

[PowerNewt]

I started using the antibiotic ointment yesterday, and today I came home to find it has a wound in the spot. It's a pink/orange/not black hole in the shine spot.
I can't help but think it has something to do with the ointment.
Can vitamin E be bad? It says vitamin e enriched, it's all I could find. It has no pain killer in it and another person on here says they used it successfully.

It says
Cell-active formula to prevent and reduce scarring:

vit.e
sodium pyruvate
cocoa butter
cotton seed oil
olive oil
petrolatum

Butylated hydroxytoluene - antimicrobial to prevent bacterial contamination and microbial growth.

I am so sad and upset. My poor Newt, If I caused him to have that erosion I just don't know what.

 

[PowerNewt]

Ok, for anyone reading this, things are going better. He's going to be ok.