Well I spoke too soon... McGogo's sick I think.

[mduros]

Things had been going so well with McGogo my t.granulosa that I was even thinking about getting her a t.grans friend. But she started to show more terrestrial tendencies a few weeks ago. I attempted to make her tank a little more terrestrial friendly but changed it back after one of the mods here suggested that I would have water quality problems with the set up. And somewhere in there the beneficial bacteria in the tank crashed. I discovered this when the tank was at .25 ammonia. I did a major water change and place a small piece of filter media from my 55 gallon tank into a small filter in the newt tank.

All I can say is that the water quality has been good since 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, but McGogo is spending very little time on the bottom hunting blackworms and either is up on the turtle deck I placed in her tank or free floating at the tank within the plants. Okay, none of this in and of itself has me worried, but her spine is showing now. THIS has me concerned. All of the other t.grans I had developed this before they ultimately died.

I don't have the money for a vet visit. One of my other newts cost over $500 in vet bills and was almost impossible to treat. I just don't know if I have it in me to try to force feed one of these babies again, anyhow. The medicines I can do, the force feeding is just too hard...

The tank is warm in our very hot apartment... Summer in the city. I have the screen top on the tank and fans going to keep it a bit cooler. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. And if she is sick and doesn't make it, this will be my last one. It just hurts too much.
Take care,
Mary.

 

[mduros]

I have been meaning to update this post I made several months ago. McGogo was not sick and is doing great. I think she may have been going through a growth spurt? Not sure but she seems to be bigger to me. I need to take a picture of her latest tank set up. I seem to change it every few months for some reason.
Take care,
Mary.

 

[Linus]

I have been meaning to update this post I made several months ago. McGogo was not sick and is doing great. I think she may have been going through a growth spurt? Not sure but she seems to be bigger to me. I need to take a picture of her latest tank set up. I seem to change it every few months for some reason.
Take care,
Mary.

Wow quite a contrast. Glad McGogo is alive and happy :]

 

[eldaldo]

I remember reading about Mcgoo back then! I am glad to hear she is doing better. The help section has so many tragedies, it is always nice to see a few successes.

 

[mduros]

Thanks! It was strange. Her spine was really showing, but then she seemed to gain bulk. She's been a plump little thing again since the fall. I have been thinking about getting a friend or two for her again. But it's so painful if they get sick.

I have decided no more small animals because it is just too hard on me. I had to have a hamster euthanized recently, there was something wrong with her, and she lingered on for months. She lost most of her fur, had an eye infection, the vet thought she probably had cancer. But I insisted on trying to heal her before I finally caved in and decided that her quality of life had diminished too much. And I just lost a betta that had been born in my tanks, I was supposed to have 2 females... But that poor thing lingered too, and seemed to die such a horrible death, but he had a great 2 and a 1/2 years. I keep on reminding myself of that. I am actually letting my 55 gallon fish tank go. As they are dying of old age, I'm not getting more.

Anyhow, got off track here. Just thinking about how hard it is seeing these creatures get sick and or die...
Take care,
Mary.

 

[Linus]

Yeah, seeing a pet suffer is the worst. It's weird what you said about the small pets too. . I've literally had more trouble dealing with the death of a salamander than I did my german shepherd (one of my best friends). Could be circumstantial, but hey these little guys are easy to grow attached to and they depend on us for everything.