Sick Critters

Zurp · 10-12-2003, 05:42 PM

This forum needs a section for sickness and ailments of plants, and creatures. That is the greatest cause of losses in new tanks, and new tank owners, besides those tempting blue crayfish and carnivore snails.

For the longest time I thought there was something wrong with my water. All my plants started developing clearish holes and lines across the leaves... If I took an hour out of my day to sit and watch, I would have realized that it was the damage from one hungry snail, them suckers travel far in an hour... doesn't look like it, but they do! I released the snail to my E-Z bake oven, learned how to prepare es-cargo! Now my plants are fine, repairing themselves.

My current boggle is for my newts. This is my fifth one... and the only one still alive. Originally I purchased a pair of fire-belly newts, turns out they were Chinese fire-belly salamanders (Efts), which should be land-bound. The pet-store owner kept them submersed in water, they all struggled to stay on-top of the floating plants... it was sad... Any-how, one developed a fuzzy ball on his hand, and it became limp, then he died... The second one had a slimy something on about 25% of his body, which wasn't apparent until I too him home, and he crawled out of the water and dried. Parts of his skin still looked wet, and started to rub off when he touched anything. The rough black skin was peeling back under these spots, which revealed his pinkish skin underneath. Two days later it worsened, and he lost mobility in his lower half, the two back feet couldn't move well, an his tail curled tightly, in a rigid "S" shape... not sure if that was from pain, a sign of sickness, or a mood thing...

I traded this sick one, for a new one, which went through the same thing... and this one was quarantined, never touching my tank... which lead me to believe that it was the fish stores problem...

I told the owner, politely he agreed to give me two replacements from a new batch expected in a few weeks... he was going to take these back to his dealer... Three weeks later, I get the two replacements... sort-of, these are now what they said they were... fire-belly newts, not fire-belly Chinese salamanders. One is still alive and well, for now, but one passed away. His sickness was unusual, almost looked like bloat. He rose to the top, with his mid section floating highest, which was a giant air bubble in his belly, I deflated him by gently rubbing his belly until he burped it out. This was temporary, he shortly inhaled more air, filling it back up. I quarantined him, and propped his body so that his head was just below water, and he was inclined. any excess air could easily leave when he took in more. That is when I noticed he couldn't move his back legs also. He also had four little pores which appeared to ooze a white substance above his back leg, on the same side he had a belly bubble. His spine also seemed sorta "S" shaped. The oozing started to worsen, and more dots appeared around his neck... now the ooze was forming a skin around his body. His tail also took on an "S" shape as well, just before his death.

This happened within a two day period, from each occurrence. Only with these animals. and nothing else... even the pet-store animals seem healthy... well, active and only slightly discolored, they have a whitish cloud look to their dark black skin... I have seen pictures of these guys on the net, and they always have a rich and dark black skin. Could something in my water be magnifying what is already growing on these creatures?

My tank setup has these things living in it...
Two Chinese algae eaters, Four tiny 1/2in. gold feeder minnows, one 1/4in. brown feeder minnow, one red-back salamander, one Grey tiger salamander, one black salamander with yellow spots, and assorted mosses and local northern forest plants. No molds or fungus are present, and the entire tank gets flushed with water every month, but usually stays moist, not saturated. Temp is 72%, Humid is 85% avg.

All the other creatures are happy and active, the water is about 2 gallons, and has been treated for chloramine, and chlorine, and for ick. The water is Poland springs bottled water, and is filtered with AMMO, and charcoal through a manual filter pump. The water substrate is tumbled and polished riverbed stones. All tests reveal nothing abnormal, haven't done disease testing yet... can't find testers, other then diagnosing animal losses.

All this rests in a 30Gal. Long tank, and the water is separated from the Bed-A-Beast/sand substrate, except when Sam, the Grey tiger salamander, enters the water to get to his mica stone on the other side.

digger · 10-13-2003, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zurp

...[T]he water is about 2 gallons, and has been treated for chloramine, and chlorine, and for ick.

What did you use to treat for ich? Could this be the problem? Do you actually have ich in the tank? I don't know much about newts or salamanders, but this seems like it's a likely problem.

Zurp · 10-17-2003, 01:23 PM

My first batch of feeder guppies all died from ick, fuzzy white growths on fins and a jelly-like slime coated thier newly dead bodies... within 4 hours... looked like they had been dead for weeks. The pet store said it was ick, and the symptoms seemed to fit... except the itching part, where they scrape against everything. Newts and salamanders always do that, because they shed.

When I saw that the newt had slimy blotches, where skin was rotting off, is when I used "Wardley Watercare, Ick Away" for ichthyophthirius, Cold water and tropical aquarium treatment. The directions said 1 tsp. for every ten gallons, I have about 2 gal, so I put in about four drops, One half of the cap. I only treated once, initially, now I use a wire-tie twisted into a mini loop, to treat the water on a daily basis. Less potent, and effective enough to maintain the tank, if that is what the problem is.

All seems well now, I was also told to look into "Manuka honey" which has a more natural chemistry to treat a greater half of biotic infestations, as well as killing several unwanted funguses, and aiding in animal digestion.

Zurp · 10-17-2003, 01:28 PM

But I am sure that this ailment started at the petstore... or within the newt.

Now my tank part of my vivarium contains...
5 ghost shrimp
6 small feeder guppies
2 medium feeder minnows
2 chinese alge eaters
1 firebelly newt
1 grey tiger salamander

Now that winter is on its way, most water infestations that don't get fed on a regular basis, will die off. I still think my heat issue at the time was the biggest player in the situation.

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10-12-2003, 05:42 PM	#1
Zurp Planted Member (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Enfield, Connecticut Posts: 292	This forum needs a section for sickness and ailments of plants, and creatures. That is the greatest cause of losses in new tanks, and new tank owners, besides those tempting blue crayfish and carnivore snails. For the longest time I thought there was something wrong with my water. All my plants started developing clearish holes and lines across the leaves... If I took an hour out of my day to sit and watch, I would have realized that it was the damage from one hungry snail, them suckers travel far in an hour... doesn't look like it, but they do! I released the snail to my E-Z bake oven, learned how to prepare es-cargo! Now my plants are fine, repairing themselves. My current boggle is for my newts. This is my fifth one... and the only one still alive. Originally I purchased a pair of fire-belly newts, turns out they were Chinese fire-belly salamanders (Efts), which should be land-bound. The pet-store owner kept them submersed in water, they all struggled to stay on-top of the floating plants... it was sad... Any-how, one developed a fuzzy ball on his hand, and it became limp, then he died... The second one had a slimy something on about 25% of his body, which wasn't apparent until I too him home, and he crawled out of the water and dried. Parts of his skin still looked wet, and started to rub off when he touched anything. The rough black skin was peeling back under these spots, which revealed his pinkish skin underneath. Two days later it worsened, and he lost mobility in his lower half, the two back feet couldn't move well, an his tail curled tightly, in a rigid "S" shape... not sure if that was from pain, a sign of sickness, or a mood thing... I traded this sick one, for a new one, which went through the same thing... and this one was quarantined, never touching my tank... which lead me to believe that it was the fish stores problem... I told the owner, politely he agreed to give me two replacements from a new batch expected in a few weeks... he was going to take these back to his dealer... Three weeks later, I get the two replacements... sort-of, these are now what they said they were... fire-belly newts, not fire-belly Chinese salamanders. One is still alive and well, for now, but one passed away. His sickness was unusual, almost looked like bloat. He rose to the top, with his mid section floating highest, which was a giant air bubble in his belly, I deflated him by gently rubbing his belly until he burped it out. This was temporary, he shortly inhaled more air, filling it back up. I quarantined him, and propped his body so that his head was just below water, and he was inclined. any excess air could easily leave when he took in more. That is when I noticed he couldn't move his back legs also. He also had four little pores which appeared to ooze a white substance above his back leg, on the same side he had a belly bubble. His spine also seemed sorta "S" shaped. The oozing started to worsen, and more dots appeared around his neck... now the ooze was forming a skin around his body. His tail also took on an "S" shape as well, just before his death. This happened within a two day period, from each occurrence. Only with these animals. and nothing else... even the pet-store animals seem healthy... well, active and only slightly discolored, they have a whitish cloud look to their dark black skin... I have seen pictures of these guys on the net, and they always have a rich and dark black skin. Could something in my water be magnifying what is already growing on these creatures? My tank setup has these things living in it... Two Chinese algae eaters, Four tiny 1/2in. gold feeder minnows, one 1/4in. brown feeder minnow, one red-back salamander, one Grey tiger salamander, one black salamander with yellow spots, and assorted mosses and local northern forest plants. No molds or fungus are present, and the entire tank gets flushed with water every month, but usually stays moist, not saturated. Temp is 72%, Humid is 85% avg. All the other creatures are happy and active, the water is about 2 gallons, and has been treated for chloramine, and chlorine, and for ick. The water is Poland springs bottled water, and is filtered with AMMO, and charcoal through a manual filter pump. The water substrate is tumbled and polished riverbed stones. All tests reveal nothing abnormal, haven't done disease testing yet... can't find testers, other then diagnosing animal losses. All this rests in a 30Gal. Long tank, and the water is separated from the Bed-A-Beast/sand substrate, except when Sam, the Grey tiger salamander, enters the water to get to his mica stone on the other side.

10-17-2003, 01:23 PM	#3
Zurp Planted Member (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Enfield, Connecticut Posts: 292	My first batch of feeder guppies all died from ick, fuzzy white growths on fins and a jelly-like slime coated thier newly dead bodies... within 4 hours... looked like they had been dead for weeks. The pet store said it was ick, and the symptoms seemed to fit... except the itching part, where they scrape against everything. Newts and salamanders always do that, because they shed. When I saw that the newt had slimy blotches, where skin was rotting off, is when I used "Wardley Watercare, Ick Away" for ichthyophthirius, Cold water and tropical aquarium treatment. The directions said 1 tsp. for every ten gallons, I have about 2 gal, so I put in about four drops, One half of the cap. I only treated once, initially, now I use a wire-tie twisted into a mini loop, to treat the water on a daily basis. Less potent, and effective enough to maintain the tank, if that is what the problem is. All seems well now, I was also told to look into "Manuka honey" which has a more natural chemistry to treat a greater half of biotic infestations, as well as killing several unwanted funguses, and aiding in animal digestion.

10-17-2003, 01:28 PM	#4
Zurp Planted Member (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Enfield, Connecticut Posts: 292	But I am sure that this ailment started at the petstore... or within the newt. Now my tank part of my vivarium contains... 5 ghost shrimp 6 small feeder guppies 2 medium feeder minnows 2 chinese alge eaters 1 firebelly newt 1 grey tiger salamander Now that winter is on its way, most water infestations that don't get fed on a regular basis, will die off. I still think my heat issue at the time was the biggest player in the situation.