Eastern Newt moving slow and doesn't seem healthy

[FireChickenFinn]

Hi...I'm new to the newt world. We had two eastern newts that were purchased on ebay. They both were very active when we received them. My 11 year old was very excited. We have a 10 gallon tank that is lined with aquarium gravel. On one side there is 3-4 inches of water since they are mostly aquatic but we have a small area where the gravel is out of the water for them. There are a few living bamboo shoots to help with filtering the water. My son has been feeding them each a half meal worm by dangling the worm in front of them. They seem to eat about once a week. In the last week or so their activity level dropped. My son found 1 of the newts dead over the weekend. The water is fresh...I changed out more than half myself twice now and have also put a small in tank filter. The remaining newt moves very little now and his little eyes are very squinty compared to how we received them. Another thing worth noting is that the red spots on the sides of the newt seem to have lighted from bright red to pink or white. Thanks for your help in advance.

 

[MnGuy]

Hi,

I'm sorry that one of your newts died, and that the other appears sick. How long have you had them? How long did it take them to die and get sick? Were they wild-caught (likely with eastern newts) or captive-bred? Was your tank cycled before the newts were added?

Wild-caught animals can have a lot of parasites that might affect their health. That said, I would suggest these things:

-Don't use a submersible fish tank filter with newts. The intake can suck them into the filter and injure them. I use two sponge filters in my newt tank.

-Test the water for nitrates, nitrite and ammonia with a good test kit.

-Don't use gravel, which a newt can mistakenly swallow. I use washed play sand only with very large rocks, driftwood and cork bark as decorations and land, along with aquatic plants.

-I feed my newts every other day. I feed newt pellets, daphnia, mosquito larva and blood worms. Once a week doesn't feel like enough to me.

-Use dechorinator every time you change the water.

Good luck.

 

[FireChickenFinn]

Hi...thanks for your reply. We are pretty bummed and hoping that we can figure this out before we loose this guy.

-We have had them about a month.
-I believe they are captive bred.
-The tank has been cycled every few days since we have had them by my son.
-We offer them food daily and they take it about once a week.
-The gravel we have is smooth and the smallest rock is still larger than their heads so I don't think they are swallowing. I will get some sand if you think that will be more inviting to them? There are a few very large rocks sticking out of the water for them to climb up on.
-I have been using a dechloinator every time we add water.
-we just bought some newt pellets this weekend but he will not even look at them
-we have offered small earthworms and no takers either
-the filter is a new design that attaches to the side of the tank and the intake is between the back edge and the glass. There is zero means by witch he can get sucked up

 

[FireChickenFinn]

After replying above I googled cycling the tank. I had no idea about this. I have a feeling that's whats wrong.

What do i do now?

 

[MnGuy]

At this point, just keep up the water changes once a week. You can't do anything at this point, and it's likely that the tank is hopefully cycled.

Buy a water testing kit at PetCo/PetSmart or your local fish store and test the water quality.

I don't understand the filter arrangement you are talking about. Can you share a full picture of the tank?

Honestly, if they were only eating once a week for a month I think you got sick newts to begin with. Newts eat a lot and often. I think your newts had a below normal appetite. Did they come in gaunt and with sunken in sides/stomachs?

 

[FireChickenFinn]

Hi MnGuy....sorry it took so long to get back to you. I really appreciate your help. The link for the filter I'm using is below. The intake draws from three sides against the glass tank and eliminates the newt being sucked in. I also attached a few images of the setup. We will be picking up a test kit tonight. No they weren't skinny looking at all when we got them. They were eating about every third day also.

Top Fin® BETTAFLO™ BF5 Low Flow Filter | fish Filters | PetSmart

Top Fin® BETTAFLO™ BF5 Low Flow Filter at PetSmart. Shop all fish filters online

www.petsmart.com

 

[MnGuy]

Hi MnGuy....sorry it took so long to get back to you. I really appreciate your help. The link for the filter I'm using is below. The intake draws from three sides against the glass tank and eliminates the newt being sucked in. I also attached a few images of the setup. We will be picking up a test kit tonight. No they weren't skinny looking at all when we got them. They were eating about every third day also.

Top Fin® BETTAFLO™ BF5 Low Flow Filter | fish Filters | PetSmart

Top Fin® BETTAFLO™ BF5 Low Flow Filter at PetSmart. Shop all fish filters online

www.petsmart.com

Honestly, the water looks too cloudy, which is not good. I would also still advocate for getting rid of that filter. It is still drawing water into the filter and spitting it out, and I don't think that type of filtration is safe with newts at all. Use a sponge filter instead.

I'd increase the water level to 1/2 to 2/3 the height of the tank and add floating cork pieces to the surface so the newt can haul itself out if it wants. More water means more stable water quality as well. They are pretty much fully aquatic at that stage, although they need some land to climb onto on occasion.

Generally I like to keep fish and newts on play sand because food debris and poop can fall into the relatively large spaces between rocks like the ones in the tank and decompose, because they're harder to suck out with a siphon or turkey baster. Play sand keeps everything on the surface so you can easily vacuum it off. The thing is that if you were to replace your your rocks maybe do it in increments, because right now the rocks have beneficial bacteria on their surfaces so you don't want to get rid of all the rocks at once. The beneficial bacteria helps maintain water quality.

I'd add a lot more live, easy low-light plants to help keep the water clean: anacharis, java fern, anubias, etc.

I can't tell from the pictures, but YOU NEED A TIGHT FITTING SCREEN LID. DO NOT SKIMP ON THIS. Newts can climb straight up glass and escape. They don't last long once they dry out.

Good luck.

 

[Otterwoman]

I'm sorry to hear that. Mealworms are not the best diet. Nightcrawlers are, or small worms you might find in your yard. Can you show us a picture of the remaining newt?

 

[FireChickenFinn]

Hi Otterwoman......we ended up loosing the remaining newt friday afternoon. I did testing on the tank water wednesday night and it was complete ammonia. I got him out of the tank but it was just too late. We are currently cycling the tank the right way in hopes of getting more soon. I have a million earthworms in our yard. I tried to use them as feeders but they just wouldn't take em from me. Like MNguy said I think we had some sick newts to start with since they wouldn't eat regularly. I'm also ordering some java fern to add to the tank along with some play sand for the bottom.

Thanks for all of your help!