Iberian in trouble (damaged tail)

I found one of my Iberian juvies today with his tail somehow stuck in the power filter.




I have no idea how long he was there, but this fungal growth seems to have materialized over the last few hours since his "rescue"




What I've done so far (after looking some peroxide-related posts on kingsnake.com) is to apply hydrogen peroxide 3% strength on a Q-tip directly to the wound. Then I put the newt in clean chlorinated water after a wait of about 5 seconds.

Would somebody please tell me if I should wait longer before putting it back in water?

Also, judging by the extent of the damage to the tail, should it perhaps be amputated? I have an aquaintance who swears by amputation in cases in which a foot is bitten off and goes fuzzy, for example.

I have seen other chemicals/medicines mentioned, but since I am in Japan I may not have access to them, at least not by the brand names they go by elsewhere. Benatine, for example.

Thanks in advance!

Tim

Also, how frequently should this treatment continue? Don't want to overdo it as I realize it's dangerous stuff. I did it again 15 minutes after the first time though, this time for 15 seconds.

The fuzz has now been reduced somewhat.

Given the extent of the injury, I would vote for amputation at the base of the injured area. Kai posted instructions a while back:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/793/732.html

However, if you cannot reasonably do that, I would say repeat the peroxide once a day and keep him in clean water and maybe it will heal OK.

I agree with Jenn, to leave the tail as it is will only lead to large-scale rotting of the rest of the tail. Best to amputate it just above the injury at this point.

This is always a hard decision since it's hardly possible to predict the progression of an infection. At least this individual is healthy and not stressed from trade/shipment. OTOH, the wound is not far from the base of tail and already pretty much in the danger zone...

Always use a piece of plastic foam (polyurethane cut to appropiate size and well secured) with any motor filter!

Don't you just love happy endings?

Turns out I didn't have to sever the tail after all -- it fell off on its own. That happened this morning, as I was rinsing it under the tap to prepare it for "surgery".



Had the tropical fish store guy apply some anti-infection powder to the stump, and the newt seems just fine, though I'll keep it under close watch.



Think I'll hang on to this juvie (I've given so many away already) and maybe call it "Stumpy"

Took Kai's advice and plugged up the narrow opening in that motor filter.




Now all I have to do is figure out what to do with the tail. Anybody know any good witch concoctions? I've heard of "eye of newt" being used as an ingredient, but tail...?

Hi TJ,

I'm glad you succeeded in saving that newt from further problems. I just wanted to say that if I were you I'd be careful using any medications on newts unless you're pretty sure it's ok (and the correct dosage). Many medications sold for fish are in fact quite toxic to amphibians (they're usually slightly toxic to the fish too but anyway...). In the case of some chemicals, amphibians require a smaller dose than fish.

All the best.

Thanks for that reminder John

Still need to pin down what medications here in Japan are particularly toxic to newts and which are OK to use in certain circumstances (and yes, in milder doses).

I'm actually looking into getting some relatively newt-safe medications sent here (Japan) from overseas for any contingencies (even plain ol' hydrogen peroxide isn't available from phamacies here for some reason!).

The person who applied the powder assured me it was relatively mild (...for fish at least). He didn't pour the powder directly on the newt's tail or anything drastic like that, just added it to a small amount of water, dipped his finger in the liquid and dabbed the "tail-end" of the stump.

Thought I'd have to take it back for another treatment, but newt's doing fine. Keeping it in chlorinated water, changed twice daily just in case...

I, for one, would really like to see others also post their problems (with pics!) from start to finish so we can all (well, at least the novices among us) learn from their successes and mistakes.

Tim

BTW, Tim, I guess you mean dechlorinated water, right? Just thought we should clarify since you used chlorinated twice in this thread...

Best wishes,
kai

Oh, oh oh...no, I did mean chlorinated water. Pls do correct me if I'm doing something wrong here. I read somewhere that in the case of a fungus infection, it's better not to dechlorinate the water each time as the chlorine helps keep the fungus in check. I normally dechlorinate water for my newts, but my understanding (misunderstanding?) was that newts aren't as sensitive to chlorine as fish...
Thanks!
Tim

I think the "sores" article on Caudate Central suggests dipping or dabbing the wound with chlorinated water. I don't think it suggests housing anything in it. However, any use of chorinated water is dubious in my opinion - the amount of chlorine in tap water varies so widely, you don't really know what you're getting. If the newt has survived living in chlorinated water, you probably don't have much chlorine, and the newt is probably no worse for it. I'd switch him back to dechlor.