Skin fungus ...or what?

vide · Apr 17, 2007

Hi all!
I’m having trouble with my Salamandra s. terrestris and could use some advise.
A couple of weeks ago I noticed that here skin seemed dry and it had a greyish hue. Now, when I got back from my ester vacation it had gotten a lot worse. Some of the yellow spots are hardly visible and the skin seams very dry and a bit wrinkled. If you rub the skin lightly the black comes of, so it’s only in the top layer. Also she walks a bit funny, lifting here tail in an unusual way. Although she is still interested in food she is not as alert as usual.
If it is some kind of fungus should I then try treating with a salt solution? Are there other fungicides I should try? I hope someone has seen this before and know how to treat it… Thanks in advance!

Meanwhile my T. marmoratus are laying eggs so it’s not all miseries..!

/ Vide Ohlin

vide · Apr 17, 2007

Here are a couple of pictures to help you with youre diagnosis!
A couple of months ago:

Now:

tony · Apr 17, 2007

hmm strange stuff. i've only kept a s. s. terrestris for 2 months and don't think it shed in that time so i'm no expert. what type of substrate do you use? maybe it's wicking moisture away from its skin?

besides antifungal treatment maybe an electrolyte treatment could be tried as well? there's a couple products sold in stores/online like T-Rex Hydro-Life, Exo Terra Electrodize, and ZooMed Reptisafe which claim to help in rehydrating herps. i use reptisafe since it cost as much as other dechlorinators and can't really say its claims of providing electrolytes and helping slime coat development are true but haven't had any skin problems with my a. opacum.

john · Apr 17, 2007

Hi!
I had what seemed to be the same problem a while back but didn't get much help and the salamander finally died. Wish I knew what this was!Seen it on Grey Tiger a few years ago,he also died..

Check this link.

http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/7/75515.html?1167706177

vide · Apr 18, 2007

Yes John, it definitely seems like the same problem. But what to do about it?
I am going to try to treat it with a substance called Fungol produced by a company called JBL. Anyone have experience with this product? I am not shore about the dosage but I will do my best. After that I will put it in a quarantine tank on moist paper towels. How dose that sound?
Tony, anything that is good for the skin might be a good idea but what dose electrolytes do?

tony · Apr 18, 2007

Electrolytes
that wiki definition brings up another thing that has been discussed here; Use of Spring Water for Amphibians. if your using such water source as distilled maybe that could be causing this skin condition?

vide · Jun 2, 2007

Good news!

It's been a while now but better to post late then newer. I thought it would be a good idea to let everyone know that the ordeal had a happy ending.
The treatment I deskribed above did the trick! After bathing the animal in a solution (1 ml/1 l) of Fungol over night with one or tow days intervals the animal was completely recovered. After bathing it tow times it shed its sick-looking skin and underneath there was healthy looking skin. But this skin-layer quickly turned greyish and sick-looking but after a third bathing it shed that layer as well. After that I gave it another bath just to be on the safe side. I changed the substrate (moist paper towels) during each bath.
Offcorse I can not be sure that it was the treatment that made the animal well but to me it surtenly seamed that way.

Here is what she looks like now:

Best regards / Vide

rigsby · Jun 2, 2007

Hi Vide... glad to hear the sals ok. When you say you bathed the sal over night, you mean you left the salamander in the solution for hours?

Jennewt · Jun 2, 2007

I'm glad to hear the happy ending of the story. Do you know what is the ingredient in Fungol?

vide · Jun 3, 2007

Yes Ian, when I say over night I mean to say that I left the animal in the bath, with a 2 cm water level, for aproxomently 8 h. It might have been a bit exesiv, I don't know. At least I am not seeing any ill affects (from intoxication) on the animal now.

The ingredients of 100 ml Fungol are:

Malachite green oxalat 20 mg

Crystal violet 4 mg

John · Jun 3, 2007

I believe this has something to do with not completing a skin shedding and then the dead skin becomes infected with microbes. I'm glad you were able to help her.

vide · Jun 3, 2007

shedding problems

John, this sounds like a likely theory. Do you mean fungal microbes and do you have any idea about the reasons for the skin-shedding problems?

Regards / Vide

John · Jun 3, 2007

It could be a moisture issue (too much or too little maybe) or lack of something to slough against. Just educated guesses.

beefsteak · Jun 8, 2007

fungus

Congratulations! Fungol eh? Wow I will defiatly look for that. In case I ever need it again in the future. Too late for my little guy, but at least now I have an answer! Thank you! I realy did think at the time it was a fungus. As in the title of the picture I posted (Black Fungus) that you saw. Thanx again. John.

Newtility · Oct 9, 2010

That is neither a fungus nor shinning problems but obviously a late stadium of herpes viruses. A friend has lost his entire stock of terrestris Solling (about 300 heads!) within very short from this. It is way more serious than Chytrid which is a secondary consequence of bad maintenance or other illnesses. The herpes virus regularly showes up in imported terrestris from the Ukraine. In hundreds of Salamandra I have/had and even more Ambystoma I never observed this in my setup as I strictly don´t buy animals from the stationary trade. But it occurred in the stock of a late friend and those Salamandra showed identical skin, like wrapped paper, opaque, wrinkly and died very soon. They were diagnosed by Exomed to contain herpes viruses but no chytrid. Thus I am 100 % sure this is the same.

Only way to treat this is ti euthanize the specimen, sterilize the tank and all equipment and hope it does not spread over the setup.

Steffen

John · Oct 9, 2010

Of course, you're not serious. You couldn't be, because all the scientists working on amphibians around the world never mention herpes in amphibians. So you are kidding of course.

Newtility said:
herpes viruses

slatera · Oct 9, 2010

Re: shedding problems

Hi,
I had a similar problem with a mature S.s. bernadezi male, which became very dull in colour; a dingy khaki rather than usual brilliant black and yellow.

I isolated him in a covered ventilated plastic box with wet moss for three or four days and he recovered fine. It seemed to be a dry skin condition which was impeding shedding. The increased humidity seemed to do the trick and he has been fine now for several months with no sign of any further problems.

Andrew

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