White spots/ Infected wound?

I have 2 CFB. One seemed to have a pinkish wound (they were bought from a tank that had paddletails). It is now white, and his arm seems to be swelling. It is still fully functional but he doesn't seem to use it. I noticed today the other newt now has a white spot on it's arm also. Any help would be appreciated, Bacteria? Fungus? What do I do?

Well I don't know about the white spot or fungus but unfortunately I can say from my first set of newts the pink spot is definitely a wound. In order to not take up too much time and space here, I believe if you look for posts about wounds you will see what the experienced say to do about treating it. I have not had my current newt long enough nor has he been injured (knock on wood). Good luck I'm sure someone will give you good sound advice but keep everyone updated.

Ask your herp vet for Nystan (antifungal) and Baytril (antibacterial). Mix a small amount of 2.5% solution of each into aloevera gell (prevents it from washing off) and apply topically (straight onto the wound a nd whitespots). This will kill off any infection. Use it for about a week after the wound/fungus have completely healed to prevent relapses and keep some handy incase it still reappears.
This method saved my paramesotriton. Apply it once a day.
If the arm becomes completely necrotic (dead and rotting), you may have to consider amputation, either by the vet (preferable) or with a pair of very sharp sterilised scissors. If you do amputate, treat the resulting wound with the solution described above. Try to be as quick as possible applying the medicine so as to reduce the stress put on the animals.
If you can't get hold of those chemicals try salt bathing. The problem with fish medicine is that a) it can poison your animal if certain ones are used and b) the best ones (from waterlife) explicitly tell you not to use the anifungal and bacterial ones within four days of one another. So you will cure one thing and the newt will die of the other.

Good luck
Chris

Ok, here I am, mister homoeopathy. May I suggest trying to keep them in different conditions? Clean the tank out and perhaps add a teaspoon of table salt (or cooking or whatever, it's not too important - iodized doesn't matter) per 5 litres / 9 pints of tank water and see how the they get on for a few days? It's amazing how helpful such a simple approach can be. I've never lost an aquatic Salamandrid to disease and all I've ever treated them with was simple remedies like this.

Now having said that let me add a disclaimer - if your newt is suffering from something that isn't just an external infection (i.e. it has septicemia) then you may need to resort to more drastic measures but usually the most effective method of administration of antibiotics is by needle. Try the salt for a few days though, just don't add more than I suggested or you will do more harm than good.

Oh and I've also found that it's often easier to help aquatic newts with wounds to recover by removing them to a "clean" terrestrial environment.

Update, and more help/suggestions needed.

I added salt to the tank and cleaned the tank (90% water change w/ DI water (with R/O right added)). I noticed one leaving the water, and the other's leg starting to swell. I removed both of them to 1 gallon tanks, with moist paper towels as substrate. I put neosporin (type withOUT the pain relief stuff) on the wound.

Am I taking the right steps? I have spring break coming up and I would like to make sure they are started on the right path to recovery before I have to leave. I hopefully can get them back in the 40 gallon tank before then also. Is keeping them terrestrial going to make them heal quicker or should I keep them with some water?

I searched through the site more and I ended up leaving them in the 1 gallon tanks, but I added about an inch of water with the above recommended amount of salt and included a rock to climb out on if they want to. Should I change this water daily? Is pure DI water a good idea at this point for keeping the tanks sterile?

Brian,

Do you mean distilled water by DI? If so, I would not recommend using it, especially exclusively. I think the newts need minerals in their water; bottled spring water is good, if you want to use something other than treated tap water. I also wouldn't change 90% of their water at a time; that pretty much stresses them out. Others know more than I do about newts, but I know with fish you don't want to change more than 30% of their water at a time; to do a water change every day is pretty radical unless you're medicating the whole tank. Good luck!

If you do a water change, use a siphon or something which does not disturb the animals much. I would strongly urge you get hold of the chemicals I mentioned in my last post, above or similar from a reputable herp vet. He/she may also give you a different treatment. If John's method is not working and the animals are worsening, take them to the vet.
Chris