T natans skin bumps

Greetings All,

I am new. I happened upon a T. natans at a LFS. The shop keeper stated it was not yet available so I put it on hold. IS $20 US a fair price? Anyway,I noticed it had small pimple like bumps along it's body. No pattern or particular concentration, just singly here and there. It was bundled in the corner behind the lift tube. So how many bumps total could not be determined.
Has anyone noticed such bumps?

Thanks,
John Rillamas

If these are white like the caecilian is sprinkled with salt then there is a strong risk in getting the caecilian. These are typically caused by being kept in too hard of water which current theory believes prevents the caecilian from shedding and osmoregulating. This in most of the cases I have seen has lead to death in a fairly short period of time.

Ed

(Message edited by Ed on March 24, 2005)

From what I saw, keeping them too cold does it too. That's what the 3 I had died from. They were ok for 3 weeks then the heater broke it it hit the mid 50's in the tank. The bumps appeared pretty quickly and they died within a week.

The "pimples" did not appear to be external. Not like a fish with Ich. They seemed subdermal resulting in a slight lightening in coloration at the center. The temp in the tank was at 78deg F., according to the "stick on" thermometer.
The store was closed yesterday. I will try to go by the store tonight and see what it is doing.

John R.

Mine looked like little pockets of air.

I had the same thing on the T.natans i had they arrived with them from the wholesalers in water with a pH of 8! i placed them into an established tank and added beech leaves which gradually brought down the pH as they leached tannins and humic acid. Out of the twelve i originally acquired i lost two in the first 3 weeks but since then they seem to have settled down the spots seem to have gone and they all shed regularly. After the first one died i added silver sand as a substrate initially worried it might be too abrasive but they love it spending almost all the time buried. the abrasive nature may help stubborn sheds as well??! Also i dissected the two bodies and found the white spots to be clearly visible as little white deposits/cysts just under the skin.
I also found small yellow lesions on some of the organs any ideas would be well recieved
Ben Baker

Hi guys, I've been told that the little bumps under the skin on caecilians are some sort of parasites (I want to say nematodes). Captive bred animals do not get them. The bumps I'm talking about are small, and appear to be cysts under the skin but only slightly discolor the skin above them if at all.

For what it's worth, I've kept T. natans for months at pH of 8-8.2 with no problems.

I checked in on the T.natans over the weekend. It had itself wedged behind the lift tube again. The bumps did appear to be less noticeable. The employee stated that it was not yet eating. This has been about two weeks now. He was not sure about what the owner is feeding it. I need to contact him. Any suggestions for a starter food. I recommended earthworm pcs. It seems full bodied and does not appear to be thinning. I don't think its comfortable without a hiding area.

Thanks,
John R.

The ones on my caecilians were fairly few and far between i'd say maybe three or four spots on each, as i said after adjusting the water conditions it seemed to go away, as for price in the uk i paid £5.95, Also mine spend a lot of time buried under the sand/soil substrate except when they are shedding when i find them wrapped around something either a piece of bogwood but usually the heaterstat guard, they seem to use it to help rub the skin off a bit like snakes and branches!
Ben