F
frank
Guest
Hi,
A very sad story. I decided to put this on the forum as a warning. Two weeks ago, I treated 25 freshly imported T. kweichowensis with fenbendazole (Panacur) at 50 mg/kg. The animals were apparently healthy. Skin sores had healed nicely after antibiotic treatment. From three days after panacur treatment, the animals started to die, one by one, until all the large females were dead (12 in total). Upon necropsy, the lungs were impacted with large numbers of dead nematodes. Interestingly, only the adult females were affected. I come up with the following explanation: females after or before oviposition (big energy investment), caught, stored and transported are probably under very heavy stress, enabling nematode infections to become very abundant. I think that the supplementary lung pathology of the mass die off of the nematodes was one drop to much. I am facing a big dilemma now: to treat or not to treat? I have treated large numbers of Tylototriton (shanjing, verrucosus, kweichowensis) over the last decade, without ever having experienced this kind of tragedy...Not treating is barely an option since clinical infections with nematodes in Tylototriton do occur rather frequently (a phenomenon that is rather rare in other urodelans). Treating, however, appears also not to be an option. At this moment, my best advise is to acclimate the animals first for a month or two before any treatments agains nematodes are started...
A very sad story. I decided to put this on the forum as a warning. Two weeks ago, I treated 25 freshly imported T. kweichowensis with fenbendazole (Panacur) at 50 mg/kg. The animals were apparently healthy. Skin sores had healed nicely after antibiotic treatment. From three days after panacur treatment, the animals started to die, one by one, until all the large females were dead (12 in total). Upon necropsy, the lungs were impacted with large numbers of dead nematodes. Interestingly, only the adult females were affected. I come up with the following explanation: females after or before oviposition (big energy investment), caught, stored and transported are probably under very heavy stress, enabling nematode infections to become very abundant. I think that the supplementary lung pathology of the mass die off of the nematodes was one drop to much. I am facing a big dilemma now: to treat or not to treat? I have treated large numbers of Tylototriton (shanjing, verrucosus, kweichowensis) over the last decade, without ever having experienced this kind of tragedy...Not treating is barely an option since clinical infections with nematodes in Tylototriton do occur rather frequently (a phenomenon that is rather rare in other urodelans). Treating, however, appears also not to be an option. At this moment, my best advise is to acclimate the animals first for a month or two before any treatments agains nematodes are started...