Death of recent WC N. kaiseri

J

jennifer

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I received the following by e-mail from someone who recently bought 6 of the WC kaiseri being offered. I know these animals were given an appropriate setup and kept in a cool basement with appropriate food - their basic care was as good as it gets. This person wrote the following to me:

"The kaiseri are dropping like flies. They came in with some disease which has been eating their skin away. I've been treating them with Furan-2 but not having much luck. I'm totally heart broken (and broke) over this. Very bad decision on my part. I should have waited until captive born were available. I so much just wanted to do right by them. I've only had them a month and I've lost three of them with at least two more probably on the way. They have lesions on their skin and there has been a fungus problem around their mouths and on their limbs. The Furan2 doesn't seem to be helping. This has happened very quickly. In the beginning they seemed o.k. except for one which had some discoloration on his back (he was the first to go). They were eating - I even saw one eat an earthworm as recently as two weeks ago. I now have them seperated and terrestrial. I don't know what else to do."

Anyone have any treatment ideas for this person? (I suspect it's too late though.)
 
I've purchased more c.b. Neurergus kaiseri than w.c. I did jump in and get a few w.c. I'm pleased with my results. I medicated (with furan 2) at the first sign of problems and did not have massive losses. My sick ones also had red blotches and redness around the cloaca. I was calling this septicemia but did not get a necropsy on them.
The females were full of eggs and I now have over 50 larvae in the water. I'm hoping that between the c.b. and w.c. I will have a viable breeding colony for years to come.
My tank is mostly water with a nice size land area. I expect the N. kaiser will soon stop breeding and spend more time on land. I might do another tank with a big land area and smaller water area.
I have heard reports of massive losses from some other hobbyists.
 
Don't buy WC kaiseri is the best advice I can give. This is a typical story for this highly endangered species.

Treatment sounds Ok, I wouldn't know what to do next.

(Message edited by grunsven on April 13, 2007)
 
I understand where you are coming from, Roy. Speaking for myself, I rarely ever buy WC animals, as I don't want to support this commerce. Part of the reason I posted this e-mail is to warn people of the risks of losing the animals - they are not the easiest to keep. But to say that nobody should buy them is an oversimplification. I think that zoos and experienced breeders (who plan seriously to breed and distribute them) probably SHOULD buy them.
 
I would say this is more of a typical WC newt story rather than a typical kaiseri story. Replace the kaiseri with just about any other genus of WC, and the email could be the same.
 
jennifer if your friend has them now terrestrially i find a product,i think in the US is called something like silvadene is very effective,it seems to work very quickly but its a cream so it can't be used on aquatic species.
 
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