Mudpuppy skin growth!! HELP! ASAP!

My mudpuppy had whitish patches all over his body. I don't know if it is a fungal infection that I should treat or if he is just shedding!

On monday, 7 days ago I did a full water change for my mudpuppy. I replaced the old water with creek water from a creek next to my house. Then I put the mudpuppy back into his tank before going to bed. In the morning I came down stairs to check on him and he was outside his tank lying on the basement floor. I quickly picked him up (he was covered in slime) and put him back in his tank. He spent most of the day by the air stones but hasn't been very active since. On friday it looked like he had some filmy substance on his lungs, and then today sunday, I checked on him and he was out in the open (which is strange for daytime) and he had patches of whitish fuzzy looking stuff all over his body. I'm worried because his behavior is very strange. He is out in the open and has been laying in strange positions, like verticle with his head down and tail up. He is also fairly unresponsive to touch. What could be happening to him and what can I do!?! I can post a picture of him if it would help but I think he is really sick and needs help ASAP.

I don't think using the water from your creek was a good idea. It could've introduced all types of parasites.

Best think is to get rid of that water....ASAP!!
Then wash it out real good with a bleach/water mixture.
Give the little guy salt water baths every other day. Atleast
for 10 days...(My bio teacher gave me this info)
Most of all rinse out the filter and get a new pad. And
Please never do the creek water thing again, its never a good
Idea inless you got the animal from that creek.

May I ask why you used that water?

What exactly do you mean by "salt baths". I used creek water because my zoology professor (the one who gave me the mudpuppy) recomended I use it. I think he recomended it because of the chlorine found in our city water. I've been using creek water for the past 3 months with no problems. There are also 3 fish that live in the water with the mudpuppy and they seem uneffected by what ever is bothering him. I also looked him over and the tips of his fingers, the bottom of his chin and his belly look reddish. I really do think it's a fungal infection, what can cure this?

Hmmm your creek water might not be it, eather way a salt bath should clear
it up nicely.. You need aquarium salt from the pet store, and you make up a salt bath.
With out a salt leveler you cant really make a 100% salt bath. But keep licking it a lil
and you'll know when its good. This will work wonders for your little guy

I wonder if the complete water change was very stressful for your animal and is what prompted it to try and escape. I strongly recommend getting a tight fitting lid to prevent any future escapes, and only doing partial water changes to decrease stress to the mudpuppy. Salt water treatments are recommended for fungal infections. Read more here: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/salt.shtml
Good luck!

imapenguin42 said:

I used creek water because my zoology professor (the one who gave me the mudpuppy) recomended I use it. I think he recomended it because of the chlorine found in our city water. I've been using creek water for the past 3 months with no problems.

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Can you not age your tap water for 48 hours to let the chlorine evaporate off? It may not be directly responsible in this case but theres no way for you to know what exactly is in the creek water. When I was younger we had a lake at the end of our back garden which I used to use for water for my fish, lost quite a few before I figured out it was something in the water killing them off.

You dont need a special salt for salt baths. Store bought rock salt or sea salt works fine, but you need to be sure there nothing else in it as some salt(table salt) is treated to stop it sticking together.

I've heard of this before. I'm not sure exactly what it is but I know that if this is what I think it could be fatal. I would recommend looking through the "Health and Illness" section here http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/articles.shtml. I don't have a lot of help to give because I personally haven't encountered this, just heard of it. Good luck with him.

Lasher said:

Can you not age your tap water for 48 hours to let the chlorine evaporate off?

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When there is ammonia added to the water too this often is not effective unless the water is left to stand a lot longer than 48 hours. In Ireland where I am from they only add chlorine to the water so 48 hours is more than enough but in many other countries this doesn't apply.

Lasher said:

but you need to be sure there nothing else in it as some salt(table salt) is treated to stop it sticking together.

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I believe I gave this advice out years ago in my more formative years (it might still be on the axolotl site but most of the text there is 10 years old). The anti-caking agent is harmless - any sodium chloride food salt will do the job (not potassium chloride or lo-salt).

There's a number of things that could have caused this problem in your animal, but it's probably due to stress. Doing a full tank change probably stressed him a lot, and there may have been pollutants in the creek from run-off. And the stress from nearly drying out might be entirely responsible, and there may have been some serious damage done during that time, though if he pulls through he can probably heal.

Additionally, what temperature is the water? Heat is a big problem that can lead to fungal growth, and anything over 72 F can cause problems. It might be smart to actually put him in a large container in the fridge, which should help him and impede the fungus.

The salt baths are a good idea. However, while I've never tried it, there is an experimental anti-fungal technique that some frog people have been trying using the hand pump Lamasil AT. I do not know how this will work on an aquatic salamander, and it might cause problems, but it's been anecdotally show to have positive results on chytrid and other fungii. I don't have the link right now (on a library computer; just moved and don't have Internet yet) but try googling Lamasil AT + chytrid. It was on the talk to the frog message board, if that helps. It might be worth a try, but I think that if conditions are as severe as you're saying, it's probably too late to save your animal.

Good luck though, I hope he pulls through.

Its because he dried up more in those little places and now he is partially trying to shed in those places. Air from the bubbler has gotten behind the old layer of skin and pushed it away from his fresh skin underneath. It happens to my newts when they get out . Nothing to worry about if I am correct.

woods39 said:

Its because he dried up more in those little places and now he is partially trying to shed in those places. Water has gotten behing the old layer of skin and pushed it away from his fresh skin underneath. It happens to my newts when they get out . Nothing to worry about if I am correct.

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Mudpuppies don't leave the water. So, and no offense intended, this is rubbish.

John said:

Mudpuppies don't leave the water. So, and no offense intended, this is rubbish.

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didnt they say they found it on the floor?
I know whenever I found a newt that had been out for a while, when I put them back in the water,their skin would have white splotchy marks from where their skin dried out more in some places. After a day or so they shed these splotchy dried skin pieces. Just my 2 cents, rubbish would be fungus growing on it just because of creek water, unless you live near a power plant or his home is a petri dish.

woods39 said:

didnt they say they found it on the floor?

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Good point (note to self: way to read the post John). I stand corrected.

John said:

Good point (note to self: way to read the post John). I stand corrected.

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But do you know what I am talking about?
I honestly believe that is what it is. The bubbler helped seperate his dry skin in those places.

woods39 said:

But do you know what I am talking about?

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It could be true. Would have to see photos.

John said:

It could be true. Would have to see photos.

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Well hopefully it is because it is not too big a deal. Anyways bedtime, nice meeting you John I like your site.

I just had a similar situation. My mudpuppy escaped from his tank 4 days ago and fell about 5 feet. He was found after a while and returned to his tank. He appeared fine for a while, but after 3 days I suddenly noticed white cotton-like growths on his gills and a few small ones down his sides. The next day these growths had covered his gills completely and he had perished.

We use a set-up with tap water which has been dechlorinated. There are pieces of driftwood in the tank, which host fungus, but likely this fungus would not attack an amphibian, since it is specialized for wood.

Our best hypothesis at this time is that the stress of falling and drying out made him susceptible to fungal spores that are latent in most water. Perhaps he could have been treated with a salt bath if the growth were noticed and identified early. However, if the salt bath were too aggressive, it could injure the mudpuppy further.
Another possible treatment is Methylene Blue, which has a fairly strong effect on fungus but is otherwise fairly safe. However, I haven't found any resources describing how a mudpuppy responds to Methylene Blue.

The best plan is definitely to prevent this situation by always keeping a lid on the tank and always keeping the mudpuppy as healthy as possible.

Has anyone successfully treated this condition?

imapenguin42 said:

What exactly do you mean by "salt baths". I used creek water because my zoology professor (the one who gave me the mudpuppy) recomended I use it. I think he recomended it because of the chlorine found in our city water. I've been using creek water for the past 3 months with no problems. There are also 3 fish that live in the water with the mudpuppy and they seem uneffected by what ever is bothering him. I also looked him over and the tips of his fingers, the bottom of his chin and his belly look reddish. I really do think it's a fungal infection, what can cure this?

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Your zoology professor gave you severely misguided information. While it is true that much tap water has chlorine, there are actually water conditioners such as SeaChem Prime which will actually condition the tap water and dechlorinate the water as well as neutralize any bad metals.

John said:

Mudpuppies don't leave the water. So, and no offense intended, this is rubbish.

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Naturally, they don't. Why would the animal bail from its tank then? That is what OP said. The poor thing was lying on the basement floor and more than likely severely stressed by the situation. But maybe something in the tank was agitating it and so it took its chances and bailed. OP should investigate as to why this happened too, especially since he's got fish in there too. Hope the mudpuppy gets better.