salt bath freak out

I think one of my hongongenis has devoloped limb rot, and the other one has a sore between the body and front leg. What started out as a few missing toes ,on the first newt, has devolpoed into a missing foot and one toe on another foot. It is very active, eats well and rarely comes out of the water.
The other newt has had this sore since I got it and it has not gotten any worse. It stays mostly on land and recenty stopped eating from tweezers , but will eat when I am not in view.

I gave the newt ,with the missing foot, a salt bath just now and after a freak out started floating on its back . I really thought I killed it and imediatly rinsed it off in its tank and he now seems to be fine. I used a half a teaspoon of Nutrafin Aquarium salt diluted in 2 cups of warm water. Now I am afraid to try it with the other newt. Do you suppose I used too much salt? This is my first time doing a salt bath and I do not want to kill my newts trying to help them. Should I dirt quarantine them instead and use some sort of antibiotic? I do have a good relationship with my vet, they have no experience with newts or amphibians, nor does any other vet around here, but would give me perscriptions for suff I could use.
The tank they are in is a 29 gallon that just finished cycling and I feed chopped worms from tweezers so the tank is kept clean.
I got them from an aquantence that had them mixed with fire bellied toads and he had gotten them from a pet store that also had them with fire bellied toads. I had originally thought that they just had injuries from the frogs and that keeping them in a safe, clean, cool, quaranteen tank would help, but now am quite convinced it is more serious. Any suggestions or help will be greatly appreciated thanks.

The amount of salt you used in the salt bath was actually on the low side. Up to half a Tablespoon per 2 cups would be OK. I assume that the water cooled down before you put the newt in, right?

What to do about the limb rot is difficult to say. Treating with antibiotics would probably be advisable, as the problem isn't healing on its own. In an ideal world, a culture of the sores would be done to determine the type of bacteria present. But it may be better to go straight for a standard treatment, such as silvadene cream. The newt that is in water may be easier to treat with an antibiotic solution rather than an ointment. I am not a vet, so take my advice with a grain of salt. I can try to find you some standard dosages from the Wright&Whitaker book, if that would help your vet.

Thanks Jennewt. I do not believe that I let the water cool down to the same temp as their tank water. It probably was too warm for him.
I did go see my vet today and she turned me to a colleage of hers that does deal with exotic pets and I will be bringing them there . Unfortunately they are extremely busy so I cant get in until the 22nd. I could not get any silvadene cream from the vet as they want to examine first .
The newt I attemped the salt bath with seems fine, has eaten today from tweezers and is active. My other newt still hasn't changed. Still hangs out on land and will not eat from tweezers for me. There is also no change in there sores for better or worse.
Should I attempt more salt baths in the mean time or should I just leave them be and quit stressing them even further by handling them?

Salt baths are fairly benign, I might be tempted to try it again, but if the newt freaks out with it again, then stop. The last time I did a round of salt baths with a newt, the newt was totally calm and didn't seem to mind. But salt tolerance may vary quite a bit among species. Try to keep their tank as cool as possible.

My tanks are in the basement and even on really hot days the tanks may reach 72 degrees. I will then put non toxic freezer packs in the water to keep them cooler. Right now the tanks are at 64 degrees. I will try the salt baths again ( using aged and declorinated water from my buckets this time )and see what happens.

If the rest of the animal isnt infected is it worth just having a salt bath with just enough water for it to stand in and cover the leg, this may stop it getting stressed?
Also, if it is spending a lot of time on land could it be worth keeping it on damp paper towel or moss for a while, this could be changed frequently to limit infection?

As your veterinary appointment is quite far off i would ask if theres any over the counter treatments you could try, although i don't know if remedies for fish are toxic, you can get tea tree oil that seems save for many things?
good luck
Sebastian

Sebby said:

.....although i don't know if remedies for fish are toxic, you can get tea tree oil that seems safe for many things?
good luck
Sebastian

Click to expand...

I would not recommend tea tree oil for amphibians, it would be toxic. Even diluted tea tree oil products such as Melafix can present toxicity to caudates without evidence of efficacy.

Sebby said:

If the rest of the animal isnt infected is it worth just having a salt bath with just enough water for it to stand in and cover the leg, this may stop it getting stressed?
Also, if it is spending a lot of time on land could it be worth keeping it on damp paper towel or moss for a while, this could be changed frequently to limit infection?


Sebastian

Click to expand...

I actually set up a dirt quarantine tank today, but was reading on the articles that newts that lose water fast do not take to this well. Has anyone had any experience with dirt quarantine with a P. Hongkongenis? I can also set up a damp paper towel container but work all the time and am really afraid that it will dry out too much before I get home from work.

On a good note my newt that lost its foot actually looks better today. Skin has grown over the open wound part and it is cruising around the tank and eating very well. I am optimistic that it is on the road to healing on its own. My other newt is still the same , It does not look like it is getting any worse or any better. I tried to grab it today for a salt bath but it gave me the slip. The tank has lots of hides that I cant get at without disasembling the tank. I will try again later though.

When mine freaked out from his salt bath for limb rot, I switched to trisulfa found in fish area. I used a quarter of a tablet every day. It stopped the rot from continuing but I continued using it till the package was gone.

I did this on advice from the local pet store's owner's vet.

Just a little up date. My newt with the lost foot is still eating and cruising around its new home and seems normal.

My other newt is now cruising around in the water as well as climbing around on land. Seems to be getting more active , even in my presence. The interesting thing is that when I watched it cruising around yesterday , it seemed like it was trying to snag itself on plants , rocks and wood on its damaged leg .

The wound cuts half way through the front right leg- right where it meets its body. It has very limited use of that leg and the leg looks just dead. Different shade of color than the rest of its body like there is no blood flow to it. Also I see no signs of the wound getting worse in any way and actually looks like its begining to heal. I am no vet , but assume that the leg needs to be amputated. It just sucks that the vet is still three days away.

I have the day off and will see if the vet can get me in with a no show from someone else. Thanks to all that has replied to my post.