Upside Down Newt Help Please :(

Hi all ok fairly newish to newts so could do with some advice asap if you would be so kind!

This is garfield who is a cynops pyrrhogaster newt, he is still a juvie whom I got off evut along time ago.

Up until now I have had no problems at all but today whilst watching Garfield I have noticed he is swimming eractically and most of the swimming has been done upside down I have attached a picture of him showing his unbalance.

He has had a worm today so has been eating, water is cool and paramaters are all fine so any advice would be great, axies are my thing, ill newts are a new thing

So what could be causing this and what can I do to help Garfield? He is in a shallow setup due to not being fully aquatic yet.

I just found him kind of bent over not looking happy so have picked him up and placed him on a rock for the time being with my other newt Odie.

Any advice would be greatfully appreciated!

Thanks, Zoe

I´d say that looks like an animal that´s tired of swimming trying to get out. There´s a real danger of drowning.
My advice is to add lots of plants, they make a huuuuuuuuuge difference. Open water for not fully aquatic animals is dangerous, they need the plants to feel secure and reach teh surface without problems.
So yeah, either add lots of plants or reduce the water depth significantly.

Azhael said:

I´d say that looks like an animal that´s tired of swimming trying to get out. There´s a real danger of drowning.
My advice is to add lots of plants, they make a huuuuuuuuuge difference. Open water for not fully aquatic animals is dangerous, they need the plants to feel secure and reach teh surface without problems.
So yeah, either add lots of plants or reduce the water depth significantly.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that but there are 6 rocks in the tank so they can climb out, bogwood and hornwort to climb onto aswell (you can see the rock and some of the hornwort in the picture) he is the mostly aquatic one and spends a lot of his time swimming and has never done this before.

Despite placing him on a rock he has gone back in the water again but is right side up for now but still tilting.

Any other suggestions please? Thanks so much

He really does not look right really not seen him like this, have just transferred him into a plastic tank with a smidgin of water at the bottom and some rocks as am worried he is not right and may drown with the way he is buoyancy wise is this the best thing to do for now??

I agree with Azhael. Even small areas of open water can be terribly stressing to young animals still adapting to an aquatic environment. I have some young cynops ensicauda in an aquatic set-up and the water column is packed with plants. Other than that, I can't see anything wrong with him in that picture.