Illness/Sickness: Help! Sick Tiger Salamander

Hi there!
I really hope someone can help! My tiger salamander has open wounds and white spots on his skin, (the white spots look hard and crusty) which I assume is a fungal infection?
I have had him for 2 years, I got him from someone else who got him from someone else so I have no idea how old he is.
He is kept in a glass tank with cocofibre husk as substrate, and moss in places, he also has a big water bowl which I change every other day, and he gets cleaned out every 4-6 weeks, the only thing that had changed recently is the position of his tank (about 2 months ago)
He had been hiding for about 3 weeks, when he surfaced he was thin, wrinkly and had these white spots on his body and tail, I bathed him in his water and saw that he was bleeding from a wound at the top of his tail, and he refused to eat (even waxworms and they are his favourite!)
I took him to the vets (general practice, not specialist) and she gave him an antibiotic injection and a salt water bath that she told me to keep him in for 3 days, also sent me home with some antibiotics and formula to try and get him eating but I couldnt get him to open his mouth!
After 3 days the white spots had gone, the original wound had started to heal but he had started to bleed from 3 other places on his back, I have put him back in his cage and the wounds are healing I think (he is not bleeding anymore), but he has white spots all over him again and some of them are raised (like bumps).
I bathed him for 2 hours in a salt water bath yesterday, and the white spots are gone, his back looks likes it healing.
I phoned the vet again and she wants me to give him oral anti-fungal treatment every day for 3 weeks! Any suggestions on how to get him to open his mouth - he is still refusing food!
Sorry for the overload in info, I just really want him to get better!!

Will try and add some photos.

Thanks Stacey

It certainly does sound like some sort of fungal infection. Fungal infections in any creature are difficult to deal with, since they are very resilient organisms. Sometimes critters will get them if something else is wrong with them, such as another infection, wounds, nutrient deficiencies old age or parasites. These may weaken their immune systems and allow normally 'peaceful' fungal strains to take over. It's a lot like getting something like Athletes Foot. Changes in immunity or body/skin chemistry can let these organisms flourish when normally they would be kept in check.

I really recommend keeping your salamander in a separate 'sick ward' habitat, with only the basics of comfort (some sort of shelter to hide in that is easily cleaned, a water dish that is also easy to clean. no substrate). Humidity should be kept at levels that are minimal, but still allowing the salamander to be comfortable. Keeping it in a dark, quiet place should help reduce stress after the move, which can affect it's health. Keeping this habitat quite clean will reduce the amount of fungal organisms around it so it might be able to fight it better.

Do a thorough cleaning job of the habitat, replace everything that you can and clean anything you can't.

As for giving the oral medication, you may want to 'tease' your salamander with something it likes to eat until it tries to (or at least gets annoyed at it!) and opens it's mouth. It may take some patience to do so. Force-feeding something can be rough on their skin, and their jaw muscles are decently strong (as far as my experience has shown). If you MUST try to get something in, you should do so with a plastic syringe (without needle) that has a very small but elongated mouth. Be very gentle, since more wounds from forcing it will cause more problems.

Do you give supplemental nutrition to your salamander? (Like Herptivite). If not, you may want to start to help boost it's nutrition.

Please keep in mind I am NOT a medical professional. I've got quite a bit of medical knowledge, human and veterinary, as well as dealing with some wildlife rehab, but I'm not an expert. We have members that are much more knowledgeable than I, and be sure to wait for their opinions on my suspicions and advice. The cleaning and the isolation shouldn't do any harm, though.

I do hope your little guy feels better.

Hi Stacey,

I'm not legally allowed to comment on a case under treatment by another vet specifically, but a couple of general suggestions.

The main rule for opening their mouths is to be gentle but persistent. In most cases I feel you can actually get a 1 ml syringe in there eventually, or you can gently open the jaws with a more wedged shaped implement (I use Bic-type pen tops, but a lot of different things can be used) and slip the syringe in (with your spare 3rd hand ). But balancing the benefits against the stress for him is a consideration.

If you really feel unable to to give it by mouth or it is too stressful for the animal, I would suggest going back to your vet and explaining that you are unable to give the oral medications and see if he/she can show you how to administer it, or you can sort out an alternative dosing route - topical (transcutaneous) may be possible depending on the medication the vet is recommending.

Hope you can get him sorted out.

Bruce.

spaceystacey said:

Hi there!
I really hope someone can help! My tiger salamander has open wounds and white spots on his skin, (the white spots look hard and crusty) which I assume is a fungal infection?
I have had him for 2 years, I got him from someone else who got him from someone else so I have no idea how old he is.
He is kept in a glass tank with cocofibre husk as substrate, and moss in places, he also has a big water bowl which I change every other day, and he gets cleaned out every 4-6 weeks, the only thing that had changed recently is the position of his tank (about 2 months ago)
He had been hiding for about 3 weeks, when he surfaced he was thin, wrinkly and had these white spots on his body and tail, I bathed him in his water and saw that he was bleeding from a wound at the top of his tail, and he refused to eat (even waxworms and they are his favourite!)
I took him to the vets (general practice, not specialist) and she gave him an antibiotic injection and a salt water bath that she told me to keep him in for 3 days, also sent me home with some antibiotics and formula to try and get him eating but I couldnt get him to open his mouth!
After 3 days the white spots had gone, the original wound had started to heal but he had started to bleed from 3 other places on his back, I have put him back in his cage and the wounds are healing I think (he is not bleeding anymore), but he has white spots all over him again and some of them are raised (like bumps).
I bathed him for 2 hours in a salt water bath yesterday, and the white spots are gone, his back looks likes it healing.
I phoned the vet again and she wants me to give him oral anti-fungal treatment every day for 3 weeks! Any suggestions on how to get him to open his mouth - he is still refusing food!
Sorry for the overload in info, I just really want him to get better!!

Will try and add some photos.

Thanks Stacey

Click to expand...

A couple of other thoughts.

You may want to discuss with your vet, topical application of 1% silver sulfadiazine cream. It is a broad spectrum antimicrobial that is bactericidal for many gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria and has some antifungal activity. It is not uncommon for skin infections to contain mixed pathogens. If you search this forum for Silvadene, you will see that it has been used on caudates with reported success and without apparent toxicity albeit these are anecdotal reports.

I would agree with nwmnnaturalist that the animal should be placed in a hospital tank. I would use moistened paper toweling however as the substrate and changed every other day or when soiled. Crumpled pieces of moistened toweling can also serve as hides.

You stated that the position his tank changed two months ago.. to a warmer area? Does your tank get adequate air ventilation, i.e.,mesh top? And finally the moss you are using - it shouldn't be spahgnum peat moss as this may impart acidity to the environment leading to health problems.

Thank-you for your advice, I managed to get some of the critical care formula into him earlier but he still wont eat anything. The vet has given us a salt solution that I have to bath him in for 10-20min every day for 5 days. I didnt realise but its not just white spots (these have gone) he has black bits all over him, almost like another layer of bad skin, not really explaining it very well, but his stomach was covered!

I have put him in a hospital tank but I've got to say it doesnt look good, poor thing, he has just been sick and keeps moving his head from side to side like he is trying to get something out of it.

We moved him from on top of another viv (with a gecko in it) this was in view of the window, but not in direct sunlight, to a spot away from both windows - probably cooler if anything. The tank has a wooden lid that get placed on top, usually left open about 1/4 of the way.

I will persist with the critical care formula and his baths but I just dont know how much I can put him through

Will keep you posted, thank-you all for your comments!

Just to let you all know, sadly Sid died yesterday the salt water baths seemed to be making things worse rather that better, but maybe he was too sick for anything to help?!?

Thanks again for your advice and support!

Stacey