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My newt just died - need to find out why.

tbage

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I have (had) two firebelly newts in my terrarium for almost a full year. I used to have three, one died very early on without giving me the chance to properly feed him as he would refuse it and you could see his skeleton on arrival. He died from some sort of infection and was found at the bottom of my tank, overturned, rotting. (i had been away about 3 days).

I got him out quickly and that was that. A month or three later my second newt got some kind of problem with his eye. He couldnt see out of it, it was cloudy and it looked painless as he didnt seem to notice. I searched everywhere and eventually emailed the place i got him from. they recommended a product and i bought it which actually did remove his clouded, wet eye. It came back about 2 months later for one day which was tremendously odd although likely because i treated him again as soon as i saw it - i wasnt going to lose another.

To this day, he still waddles happily around. I should mention - these are not adults.

I noticed yesterday one of them was particularly wet all over - i thought he might've went for a swim as theres a small amount of water in there.

He dried up quickly apart from his tail. His tail remained wet for a while. I've seen both their bodies take a while to dry sometimes so i thought nothing of it.

I came home today and they were both there, one in his usual spot and the other (the one that died) was sat somewhere else. He was looking out of the glass, eyes open, with his feet on the log, standing up. 3 Hours later, I went to feed them and he had not moved at all. Thats when i noticed this odd smell and that his tail was wet still.

He died. Right where he sat. No sign of a struggle, no noise, no visible damage. I picked him up and his skin rubbed off onto my fingers, his foot has a slight bulge on it as if it was infected however i did not see this at all yesterday. Could his foot really have killed him?

I placed him down to examine more and he jerked forward from the inside. I thought he was still alive and suffering and got quite upset but i realised he wasnt breathing and his eyes weren't moving. Not to mention he was clearly beginning to decay as his tail was thin and his skin was peeling from the back. He didnt move again for several minutes. Infact he didnt move at all.

I let him go. Im rather upset but my main priority is to find out how and why.

I changed their water about 2 days before this happened. I didnt touch the logs or moss that they live around.

I used to feed them bloodworms when they were smaller and now i feed them frozen mosquito larvae which they've eaten for at least 2 months now. They are eager eaters, they quickly grab whatever they can until they've satisfied themselves.

The newt that died was my biggest and fattest. No signs of starvation or dehydration.

If this sounds familiar to you, or you can spot something i did wrong which led to these events please say something. You might just save the life of my other newt if he ever gets in the same position. I'll be watching him closely.

Edit: I should also mention i've had some cherry shrimp in here for 3-4 months. They haven't ever been seen eating them or even catching them as they prefer the land. They can swim if they want to, i've watched them do it but they avoid it altogether now. The one that just died spent 2 weeks in the water without even touching the land which was extremely odd given the fact its an eft.
 
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HendersonA

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I just noticed this post - I am so sorry what happened to you. I have never seen that in any of the newts I am familiar with and so I don't have any advice. I just wanted to express my condolences and check in with you.
 
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