T.grans wasting away - ideas please...

Hi everyone. My little McGlop is not well. It was another hot summer in the tank and I am afraid that she may have fallen sick because of it.

Several weeks ago I noticed she was getting skinny and not eating much at all. She began having a hard time shedding. Then she seemed to be a little better, eating better and shedding okay, but still skinny. Now she has stopped eating again, she wants to eat and will allow me to hand feed her near the surface of the water, but when she tries to swim, or move when she's trying to swallow the worms she twitches alot and will sink to the bottom of the tank having a difficult time getting back up to the surface. She is very weak now, and has to stay in floating plants or draped on driftwood in order to be able to lift her head to breathe.

I am just at a loss. I cannot afford a vet visit for her right now, and haven't a clue as to what's wrong with her. But I do know at this point it looks like she is dying. Will a hospital tank help or just prolong the inevitable since I don't know what's wrong? She's at that very dangerous point where she could easily drown.

I have one other t.grans. But no more newts after these two. I just haven't had very good luck with them. I think the tank just gets too hot over the summer in our apartment and they fall ill. I have McGlop for about 2 years. And her tank mate McGogo for almost one year.

I perform weekly 50% water changes. Use Prime dechlor. Feed live bloodworms. Water parameters look good, 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite. I do not check nitrates in that tank since you guys told me that they are not sensitive to them. They have driftwood that they can climb on to get out of the water if they want, a turtle dock and floating plants. The tank is a 20 gallon long with a Whisper hang on back filter.
Take care,
Mary.

Where do you find live bloodworms in the US? I suspect these are actually blackworms.

I feed my picky eater blackworms in a shallow tub. He doesn't have to try and swim, just eat.

Sorry, I'm very upset. I meant to say live blackworms, though this newt loves the interaction with me when I thaw her frozen bloodworms in my fingers and feed them to her by hand. The other one won't touch the frozens. Anyhow, they are in an aquatic tank and don't show much desire to go out of the water though they have the spots to.
Take care,
Mary.

I adopted a few Tg's a while back and two of them were thin. One was beyond help and could not be saved despite forced feedings. The other was thin but with daily servings of chopped earthworms he bulked up appropriately. He is still the thinnest of my herd but he now holds his own at the trough. The nice fat canadian Nightcrawlers are very god at adding body mass. I recommend you try that and see what happens.

I agree that trying cut-up earthworms is worthwhile. What is the tank temp now?

Thanks Jennifer,
I haven't been around for a few days. Well, McGlop is still with us and doesn't look any worse. My sig other thinks she looks fine. But for sure she's not shedding well and her sheds are not being eaten. But I think this may be why she get's twitchy, her sheds are breaking off in pieces instead of it pretty much fully coming off. I have found myself putting on plastic medical gloves and slipping areas of skin off of her about once a week. I know you're not supposed to do this, but every time I have taken a sick newt to the vet, they have done it. I just want her to feel comfortable. This may also be why she seems to be weak. She works so hard to get all of the shed skin off and there are always pieces left behind.

I also started treating her with an antibiotic that I had left over in the refrigerator from my last sick newt who died. That was about a year ago and they told me that it was safe to use as a preventative. I.e. it would not have ill effects if used on a healthy newt. So I figured that it won't hurt.

I haven't seen her eat, but she must be, it's been way too long and she is not emaciated like McGooey was when she got sick. Also, the major piece of driftwood in their tank is so full of live blackworms that I really don't need to be feeding them. I took out the substrate because I had blackworm colonies forming in the tank, and they just took hold of the driftwood. I'm ready to put the driftwood into my fish tank to get rid of the blackworms so I can get an idea if she is eating or not...

The tank is between 68 and 70 degrees fahrenheit right now.

Not much of an update, I know. I might take a picture of her just to find out how you guys think she looks.
Take care,
Mary.

I've gotten some emaciated T. grans and even when they wouldn't eat earthworms, they would eat waxworms. They're not the greatest nutrition, but might help bulk them up a bit until they want to try something else. At least it might get them eating something.