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Sick leg on Chinese Fire Belly

selliott101

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Hello everybody thanks for letting me be a part off this community and I wish my first post could be on a slightly lighter topic

I start off with some background, I currently live in Beijing China and I discovered my Chinese Fire-belly Nigel being kept in a tiny cup of water in a mainstream supermarket amongst other aquatic animals (mostly turtles and Siamese fighters.) He was the only newt there and against my better judgement I stole Nigel knowing I had a large tank at home. He was very thin and small when I got him and obviously distressed. I currently keep him in just over 20 litres of spring water next to the window of my apartment bedroom with gravel bottom and a few plants and a log to sit on. When I 1st got him he mostly moved around on the bottom of the water but the last few weeks he almost exclusively stayed on the plants or log and only moving between them at night. I bought a jar of freeze dried bloodworms for him to eat which I havent seen him eat but have seen disappear from where I put them. I put a snail to get debris in the tank about a week ago (which I did quarantine) to get debris. I change a quarter or so of the water each week and a bit but havent got a filter as the one I bought was too powerful buffets him around if hes in the water. I dont know the exact water temperature at the moment but were heading to a cold Beijing winter so its cold. The last two days he has been much more active and aquatic until today:

TLDR: Problem from title-

I woke up this morning to see him again very active except his left hind leg he is holding against his body and not moving it. Its kind of swollen and a light browny colour with splotchs of his normal black. It also seems to be peeling slightly. The rest of him looks ok and he moves normally apart from the lame leg making him clumsier than usual. I dont know enough about newts to diagnose the problem and couldnt find anything online so far. The only thing I can think of at the moment is that the snail had some kind of parasite that has spread to Nigel.

I feel terrible all I want to do is give him the best life that I can after the cruelty he has endured in likely being caught in the wild and having being kept in the cruel cups at the supermarket. I dont want to support that trade (hence the theft) but I really want whats best for him. Cheers, Sam.
 

selliott101

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UPDATE: This is his hind leg, no change in condition after 24 hours any thoughts?
 

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Otterwoman

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It looks to me like it's dead and coming off. Just keep the water clean and see if he overcomes this. If he's eating well and otherwise OK he could pull through.
 
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