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Illness/Sickness: Unknown Tiger Salamander Death

PangaeaWar

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This morning when I went to check on my two Tiger Salamanders, I found one of them at the bottom of their tank in the water, dead. Aside from still being utterly heartbroken, I really just want to know what happened to him... I kept the two (they're most likely brothers who I got from a breeder, and they've always gotten along very well. I know it wasn't the other who caused his death) in an aquarium with both land and water, since they've always preferred being in the water even after their larva stage. Neither of them have been eating very much due to the the weather cooling down, though neither of them were looking at all skinny or anything.

I'm not sure when he died, but when I picked him up I noticed that he was a little stiff, but not entirely. So he might have died sometime in the night-- but I can't be entirely sure. He was acting a little stand-offish the day before, but he was still alive. A couple of things were odd though-- his toes, the thinner parts of his tail, and very lightly in his cheeks were all a pink-red color. Not very much so-- but enough to see when looking at him closely. His eyes were a little sunken in as well, but other than the reddening his coloration wasn't very different. My mother went to bury him (I was crying too much to do it myself), and she thought it would be a good idea to just open his mouth and see if anything was amiss (she used to be a vet tech, though never for reptiles or amphibians). She said that his mouth was full of mucus.

I went ahead and changed out the tank water and substrate and checked my other salamander. His coloring is fine, and his behavior is normal. He's a little shaken up right now from the substrate change, but that's to be expected.

I'm just so deeply saddened by this-- they're both only around five months old. I've tried looking up his illness, but I can't find anything anywhere. Any ideas or opinions would be very greatly appreciated. Worst Thanksgiving ever.
 

Sith the turtle

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Tiger salamanders don't do that well kept in enclosures with large areas of water long term. That could be the issue. What are the temperatures of the tank? What bedding do you use? And any photos?
 
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