Illness/Sickness: JFBN being ill?

I have a japanese fire belly newt, and he refuses to eat. What could be the matter with him?

Here’s some information:
He’s about 8-10 years old
His diet consist of live earth worms.
The tank is about 105 litres big, the water about 13-14 cm deep, he has a bigger rock and some roots to climb up to and also a floating piece of cork.
There are several plants; java moss, anubias and some other species I don't remember the name of.
The temperature is about 20 degrees celsius
There is a water filtration pump running
He’s kept alone
I do a partial water change, about 1/3, every one or two weeks
He ate a earth worm this Monday (usually he’s beeing fed about every third day) but now he refused to take the offered food.
He seems to behave more or less as usual, maybe he is a bit more inactive, but it’s hard to tell
When in the water, he swims, walks on the bottom and climb the plants, he do not float
I found something i asumed were poop
The bottom substrate is fine-grained sand
I’ve had him since mars and he had 2 owners before me, not treating him so well (wrong kind of food and habitat in the aquarium)

Though:
We got this “new” bigger aquarium for him and installed him the 4th of november, before he lived in a 54 litres aquarium. He seemed a little stressed at first but then he looked as usual, begging for food and such but now he won’t eat.

Im a newt newbie, but i try to learn as much as i can about these lovely creatures. Im very sad that he seems to be feeling ill, as he is very very dear to me, this adorable little creature.

I've talked to the vet but the nearest vet with knowledge of amphibans is situated 30 (swedish) miles away and they did not have any suggestions for me over the phone.

What should I do and what could be wrong with him? Im so worried!

I can think of 3 possibilities. First, this may be "nothing". With this being autumn, perhaps he's a bit cooler in temperature and needs less food, so he's just skipping a feeding or two. One or two skipped meals isn't always due to a problem.

Second, I'm imagining that his previous owners may have fed him less-well than you do. Since March, perhaps he has eaten an unusually large amount to compensate for being underfed previously. And now his fat reserves are rebuilt and he needs to eat less.

Third, your new tank has been running for about 2 weeks, which is just the time when the cycling process is getting started. There can be some ammonia or nitrite in the water during this period. However, with a large tank and just a single newt, I would not expect this to be a serious problem. Are there any live (possibly dieing) plants in the tank? Can you get the water tested for ammonia and nitrite?

How often should he be fed? I've been told to feed him about every third day so that's what we kept doing, sometimes more if he has been begging much. Now he do not beg as much any more.

Yes, there are several live plants, java moss, anubias, Pistia Stratiotes and some others that i do not know the name of. Yes some of the plants ( of the Pistia Stratiotes ) are dying, they were worse before but seem to recuperate now as there are new, fresh sprouts coming up. But still some dead ones, I use to remove the dead or pale ones when changing the water.

Can I get a ammonia and nitrite test in the pet store? Then I'll get one first thing in the morning.
Another advice I got was to lower the temperature to about 15 degres celsius, is that a good thing to do, and if so, could i put a frozen plastic bottle in the tank with him or is that harmfull?

Thank you very much for your fast reply. I feel a little bit less despaired, but still, im worried.

Yes, a good pet shop (the kind with lots of fish) should be able to test the water for you. Or you can buy test kits and test it yourself.

I would recommend removing any dead plant material more often. For quick clean-ups, it helps to have a large pipette. Here, they are sold as turkey basters, but I don't know if they are available in Sweden. Also, do you have a gravel-washing siphon? There are photos of these items here:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/faq/FAQhou.shtml

The temperature of your tank right now is fine. Newts tend to prefer cooler temperatures, but I believe JFB's are more tolerant of warmer temperatures. Just don't let it get any more than 23 to 24 degrees. The frozen bottle is usually used as a technique to cool your aquarium, but you really don't need to right now.

I do not have any gravel-washing siphon, and I didn't find any in the pet store, so Im searching to see if there are any to order on the internet.
I had to order test kits so I hope they'll be here soon.

Also, I bought a new, digital thermometer and this one says 22 degrees celsius, so the old one must have been wrong then? So I'll lower the temperature by adding frozen bottles -yes?

I'll get some kind of pipette to use also, I didn't find any today but I know there are some at my old university, so I'll go there and ask for one.

Thank you for helping us!

Update:
Now the water temperature are kept around 17 degrees. Are there a optimum degree for jfbn or should I just keep it constant and low? (I've read that they should bee kept in 14-20 degrees but haven't seen anything about if there is a preferable temperature). Still I think his feeding habits is unsatisfying. The good news is that he stays in water, just having the upper part of his body/head over the surface most of the time, sometimes he sits on the bark but not like before. So it seems like he's feeling better. But still the feeding is a problem, I think, as he doesn't seem as gluttonous as he did when I first got him.
I tested the water and there are normal values of nitrate and the other compounds and a neutral pHvalue

This is how the feedings have looked like the last month:
27 of nov
3 very smal composting worms
1 of dec
4 very smal composting worms
3 of dec
4 very smal composting worms
6, 9,12,14,16 of dec
1 very smal composting worms
19th
1 medium sized composting worm
21th
1 earth worm, a couple of cm long and chubby
25 th
1 earth worm, a couple of cm long and chubby
29th
1 earth worm, a couple of cm long and chubby + a smal amount of frozen mosquito larvae

Today he did not want to eat again. Or he nibbled a bit when I gave him the earth worm but then he did not eat it.

Is it ok that he eat so seldom as he has done the latest week, like every fourth day? What is a good feeding schedule? The recommendations here in sweden is to feed them about every 2-3 days. But they don't say how much, they just say "as much as he wants to without getting to fat" but what does that mean?
He is not thin but I think it should be good if he gets a little bit fatter?

These are the best photos I got, I don't now if they tell much about his hull though
http://www.geocities.com/huggtass/ruppan.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/huggtass/14.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/huggtass/1.jpg

So should I worry or is he acting like a normal newt? I think it's hard to know as I have no experience in amphibians and the information in sweden is not that good, and the vets do not know much about them either. I try to read articles and litterature in english instead but still, it's hard to know what is right.

He's not plump, but he isn't skinny either. The overall amount that he's eating seems OK to me. My JFB eat more at each meal, but I feed them less-often. I think he is normal, and you should continue in the same manner.

A sick newt will generally not eat at all so the fact that it is feeding – and feeding regularly, is a good sign.

My JFBNs reject composting worms. Occasionally they’ll take them only to spit them out once they’ve figured out what they are. They’re also prone to fussy periods where they turn their nose up anything offered.

I would avoid the compost worms, feed less frequently i.e. twice a week and offer a variety of foods. If you alternate between frozen bloodworm and earthworms you won’t go far wrong.

I don't know where I can find bloodworms here, never seen them in any petstore, maybe I can ask them to get some. The biggest problem is that it's hard to get more earth worms at the moment, since it's minus 10 degrees outside and the company that sell earth worms has runned out of them.

Anyway, Thanks for you answers, I feel much better now!

When you say bloodworm you mean Chironomus spp? Beacuse some sources calls blackworms (Lumbriculus variegatus) for blood worm. Just so I know what to ask for in the pet store!

Blackworms and bloodworms aren't the same. Bloodworms are the larvae of the annoying midge - a non biting mosquito like thing. They aren't sold alive because - of course - the morph into the annoying flying version.

http://www.naturegrid.org.uk/pondexplorer/gallery/bloodwrm.html

And the best I can tell is that the blackworm IS a freshwater worm NOT a tubifex worm.

You should be able to find cubes of frozen bloodworms at most petshops if you can't find live blackworms. My newts eat them up with out any effort from me.

Goodluck!

Sharon

Blackworms is a common name, and as such is highly unspecific. I think american blackworms are Lumbriculus sp. but you can also find Tubifex labeled as blackworms.
The fact is that both are fresh water annelids, that live in very similar conditions, so whichever one they are, they are pretty much the same.

Bloodworms are indeed the larvae of Chironomus sp. and in some countries you can buy them alive (although some problems with bad quality batches have been reported). Generally finding frozen bloodworms is not a problem, and they are nutritious and handy.

I´ve experienced that certain individuals seem to become "fed up" with certain foods for short periods of time...and that´s another reason why a varied rich diet is essential.
Apart from the bloodworms/blackworms and the erthworms, you cn try smll crickets, waxworms, silkworms, slugs, etc.

This page may also provide some other ideas for variety of diet:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods.shtml