Illness/Sickness: My firebelly newt has a pink nose??

I've never owned an amphibian before so went into a pet shop to get information I already had a tank set-up for tropical fish but was still cycling.
The woman in the shop told me that it should be kept at 24oC and loads of rubbish like that.
So I buy it - get home and found out everything she told me was wrong, I've realised none of the fire-bellies in pictures have pink noses I'm worried he's sick please please help me! He's also shedding at the minute and makes some chirping noises please help!

xx

are you sure this is a fire belly . try uploading some pictures it could help people determine the cause.

by the way don't listen to UK pet stores i went in a shop with environmental agencies because of their lack of care with their c.orientalis

Took me a while to get a decent pic my macro lens seems to not want to work without flashing

Hmmm this seems to be around the gums instead of the nose is it housed with any other species other than c.orientalis.

btw nice picture really caught it well

He was on his own until about an hour ago, I went to Pets At Home and asked for some advice and they said it might just be his skin pigmentation as it doesn't look particulaly sore I don't think anyway. He's been a wee bit depressed but I figured it was cuz he's on his own so bought another c. orientalis.

Oh found out today btw he's not he at all! Keef's a she and now called Reef lmao!

xhalloweenx said:

He was on his own until about an hour ago, I went to Pets At Home and asked for some advice and they said it might just be his skin pigmentation as it doesn't look particulaly sore I don't think anyway.

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It is certainly not "skin pigmentation." You newt appears to have a sore or another type of deteriorating illness. These are often common in newts bought from pet shops. Please take a look at these links for various symptoms and treatments-
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/illness3.shtml
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/illness.shtml

Sorry I'm not much help with treatment of illness, I hope that some more experienced members on this topic notice this thread and can give you some better advice.

Omg I think I might just stop keeping animals, I feel so upset! Why is this thing eating at her face? How could a pet shop allowher to be treated like that??? ='(

Please don't let this turn you off from keeping animals- newts are great when healthy.Unfortunately, most pet shops receive newts like these that have been imported under bad conditions and so are stressed. Once at the pet-shop they are kept in terrible conditions as most people do not know how to properly care for them. This is how problems like these can arise.

xhalloweenx said:

Omg I think I might just stop keeping animals, I feel so upset! Why is this thing eating at her face? How could a pet shop allowher to be treated like that??? ='(

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It's not necessarily the fault of the pet shop. Remember that this newt came all the way from China, with plenty of chance for poor treatment along the way.

No, unfortunately since I bought her I've heard all sorts of horror stories about the shop she came from =(

have you discovered a treatment plan for the newt?

I've seen a few on the internet but have no idea how to get them, I was wondering if I should put in a half dosage of Methylene Blue in their water?

Did you buy the newt with his nose this way?

Is it possible this is an injury? Is there any rough quartz or lava rock or holey lacey rock in his tank? At the pet shop? Did the petshop have a heater?

No one has mentioned a definitive answer so this is all guessing ....

... but going by the pages nathan listed I would try the peroxide first to kill any bacteria.

then treatment in a tea bath, keeping him in a sterile container, w/daily water changes or at least 1/2. Depending on what would stress the little guy out the least.

Tea baths are supposed to be really mild so I think a daily bath would be ok. If after 2 or 3 days if you see it progressing then you need to do something else.

What have you been doing in the mean time?

She had the pink nose when I got her and yeah they had a heater, I've been putting bacteria control in the water for the past week (I got her on Monday), in the hopes of staving off infection of the sore. I guess I was hoping it would clear up but it hasn't. What is a tea bath and how would I get the peroxide and use it etc?

Ok you need to read those links nathan posted. They'll tell you how to use it. If you're confused we'll help you out. Also you didn't clarify if this could POSSIBLY be an injury? What else was in the tank at the petshop? jagged rocks etc?

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/sores.shtml

Peroxide can be found at virtually any store carrying first aid items.

Hydrogen peroxide.
Dab infected area with a Q-tip soaked in 1.5% hydrogen peroxide (generally a 1:1 dilution of the solution sold in pharmacies). Rinse well with clean water. Do not apply to large areas of skin, as it does cause some damage to healthy tissues. Hydrogen peroxide is effective mainly on anaerobic bacteria. Thus is it more likely to be beneficial for deep wounds, not surface wounds or ulcers.

Tea bath
The medication is as follows: I take one bag of black tea without any additional aroma (it is important to use black tea because this kind of tea is fermented and so it has tannins) for every 10 litres of water (preferably used in a quarantine tank). This tea gets dashed with boiling water in a seperate bowl - I leave it there for at least 10 to 15 minutes so the tannins are resolved into the water. The tea has to cool down and is finally added to the quarantine water. After a week I make a bigger change of water (60% at least), the rest of the tea is removed over time by normal water changes. If you have to make more regular water changes (f.i. in a small bowl or tank) the tea concentration can be refilled. As far as I know there are no negative effects even for long term treatment.



I hope someone speaks up. I'm sure your newt doesn't need to sit in 10litres of water. Its possible the mix would be good for a day or two before losing strength.

Thanks for your help! I'm not sure how to do the whole peroxide dilution thing but I'll feed them tonight then move her to a quaranteen tea bath :happy: