Gasping For AIR

Bandida · Aug 23, 2011

I have 3 mudpuppies in my 90 Gal tank. I havnt had them long. Maybe for a few months. They all of a sudden dogpiled at the front of the tank and swim to the top frequently for gulps of air. Their gills are laid back against their body most of the time not feathery and red. They have been doing this for a week or so.

I finally did a water test today and it read that my pH is 7.5-8.0, NO-2 is 0.8 mg/l on the color card and then intructions say to devide that by 3.3 so I ended up with 0.24. And ammonia levels where at 0 mg/l. My temperature is at 20 C... I use the Tetra test Laborett.

How do I lower the temperature? My only idea are icecubes?

How do I get my pH down? Ive been doing quarter water changes twice a week-but with chlorinated water-I did however use water conditioning for tap water. Today I decided I will fill my tank up with already filtered tap water-But it takes forever to fill a 90 Gal tank with it.. It will only fill up one bucket each hour.

I had a huge GW problem last week and did a half water change. The green water is kinda gone after cleaning my filter I guess but the water is so cloudy still and I now have white filmish bubbles on the waters surface... Is this bad?

Are the NO-2 levels okay in my tank?

What else can I do to make them happy? They are so upset that they wont eat either..

froggy · Aug 24, 2011

I think you need to get the temperature down. That will increase the levels of disolved oxygen in the water and reduce stress in general. There are some cooling solutions on caudata culture, but an immediate thing would be to use ice bottles to get it below 18C. Make sure you change them frequently to avoid the temperature bouncing up and down. Also, turn off any lights you have on the tank and remove any solid lid to increase evaporative cooling. You can direct a fan over the surface, too, to increase the rate of evaporation.

If possible, use air conditioning or open windows to cool the room itself down.

As a last resort, you can move the animals to the fridge temporarily.

Good luck

C

Bandida · Aug 24, 2011

Thanks for your reply. I am taking your advice and doing everything I can to cool the tank down. Other then cooling it down, am I doing everything else right to make them happy? The water smells foul

Maybe some uneaten worms have polluted the water... Should I do a cleaning session?

I'm also about to put them in a bucket with an air stone and better water for now untill their home is up to par.

Neotenic_Jaymes · Aug 24, 2011

Whatever your going to do you need to do it fast. Mud puppies won't last long under these circumstances. Honestly at this point fridging them isn't a bad idea. You need to get their tank water under control before they can go back inside the 90 gallon. If the water is foul and there visible rotting food you better take care of that. I would do a complete water change that's what I suggest in this case.

When Necturus maculosus stop using their gills and lean towards gulping air thats very drastic. Put them in the fridge and see if they start using their gills once more. Their gills could be damaged from the water quality issue. Dont feed them while in the fridge.

Sometimes they swallow big worms that stay live in their stomachs that move around. That's when they vomit their dinner. Cooler temps, smart feeding and a healthy feeding routines help avoid disastors like this. Ask yourself why this has happened then come up with a prevention plan. Good luck.

FRANCOIS · Aug 24, 2011

I am surprised that your ammonia level is at zero... are you sure?
I would not change all the water, that sounds a bit extreme but 50 to 70% should do. Aftter that do a daily 25% water change for 3 days, should help a lot....
On the other hand, what do u mean u cleaned the filter recently? How did you clean it?
How many filters? types? air stones? pumps? 90 gallon is huge and the tank need quite a bunch of each. Tell us more about you "system" How about plants? Do you have any?
Hope they are doing a bit better, did you fridge them?

Bandida · Aug 25, 2011

Okay so I figured out why this happened. Turns out I had some dead dinner issues.

Anyway, I took them out of the 90 gal and put them in a 220 Gallon and are doing much better. Some still go to the top to breath but not as often as they where doing... I left the 220 gal bare bottom to moniter them better and their food. I have frozen water bottles in the tank with them because my Air con is messing up a lot and keeps setting to 80! Also I put dechlorinated drops into the water according to the dosage directions.

Um my one guy has really thick slim on him. And I dont know if theres sand stuck to him cuz of the mucus on him or if its skin is discolored. And another has a fuzzy white floating substance on one of it's front toe... What should I do? I feel like a terrible pet owner..

froggy · Aug 25, 2011

Depending on the temperature in the tank, I think that fridging them is still a good idea. The white fuzz is fungus, which often attacks chronically stressed aquatic amphibians. If fridging doesn't help it clear, you may have to do salt baths.

C

Neotenic_Jaymes · Aug 25, 2011

Wow fungus! I'd salt bath every day or every other day. I've never seen fungus on Necturus before. Don't keep them together at this point. Fungus can transfer. Follow all the advice given and hopefully nothing dies.

Bandida · Aug 25, 2011

Okay thanks guys so much for helping me. I will fridge them right away then.

Bandida · Aug 27, 2011

Okay so I have given them a salt bath and some are looking better.
One has sores on it's body but nothing else.

One has the fungus really bad on it's gills and did not like the salt bath AT ALL! But now the fungus has allowed the gills to spread open instead of all clumped together in white fluff **** after the salt bath. I plan on giving him one more salt bath tonight when I change everyones water and will continue giving twice a day salt baths for the next 4 days. I hope this is not too much on him/her

The one puppy that had the fungus on its front toe-um well it does not have that toe anymore and has no fungus or other sores on it's body... But the toe will still regenerate right? What do I do for the sores on their body?

I plan on leaving the mudpuppys in the fridge for as long as it takes for me to clean and disinfect their tank and get it properly cycled. Which I'm guessing should take a week because now I am moving them to a 220 Gallon.

What else should I be doing?

Neotenic_Jaymes · Aug 27, 2011

If you see improvement then your doing things right. The lost limbs or gills will regenerate but slowly. Necturus will regenerate body parts but slower than axolotls. Consider the sores on the animals. I suggest light salt baths, heavy salt baths could hurt them even more and cause much stress. A stressed out animal is more likey to get sick or stay with ailment. Keep them cold and clean and let their mucus shields come back.

Any pics?

Jay Redbond · Aug 28, 2011

I have mudpuppies and had a similar problem, so don’t worry too much it is pretty common in Necturus to get fungus from stress. If you catch it early it can be cured completely the sores sound like septicaemia which can be fatal. What you’re doing is exactly what you need to do to give them the best chance. Here are some pictures of what one of mine looked like when it first arrived sadly this one didn’t make it but the other four are all fully recovered.

Bandida · Aug 28, 2011

I gave my guys another salt bath but less salt and they seemed to be okay with that.

But my one puppy who has fungus bad on the gills started to spit blood after 4 minutes of being in the salt bath... So I took the poor thing out and changed his water and put em back in the fridge. What does this mean? The gills seem to be doing better a little.

There was also green poop. Is that normal? And their private regions are starting to not look so swollen.

When I did water changes this morning after salt baths I noticed some "stuff" floating around in the their dirty water. Is this just skin? Or is it the fungus seperating from the mudpuppies?

Are mudpuppies eyes always a little foggy? or No? The skin is still irritated by being red on the feet and tails and then with the one with the sores on it still look the same. No changes from yesterday with that guy.

I did have a picture of the puppy who lost the toe but I accidentally deleted it.. So I'll take a pic next time I do salt baths/water changes if you guys want?

Also my one puppy has "battle scars" I think or is it fungus? How do you tell the difference?

Heres pictures:
first 2 pictures of the puppy who has the 2 sores on it's body.
The 3rd pic is of the "battle scars"
4th pic is of the green poop
The last 2 pics are of my guy who has the fungus bad on it's gills

FRANCOIS · Aug 28, 2011

Bandida said:
I gave my guys another salt bath but less salt and they seemed to be okay with that.

But my one puppy who has fungus bad on the gills started to spit blood after 4 minutes of being in the salt bath... So I took the poor thing out and changed his water and put em back in the fridge. What does this mean? The gills seem to be doing better a little.

There was also green poop. Is that normal? And their private regions are starting to not look so swollen.

When I did water changes this morning after salt baths I noticed some "stuff" floating around in the their dirty water. Is this just skin? Or is it the fungus seperating from the mudpuppies?

Are mudpuppies eyes always a little foggy? or No? The skin is still irritated by being red on the feet and tails and then with the one with the sores on it still look the same. No changes from yesterday with that guy.

I did have a picture of the puppy who lost the toe but I accidentally deleted it.. So I'll take a pic next time I do salt baths/water changes if you guys want?

Also my one puppy has "battle scars" I think or is it fungus? How do you tell the difference?

Heres pictures:
first 2 pictures of the puppy who has the 2 sores on it's body.
The 3rd pic is of the "battle scars"
4th pic is of the green poop
The last 2 pics are of my guy who has the fungus bad on it's gills

Is there anyway you could get Maracyn and Maracyn-two, the combo of both meds would probably save them. They are antibiotics for gram positive (Maracyn) and gram negative (Maracyn-two) bacteria infections. Petco and Petsmart carry those antibiotics and should resolve their health issues very quickly provided you use the dosage properly and you follow the instructions carefuly. I brought back animals in very bad shape with the combo of both medications.

Bandida · Aug 28, 2011

I'll look into that. i have a petsmart store not too far from me.

Bandida · Sep 10, 2011

Just an update. I took my mudpuppies out of the fridge yesterday and transfered them to their new 220 gall home. They where very lively while sitting in their containers while trying to get them to the tanks water temperature. I havnt seen anyone eat yet though. All the fungus is gone! And one of the little guys toes is growing back well. One still has sores on its head area and near the base of the tail.

Thankyou everyone for your help. <3:kiss:

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