Ailing C. orientalis

[Jon Aaron]

Hello all! I'm new to these forums... I've been snooping about for a while now, and finally decided to sigo up!

I recently took the plunge into caudata and bought a quartet of fire belly newts. Due to the lack of local options, I purchased them from a breeder and had them shipped to me. They all seemed to be in decent shape when I got them, so in they went into my established 20 gallon long. It is densely planted and unheated, with a rather large synthetic log jutting up out of the water, which is at about 3-4" below the rim.

The problem I'm having is that while two of them have happily taken to the water and have begun eating (quite aggressively, I might add!) The other two have remained utterly motionless above the water. Both are refusing food, losing weight, and I fear for them.

I've read that many newts undergo a terrestrial phase in their lives wherein they become hydrophobic. Is it possible that this is the problem? I'm wondering if I should move them to a more terrestrial setup until they fatten up...but how will I know when they're ready to become aquatic again?

Any help you can offer would be immensely appreciated! Thesee are my first newts and I really want to right by them.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Methos5K]

First of all. Welcome to the best Newt rooms on the internet! And now the bad news. Like others will say, Chinese Firebellys are stressed as they can be by the time you "buy" them from a pet-store. Poor lil guys go through hell to get there, and often will die no matter what you do. Cut-up nightcrawlers are best, but I have never seen a newt ignore a wiggly Euro-larvae.

Oh! Get some Brazilian Pennywort for the environment. Its a floating plant that is easy to keep, and newts love to float/hang out on them.

Good Luck!

 

[Chinadog]

If you are certain they are CB youngsters from a breeder, and not WC adults sold as captive bred, It could be that they are still in their terrestrial period. If that's the case I would make sure aquatic conditions are optimal in every way, really ram it full of plants so there seems to be more greenery than water, do regular water tests and be prepared to do regular partial water changes until the tank cycles. When these types of aquatic newt are in a terrestrial faze their tales become round and thin instead of flattened for swimming. They will only feel safe in the water to begin with if there are dense plants to hang on to.
As far as feeding goes, I would try chopped Nightcrawler or live blackworms to try and tempt them, It's normal for newts to refuse food for a short while after being moved, but If they are loosing weight they need to start feeding asap.
Unfortunately it's not uncommon for sellers or even petstores to falsely claim their newts are captive bred. WC stressed newts often refuse to feed or get wet because of the foul conditions during shipping. even when given these optimal conditions they can be difficult to save and often don't make it. Hope this helps.

 

[Jon Aaron]

Thanks for the responses, guys! I can already tell that I made a good decision by signing up! :-D

Unfortunately, I'm not 100% positive that they were captive bred. My hometown has only a Petco, Petsmart, and three small fish stores, all of which focus almost entirely on saltwater fish. So I was forced to go online, and did my best to find someone who was as local as possible. I failed to notice if they bred their orientalis or imported them. :-(

At any rate, two of them are happily gulping down red wigglers that I've cut in half, and those two clearly have flattened tails. The other two have tails that laterally compressed, but they don't look quite as developed to me. Again, I am new to this, so I could be wrong.

I'm thinking about moving them to a separate tank with wet paper towels as a substrate so that I can monitor them and try to get them to eat. Would this help, or would it just stress them out even more?

 

[Chinadog]

Have a read of the sticky at the top of the help section, pretty much all the info you need is in that thread. Unless they are obviously sick with skin sores or similar, I would leave them in their tank with the others, just try and offer aquatic conditions that are optimal in every way. The most critical things are clean cold water and tons and tons of plants. It may be helpful to post a pic of your tank and animals, it's possible to be reasonably sure if Cynops/Hypselotriton species are captive bred or not just by looking at them, at least that way we would know what you have and be able to offer the best advice.

Edit: It could possibly be that the red wrigglers aren't helping, they are pefectly safe, but sometimes even perfectly healthy newts wont touch them because they smell awful when cut.

 

[Chinadog]

How are things going with the newts, any luck getting them eating yet?

 

[Jon Aaron]

Hey! Sorry for the rather late response. Working full time and finishing up with finals makes for a busy Aaron.

I have taken everyone's advice so far, and have implemented some from other threads that I found here. I removed the log that I had given them as a land area and stuffed the tank FULL of live plants. The two that are eating are absolutely loving it, and th e two that aren't are starting to spend more time in the water! Hopefully soon they'll dive in and start eating... they are starting to look a bit better. They're more alert, it seems, even though still a bit scrawny.

I'll try to get pictures up soon! :-D

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[Chinadog]

It sounds like things are going in the right direction, getting them to spend time in the water is half the battle. Live black worms are rarely refused by aquatic newts, hopefully they'll de-stress enough to start feeding soon.

 

[Jon Aaron]

I'll have to look into getting some blackworms, then. I live in a town where live food is virtually non-existent, so I'll have to have them shipped. :-S

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