Danube crested

[juraj]

Hello,
here are some recent shots of wild animals. All specimens which I observed suffer from some kind of fungus but it doesn't seem to be harmful for them.

 

[xxianxx]

Nice pics, where's the fungus ?

 

[juraj]

Hi,
here it is. It is some fungus right ?
j.

 

[Niels D]

That last one seems to have a beard. It looks like a fungus indeed, but not one I've seen before.

 

[xxianxx]

The animals look in excellent condition but I would be worried if they were in my tanks with that fungus. To the op , Do they typically have this all year round ? Have you seen any dead ones or read reports of die offs ?

 

[juraj]

I noticed it on animals in the spring 2016 for first time and I cannot tell if they have it year round because I can observe animals only in the spring and early summer. Later is much more difficult because of dense vegetation.
I havn't seen any specimen in visibly bad condition all of them looked like those on the photo. To me it looks like a "cosmetic" issue. Truly these animals were not very photogenic.
j.

 

[Chinadog]

I'm not sure if it's related, but I was reading this page on Amphibiaweb and thought of this thread straight away. Unfortunately there's no pics of the "lichen like" growths, but it sounds very similar.

AmphibiaWeb - Cynops ensicauda

 

[Salamanderfire]

Difficult to tell from the photo, but maybe it is not fungus but a colony of vorticella.
Those often settle on snails, shells, shrimps or crayfish. I haven't seen them colonizing a newt's skin yet, but they can settle on any suitable surface.