tswaterdog
New member
Posting my experience here in hopes that maybe someone has encountered something similar or can shed a little more light on things. I have two captive-bred lesser sirens, approximately 8 months old, one has grown significantly larger than the other so I believe that one is male and one female. On April 19th I took both animals from their tank briefly to do some maintenance (filter and water change and adding a group of new plants) and observed nothing unusual. She was very secretive for the next two days, which I assumed was just due to the changes in the environment, but on April 21st I observed a very large swelling about one third down her body. The swelling increased and around April 25th I saw what appeared to be a wound on the underside below the area, I had not observed anything external before but thought perhaps I just had not seen it. I moved the animal to a separate tank and added extra stress coat and tetra Lifeguard. Again the animal hid for the next 36 hours or so and when she emerged again the swelling had started to erupt, breaking open the skin. On April 29th the mass detached completely and I removed it from the tank. At first, the siren seemed to recover quickly and was active and swimming but still not taking food. The following day however she became very lethargic and by the next morning was barely moving. The area where the mass erupted had not closed and there was a lot of exposed tissue. As she was barely able to move her head and I did not see any chance for recovery at that point I euthanized the animal. A veterinarian who was kind enough to view my emails and respond said it appeared to be an abscess that ruptured and came detached. Photos are posted below. If anyone else has seen this in other sirens or salamanders or has any further insight as to how or why it happened any information it would very much be appreciated
I'm sorry this happened.