thunder2000
New member
Hello everybody,
I purchased seven CB Cynops cyanurus two months ago. They were kept in an aquarium about 48 inches long and filled up about 8 inches. I used a small fan to keep the water temperature at around 65 degrees Fahrenheit . The aquarium had a filter, however it became so clogged with algae it stopped working. I did not replace it as I had many plants and my water tests showed no ammonia or nitrite. There was a land area present in the aquarium covered in the packing moss the newts were shipped in. The newts were fed primarily chopped earthworm and after a small amount of trouble with feeding at first, they all began to eat at most feedings. One of the newts was smaller than the others and lived on land. One day I found him dead underwater. At the time I thought that he was a terrestrial juvenile that had been scared off of the land area and into the water by one of my larger newts where he drowned. A week or two later my newts appetites began to decline to the point where few if any of them ate at each feeding. About this time, I lost my largest newt that had been aquatic but right before he died had gone terrestrial. He too was found dead underwater. Yesterday I lost a third newt. At this, I decided to move the remaining newts to a terrestrial setup where I am misting them daily. One of the newts appears to be ill as he went terrestrial like the others that died so I placed him in his own container. Can any of you guys see anything that went wrong with the setup? Could it be a pathogen that is killing my newts? Should I continue to keep them in a terrestrial setup or should I move them to an aquatic one? Before I knew of the risks I kept some ADFs in the tank, however it was vacated for over a month before the newts were put in. Could chytrid have lingered long enough to infect my newts? Thank you for your help.
Sincerely thunder2000
I purchased seven CB Cynops cyanurus two months ago. They were kept in an aquarium about 48 inches long and filled up about 8 inches. I used a small fan to keep the water temperature at around 65 degrees Fahrenheit . The aquarium had a filter, however it became so clogged with algae it stopped working. I did not replace it as I had many plants and my water tests showed no ammonia or nitrite. There was a land area present in the aquarium covered in the packing moss the newts were shipped in. The newts were fed primarily chopped earthworm and after a small amount of trouble with feeding at first, they all began to eat at most feedings. One of the newts was smaller than the others and lived on land. One day I found him dead underwater. At the time I thought that he was a terrestrial juvenile that had been scared off of the land area and into the water by one of my larger newts where he drowned. A week or two later my newts appetites began to decline to the point where few if any of them ate at each feeding. About this time, I lost my largest newt that had been aquatic but right before he died had gone terrestrial. He too was found dead underwater. Yesterday I lost a third newt. At this, I decided to move the remaining newts to a terrestrial setup where I am misting them daily. One of the newts appears to be ill as he went terrestrial like the others that died so I placed him in his own container. Can any of you guys see anything that went wrong with the setup? Could it be a pathogen that is killing my newts? Should I continue to keep them in a terrestrial setup or should I move them to an aquatic one? Before I knew of the risks I kept some ADFs in the tank, however it was vacated for over a month before the newts were put in. Could chytrid have lingered long enough to infect my newts? Thank you for your help.
Sincerely thunder2000
