Fire-bellied newt ill?

[MN99]

Hi,

I am new here and was wondering if anyone could help! My fire bellied newt (27 + yrs old!!!) has developed a lesion? on his head. The white part that looks like a scrape (over his nose) has slowly been increasing in size over a yr or 2. The bright white markings behind his left eye are recent. Is this a fungal infection? I've heard something about treating the water w/potassium perm. but I wouldn't know how to go about doing this. He lives alone, has done for at least 25yrs. Nothing has changed in his environment as far as I know. He eats frozen blood worms and nothing else. I tried giving him other types of worms and bloodworms fortified w/vits but he refuses them all. Apart from these markings on his head his behavior seems to be the same as always. He's eating and occasionally moves around.

Here is a pic:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v107/anne213/IMG_2554.jpg

Thank-you in advance for any help!!

 

[Cizza]

hey man im not sure of the problems but do you have aby other pictures of the newt im very intrested in a 27 year old newt!

 

[MN99]

Hi,

Here's another pic...it's not great but then I wasn't really trying to focus on his whole body. He was full grown when we bought him 27 yrs ago so I'm not really sure how old he is. He's been healthy except for a period about a yr ago when he stopped eating for 3 mos. I think I may even have sought advice on this site but I wrote to someone who suggested i bathe him in pedialyte. Having 3 little ones I have plenty of this stuff on hand and I tried the electrolyte bath. It may have worked or maybe he just decided he was getting hungry?

Anyway that's his story. Do you know where else I might seek advice? Any other resources?

Thanks!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v107/anne213/IMG_2550mn.jpg

 

[Kaysie]

As far as the sore, it looks like an abrasion or some sort of scrape. The pictures aren't very clear. There's the 'sheen' of his skin which may be masking it. Can you describe it better?

 

[Jennewt]

Congratulations on your newt's longevity! It looks like you were lucky enough to acquire a gold-dust newt, back in the days when they were sometimes imported (often together with Japanese firebellies). He's not actually a firebelly at all. Here is a page about them:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Cynops/C_ensicauda.shtml

The thing on the nose looks like it's some kind of discoloration/depigmentation, not a sore. The white stuff behind the eye looks like it could be an infection, but it looks internal, not external. So I don't think a bath treatment would do any good. It kind of looks like the other eye has it too, or am I mistaken?

By the way, when people register, we ask them to include a country in their profile (so we know whether to talk about temp in F or C, for example). Please add a country to your profile info. Thanks.

 

[keithp]

Could the newt be blind? Mabye that's why the eyes are cloudy?

 

[rigsby]

i would say its probably more to do with age than any infection..

 

[MRIGUY]

Looks to me like a normal development of aging. People get liver spots, dogs loose pigment in their noses, I had a Tg that got blotchy as he aged. Congrats on providing a long term stable home. You have obviously done a great job in providing for his needs. Additionally, since you have a confirmed age for him I would take serial pictures about once a month going forward. I newt this old will likely see other changes and there is lots we can learn by watching that.

 

[MN99]

Thanks for everyone's input! Blind? I don't honestly know. When I feed him he always comes quickly towards the smell of the bloodworms but then he probably has a good sense of smell right?

The lesion is just a patch of skin that is pale...I don't think it's a scrape. He's had that for probably over a year and I assuming that a scrape would have healed or gotten infected...this is just a flat patch of skin that is seemingly growing very slowly. The whitish stuff behind his eye (only 1 eye) is what worries me. It looks like scaly white lines when it's dry but when it's wet it's barely visible.

His tank is extremely alkaline from the rocks but it's always been this way. We live in the mtns and the tap water is perfectly neutral.

The serial pics are a great idea! And thanks for the gold dust link! I was a biologist in my "previous" life and I'm sure that will get my rusty wheels spinning again !

 

[MN99]

Hello everyone!

I just received a birthday greeting from caudata.org and I haven't been here in awhile so I thought I'd drop by and say Happy Holidays!! My newt is still going strong too...he just turned 30+ ! The "abrasion" that he had has healed...it took about 2 yrs to completely disappear. I don't know what the key to immortality is in newts, but my newt seems to be happy w/a diet of bloodworms (he won't take ANYTHING else), cool water temps and very infrequent tank/water cleaning:happy:. He lives alone in his tank and seems to be ok w/this. I'll be taking some new photos soon and I'll post a link.

 

[velasco13000]

any updates on your little guy? I would love to see him now