White Spot on Spring Salamander tail?

[Mike777]

My adult Spring Salamander has a white spot on its tail. Does not look like fungal infection as I’ve seen those before, but I can’t be sure. Guessing it could have gotten a mild injury or maybe bacterial? It’s eating and very active. The water is cool in the enclosure and filtered by an external canister filter (check water parameters every few days) and do a partial RO water change every week. Here are. A few pics. Want to nip this early if it’s something that requires a vet visit. Any advice is appreciated

 

[Noodlethenewt]

Caudata Culture Articles - Illness Part 1 this link may help

 

[Mike777]

Caudata Culture Articles - Illness Part 1 this link may help

Thanks. I took a look at this before I posted, but appreciate you mentioning. Just trying to figure out if this looks familiar to anyone.

 

[josh1990]

Looks like normal new growth from an injury on the tip of its tail to me. I often find spring salamanders that have that “look” to the tip of their tail. If you are worried about it just keep an eye on it and if anything changes post on here again or you could pm me. Very cool you are keeping a spring salamander! They are pretty much the Tyrannosaurus of small brooks and streams! Do you just have the one lone one or does it have tank mates? I would be interested in what his terrarium looks like. Good luck and I’m pretty sure he will be fine. Josh

 

[Mike777]

Thanks Josh, appreciate and very helpful. The tail has not gotten worse and what you say makes sense completely. I have two CB larval stage that are almost 6 inches already. I also have two large adults in a separate enclosure. I’ve basically set up a drip wall using an external canister filter. See attached pic. If you are on Instagram my profile is Slitheringsalamander and I have a ton of my enclosure pics for various species etc. thanks again for the info and helping!

 

[josh1990]

Glad I could be of some help! Your terrarium looks amazing! It’s perfect for spring salamanders and other big stream side salamanders like red, dusky and mud. I wish you the best of luck with your spring salamanders and I hope you have luck breeding them if that is one of your goals. I will look you up on Instagram!

 

[Mike777]

Thanks! I’ve also got a juvenile P. Ruber in a similar drip wall tank and am looking fwd to seeing it grow. Thanks again for the info!

 

[Mike777]

Glad I could be of some help! Your terrarium looks amazing! It’s perfect for spring salamanders and other big stream side salamanders like red, dusky and mud. I wish you the best of luck with your spring salamanders and I hope you have luck breeding them if that is one of your goals. I will look you up on Instagram!

So unfortunately the other Spring Salamander suddenly became immobile and lethargic — within a few days. Not skinny or emaciated or any visible sores but there are some red spots on its belly and on the underside of the head. I thought with some guidance and conferring with some others that it may be BD, but the other one is doing fine, so not sure how that could only infect one. Maybe viral like Rana virus, but can’t be sure.Sucks, doubt he will make it even a few more hours.

 

[josh1990]

Oh no! I have no idea what that would be? I would put it in a small container with moist paper towels and put it in the refrigerator at temps in the 40’s. That has brought back many a salamander that I thought would not make it. There are some other things to try once you get it stable like electrolyte baths and broad spectrum antibiotics made for aquarium fish. What temperature are you keeping them at? They like it really cool 60’s to 70 degrees F. Hope it pulls through!!!

 

[PDONTnAMBY]

hi Mike, sorry to hear about your spring, it's really frustrating and sad how fast they can go downhill seemingly out of nowhere. One thing to consider is the moisture gradient of your enclosure. It seems like even though you can keep springs completely aquatic, if you keep them semi-terrestrially the terrestrial area *needs* to have some relatively dry areas. I don't know if it's just behavioral osmoregulation, or if there are diseases that they can fight better in dryer vs damper areas, or if they're extremely sensitive to changes in substrate chemistry/spoilage. In 2018 I actually had a very similar experience to what you're describing--two seemingly-healthy adult springs went from happy to lethargic to dead, each in the span of a couple days--and the only common factor was that I'd gone a bit crazy with misting each of their enclosures in the week or so leading up to their deaths, not leaving any dry areas. More recently, something similar started happening with a ruber I'd been keeping in a semi-aquatic setup. I moved it to a larger enclosure with the water area separated, and made sure to leave some parts of the land area more dry. It's been in there now for about 1.5 years with no issues so far! Again, I'm really sorry to hear about your spring. They're my favorite plethodontids (along with rubers), and it's really sad to lose one. I'll second josh's advice, though with the caveat to make sure to give a moisture gradient (I prefer dirt to paper towels when fridging sallies, but that's just me).

 

[Mike777]

hi Mike, sorry to hear about your spring, it's really frustrating and sad how fast they can go downhill seemingly out of nowhere. One thing to consider is the moisture gradient of your enclosure. It seems like even though you can keep springs completely aquatic, if you keep them semi-terrestrially the terrestrial area *needs* to have some relatively dry areas. I don't know if it's just behavioral osmoregulation, or if there are diseases that they can fight better in dryer vs damper areas, or if they're extremely sensitive to changes in substrate chemistry/spoilage. In 2018 I actually had a very similar experience to what you're describing--two seemingly-healthy adult springs went from happy to lethargic to dead, each in the span of a couple days--and the only common factor was that I'd gone a bit crazy with misting each of their enclosures in the week or so leading up to their deaths, not leaving any dry areas. More recently, something similar started happening with a ruber I'd been keeping in a semi-aquatic setup. I moved it to a larger enclosure with the water area separated, and made sure to leave some parts of the land area more dry. It's been in there now for about 1.5 years with no issues so far! Again, I'm really sorry to hear about your spring. They're my favorite plethodontids (along with rubers), and it's really sad to lose one. I'll second josh's advice, though with the caveat to make sure to give a moisture gradient (I prefer dirt to paper towels when fridging sallies, but that's just me).

Thanks for the info, much appreciated. My enclosure is definitely wet most of the time as I have a drip wall setup. There are a few areas that they can get out of the water, but maybe I’ll need to rethink the setup. It’s a good point as I’ve noticed them out if the water sometimes on top of the background seemingly drying themselves out. Thanks so much again. Always good to know others you keep it have kept this species. I also have a juvenile P. Ruber in a similar type of setup, so this is all good to know