Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I work at a non-profit wildlife center specializing in raptors. I am taking over the care of three tiger salamanders after the death of a fourth salamander from currently unknown causes.
The deceased salamander was approximately nine years old. He was housed on bark bedding with a large water bowl and hide hut until about a year ago when he was moved to a large display tank that was, in my opinion, improperly maintained and which resulted over time in the development of a raised bump on his tail, red underbelly, bloated abdomen, and swollen cloaca. He was seen at our annual vet visit in January, the report is expected sometime this week. Since the visit he has been back on bark bedding in his old enclosure. Over the period of a week, his condition worsened. Last weekend sores opened up on his back and he was seeping blood. He was quarantined but on Monday, supervisors made the decision to humanely put him down.
Two tiger salamanders were put in the tank back in January after he was moved back to his old enclosure. The third salamander was too large and was put in his old enclosure with him. These three salamanders are now showing different but accelerated stages of the deceased’s symptoms.
None are bloated, but all have redness on their underbellies and swollen cloacas, and the largest that was housed with the deceased is developing two bumps on his back. The salamanders are currently all housed together. I suspect they may have water bred fungus or a bacterial infection. Their enclosure was sanitized with Roccal, rinsed thoroughly and re-substrated with layers of paper towels that were moistened with de-chlorinated water. They have a water bowl filled with dechlorinated water. The enclosure is kept dark and at a relatively mediate temperature. I am taking out the hidey hut tomorrow because I read that it creates more crevasses for bacteria if this is a bacterial infection. The treatment regime currently is restricted to frequently changing the paper towel substrate, monitoring the fecals, and rinsing them in dechlorinated water two to three times daily. They all ate regularly today and are still active. Handling is only done wearing latex gloves. I have no further history on them because they were given to use over the summer by another center that could no longer support itself financially and had to relocate its animals. My supervisor might have records on them but they came to us in containers filled with peat moss.
Two immediate concerns:
Should they all be quarantined separately from each other or is it too late to matter?
I read that the paper towels could either increase the number of bacteria or decrease it depending on the frequency of changing it. Are paper towels a good way to go?
Concerns for the future:
I am trying to find alternative substrates for the salamanders that are better than bark and would not be too expensive. I am limited as to what my supervisor is willing to provide. He believes bark bedding is adequate.
I read on livingunderworld.org that biologically active soil from a pollutant free outdoor area would work, or that a forest floor mix of 2part decomposing leaves, 2parts orchid bark, 1part ground coconut fiber(expanded) optional 1 part sterile vivarium mixture would also work.
I would be very grateful of any input. The center is predominately student run and very restricted financially. I am a psychology and recreational therapy major and feel a little out of my depth. I am also currently very frustrated and about to develop severe learned helplessness.
Thanks so much for your help and sorry for the novel

First, read the suggestions in the previous thread as they apply.

My initial theory to what is going in is that your animals are septic, due to a prolonged dirty cage. You had mentioned that the cage wasn't maintained as well as it could have been. Septic being that the animals are basically overwhelmed with bacteria throughout the body, and it's showing up as the plethora of symptoms that you are seeing.

After diving in to a bit more though, it could also be that these guys are injurous to a chemical toxin, like the latex in the gloves, or something in the wood chips (where do they come from, and what wood are they? Cedar by chance? Residue from cleaning agents or other?)

For quarantine. It's too late to seperate them for the point of keeping the disease confined, but it's still not a bad idea to facilitate individual care and monitoring. Some of these injuries could also be bite related as tiger's can be ravenous eaters. Paper towel is perfect for now. Keep it damp, and in many layers. Change often (daily). Keep the hide box in. These guys are predominately subterranian, and in this time of need you don't want them stressed out. Clean the box as needed.

Once this is taken care of, a cheap and practical substrate to use is peat moss. I use a combination of this, sphagnum moss, fall leaf litter, and cork bark to make my tiger comfortable.

You didn't specify your temperatures, but error on the cool side being as they are amphibians. 75F is a good temp for maintenence, I wouldn't go higher than 80F. They would probably like access to cooler 70's as well. The tank should be moist, but not soaking. With a community tiger tank, the substrate will get filthy quick, and should be changed regularly. Use your judgement, but weekly is probaby a good bet.

I hope this helps. If I forgot to answer anything, or if you have more, let me know. Do you guys have a vet available? Maybe they'd do some probono work for an organization such as yours?

Ian

Thank-You very much for so promptly answering my post.
I will leave the hidey box in and continue as we have been,making sure to change the paper daily. The room they are in is the unheated portion of our reptile room and I am sure the ambient temperature never goes above eighty but I will check for specifics. As far as the bark goes, I will check and make sure we haven't switched types recently but it is usually purchased from our local pet store and, until the sals were moved to the tank we have had no problem with it. I think being moved back onto the small bark bedding after being in the tank may have not been beneficial to their condition though so I am trying to develop a strong argument for changing their substrate from bark permanently that my supervisor will agree with. We previously did not handle them with gloves and they were only handled to move into seperate feeding containers twice a week. We started handling with gloves after they showed symptoms because we work with multiple herps daily and gloves are easier to toss than to be constantly washing hands but I will monitor their reaction to the gloves and make sure they do not have an adverse effect.
there is a vet my immediate supervisor knows that he could try asking but this would be going over our main supervisor's head. In the interests of work politics he would rather not but I will insist if I feel they are not improving.
thank-you again