Sick African Dwarf Frog

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Staceyr96

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jan 24, 2016
Messages
10
I recently bought two ADFs from Petsmart and one died two days after I bought it. My tank had not been cycled and I know that might have been a problem. I used API testing strips and everything seems fine. I also used the API Monthly Care package to help start the tank. The first frog died so quick that I hardly remember it's behaviors. However, it has been a week and the second one (Wren) has been showing bad signs. When I first got Wren he hid all the time. And then yesterday he became very active. He was swimming around and everything seemed okay but then he began running into everything. He would run into the walls and the gravel. He also would thrash around the fake plants. His skin was peelings and now its all off, but now he has white fuzz on him. He also has two red spots. I wanted to know if this is a result of an uncycled tank or a fungal disease. He lives with three Ghost Shrimp which all seem to be doing okay. Unfortunately he is not eating and spends alot of time at the top of the tank. He also climbs on the filter as if he is trying to get out. I also took the water to Petco to have it tested and the guy said everything in the water was good.
 
African Dwarf Frogs shed their skins as frequently as every other week, if they’re growing quickly. It is quite normal for them to eat African Dwarf Frogs Shedding skin, so don’t be alarmed if you see your frog wrapped up in white film and using his legs to shove it into his mouth. It can take up to several hours for the African Dwarf Frogs Shedding the last few pieces of their shed layer, so don’t panic if you wake up one morning and he’s still a little fuzzy. The substance looks like the fungus in tank (treated with anti-fungal stuff), but it looks like the African Dwarf Fogs Shedding. If the condition lasts for more than a couple hours, however, or the spot is red at all, watch out because there are some types of fungus which will attack your frog, and this will need to be treated quickly.
 
Sounds to me like he was speeding and then got some fungus


Sent from me quietly wishing I was a fish
 
Unfortunately my back up tank is being used by a pregnant ghost shrimp but the other shrimp seem to be doing fine. I have the temperature around 80 now just incase it is a fungus that will die with higher temperature. I can see if he lives till tomorrow and try to go buy medicine.
 
Update

My frog died last night. The tank smelt really bad. And he pretty much was turning white. Does anyone know what it was?
 
Very sorry to hear about the loss of your frog.

Could have been sick. But thinking that with all the thrashing about, maybe raised the temp too fast or poor water.

What were the readings on test strip? The strips are frequently inaccurate. 3 things might test right and one doesn't. I have had that experience and killed almost everything in my tank because I thought everything was fine. Sounds more like poor water quality, and ammonia burns are a possibility. If he was already sick and didn't eat his food it could have spiked the parameters/ammonia.

Did the shrimp survive?
 
I recently bought two ADFs from Petsmart and one died two days after I bought it. My tank had not been cycled and I know that might have been a problem.

frogs have a soft skin and do not tolerate ammonia at all.
Ammonia if in high concentration or prolonged exposure will begin to cause physical damage to fish/critters skin and fins.

My suggestion is to get the liquid test kits and allow the tank to completely cycle for ~ 6 weeks before adding anything else.


oh, the erratic swimming and banging into stuff is normal. They do that when they get a gulp of air from the surface and are trying to keep it from making them float. That is why they will often get air, swim crazy until they find a rock or plant to go under and float up against.
 
Sounds like if your shrimp are all alive I would guess ill frogs, maybe pushed over the edge from stress, cycling. Some varieties of Ghost Shrimp have better tolerance for changes in water due to the type of environment they can come from. But as you know ammonia, Nitrite, and NitrAte are are the enemies. Water changes and Peime are your friends.

The frogs are basically blind so they will bump into things normally and it can take them numerous times to bite at a piece of food.

After you get the tank cycled would be a great time to try a new batch of frogs. Look for them at a store that has big fat looking frogs, they are usually too thin at the big box stores.

You can do lots of research in the mean time.
 
Back
Top Bottom