Albino African Clawed Dwarf Frog Stressed???

[JackB1990]

So I have a 9 gallon fluval flex tank that has been setup for the best part of 6 months now. I have 5 amano shrimp, one nerite snail and two albino dwarf frogs. So I have been noticing over the last few days that one of my frogs is spending all his time at the top of tank, squashed between the grill and the glass. He was up there for the best part of two days, then came down and swam around like normal for a few hours and has now gone back up there again. If he isn't in there, he's drifting around on the waters surface and although looking pretty chilled, I understand these frogs to spend most of their time at the bottom of the tank. I offered him some food when he came down and he seemed to be eating it but I find his behaviour a bit strange. Could he be stressed or ill? The water seems to be testing fine. Could he be stressed due to the tank being quite heavily planted? Too overcrowded/cluttered? Does he need more space? The other frog seems to be fine. I have attached pictures of the tank itself and the frog. Any help would be great.

Thanks,
Jack

 

[Colin_T]

It's potentially being bullied by another frog or the water quality is bad.

Test the aquarium and tap water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for everyone in the tank.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

If there's no improvement after a week of water changes, test the water and post more pictures.

 

[JackB1990]

Hey, thanks for your reply. So I have come down this morning to find he has climbed into the back chamber with the heater and the pump still chilling on the water surface. If it was a water quality issue would the other frog not be affected by it as well? He isn't showing any real signs of stress. I'm thinking bulling may the issue. I did notice them fighting a bit the last time I put food in the tank and the other frog is bigger than the one hiding. I am going to perform a water change and have a bit of a clean of the tank as well. I'm hoping it's an issue I can sort.

Thanks again for your reply,
Jack

 

[pauldadams1984]

It's quite a small tank to keep them in so definitely do water changes etc as recommended. We all know it doesn't take much for a small tank to have issues.

It might be worth putting that tank Dec structure right bang in the middle and making a place that's considered a divider. Also try to create more hiding spaces in general. Is that tubular crockery piece big enough for one to hide in? If it's not used. Consider getting 2 bigger ones, one for each.

If it's 2 males, they are likely to be trying to show dominance. So one is running for safety.

The division should make it easier to feed too.

Also, might be worth always feeding the Dom first before the sub. So the Dom is busy eating when the sub gets their food

 

[Colin_T]

If it's 2 males, they will need their own tanks otherwise one will get killed.

Try feeding them separately (as mentioned above) but get a spare container ready just in case.

 

[JackB1990]

So I think the issue is sorted. Have done about 50% water change for the last two days cleaning the gravel more than usual in the process. There was alot of gunk in the filter pipe so I got rid of that and also adjusted then filter nozzles to create a better water flow around the tank. Since then, the frog has gone back to his normal behaviour. Must have been a water quality issue. Guessing with it being a small tank I just need to make sure i keep up with maintenance a bit more often. Cheers for all your help.