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Sick African Dwarf Frog?


saphbettas
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Below is an image of one of my sister's African Dwarf Frogs, Herb, sticking himself to the filter intake and remaining out of the water. She told me that he seems to keep trying to exit the water, and although she's removed him and placed him back in the water to keep him from drying up, he continues to come out of it. This is a sudden issue, and none of her other tank members are behaving strangely.

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My research points to the chytrid fungal infection, but I wanted to ask here and make sure as well as get some advice on possible treatment. Graham is her other African Dwarf Frog in the tank, but he appears to have no coloration issues or other symptoms. Herb and Graham were purchased together from the pet store in late March. I'll include photos below of Herb and Graham for comparison.

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I don't have access to my sister's aquarium at the moment, but I'll be returning home tomorrow to test her water. As of the last test on May 6th, the parameters were as follows,

Ammonia: 0.25ppm

Nitrites: 0ppm

Nitrates: 10ppm

Temperature: 78 degrees Fahrenheit

Any identification, help, and advice on how to treat my sister's frog(s) would be extremely appreciated, thank you 💙

Edited by saphbettas
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Ammonia should be zero; frogs and other amphibians, particularly those who tend to require being underwater at times, are particularly sensitive to stuff like that, since their skin is usually a semi-permeable membrane. This may be related to what @KBOzzie59 was asking as well: If Herb isn't eating, his(?) food may be rotting in the water, which would cause an ammonia spike.

Water changes--I'd say no more than 25%, since again they tend to be sensitive to water chemistry, but probably on a daily basis, at least until that ammonia goes down to zero. Watch him eat, and I don't just mean feed him and see how he does--I mean literally, sit at the tank and make sure he consumes the food he's given, and any excess food is removed. If he's not eating, he may also have something internal (and if he IS eating and still looks like that, he almost certainly does have something internal). My first guess would be parasites. Alas, I don't know how to medicate frogs, but others on this forum should.

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@KBOzzie59 No, he hasn't been eating well at all. My sister says he never goes up to the tweezers when she feeds him, and only eats when food is directly put in front of his mouth. Graham, in comparison, actively seeks out food and eats perfectly fine. Herb has been thin but he's lost even more weight, and she states that now he will barely eat at all.

@Baphijmm Thank you for the advice! My sister performed a 25% water change after those test results to bring down the ammonia. Sometimes it's our mother that feeds the tank members when my sister's at university, and she's definitely more liberal with the food and doesn't clean excess up afterwards. I'll reiterate with both of them again how important it is to watch their feeding.

As for the possible parasites, are those contagious? Should my sister quarantine Herb while she tries to cure him? I only have one betta of my own, so I don't know too much about dealing with sicknesses in community tanks. Thank you for the help!

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On 5/13/2022 at 8:25 PM, saphbettas said:

As for the possible parasites, are those contagious? Should my sister quarantine Herb while she tries to cure him?

In the case of either parasites or your suspected chytrid fungal infection (which it could be, though based on descriptions I'm seeing I'd expect to see more skin thickening), these can be contagious. Fungal infections absolutely are, and most parasites are. If a quarantine tank is available and/or possible, I'd absolutely recommend quarantining him while trying to cure whatever he has. It also means less stress on the other inhabitants of the tank (particularly Graham), since they wouldn't all be getting medicated at the same time.

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An update for today, as I've returned home with my testing kit to test my sister's tank water. The updated parameters are as follows,

Ammonia: 0ppm

Nitrites: 0ppm

Nitrates: 10ppm

Temperature: 80 degrees Fahrenheit

pH: 6.6

Graham still appears to show no symptoms, and my sister would really like to prevent Graham from falling ill too. We're still not completely sure of Herb's diagnosis, but both possibilities (chytrid or parasites) were contagious - and I really want to help my sister protect Graham from the same fate. Does anybody have any other further guesses or answers regarding Herb's sickness, or suggestions as to what to do now? Would Seachem StressGuard be beneficial and compatible with her African Dwarf Frog? I own that for my own aquarium and would like to add that as a preventative measure if it'll help. Thank you for everyone's responses.

Edited by saphbettas
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