African Dwarf Frog Death Questions

[RichNJ]

So I have a 10g with 5 AFDs and a couple of guppies.  I’ve had the frogs for 1-1.5yrs and one white one just died.  She was albino/white and after we noticed she died, her skin looked red.  Especially on the feet and hands and legs.  Does that mean anything?  Nitrate is running high now i the tank, but not crazy high.  It’s in the 50 area.  All other parameters are okay.  Do why she die?  Does the red mean anything?  How sensitive are they to nitrate?

[DiscusLover]

On 11/22/2022 at 4:35 PM, RichNJ said:

So I have a 10g with 5 AFDs and a couple of guppies.  I’ve had the frogs for 1-1.5yrs and one white one just died.  She was albino/white and after we noticed she died, her skin looked red.  Especially on the feet and hands and legs.  Does that mean anything?  Nitrate is running high now i the tank, but not crazy high.  It’s in the 50 area.  All other parameters are okay.  Do why she die?  Does the red mean anything?  How sensitive are they to nitrate?

AFD are sensitive to nitrate and 50ppm of nitrate is extremely high.

[RichNJ]

Thanks, more so than fish?  what do you think is a safer range for them?

[DiscusLover]

On 11/23/2022 at 2:02 AM, RichNJ said:

Thanks, more so than fish?  what do you think is a safer range for them?

That high of nitrate will cause harm to all fish. Below at least 10 is safe but lower the better

[TOtrees]

I don’t think 10 or even 50 ppm nitrates should be problematic. Planted tank wizards (of whom I am not one) start to fret when nitrates fall below 20, and plenty of them keep a wide variety of fish, many of which can be sensitive to water quality. 

How do the other frogs look? Was the one that died red all over, or localized? How long dead before you saw it (can be hard to answer I know)? 

 

[RichNJ]

On 11/23/2022 at 9:25 PM, TOtrees said:

I don’t think 10 or even 50 ppm nitrates should be problematic. Planted tank wizards (of whom I am not one) start to fret when nitrates fall below 20, and plenty of them keep a wide variety of fish, many of which can be sensitive to water quality. 

How do the other frogs look? Was the one that died red all over, or localized? How long dead before you saw it (can be hard to answer I know)? 

 

Thanks for responding.  Agree on the nitrates.  10 is nothing and 50 shouldn’t be too bad.  

 The frog was red on the feet and legs when he died.  Buts she was white so figured it was blood coagulating.  I don’t think she was dead for long.  I noticed an Amano shrimp crawling on her and she didn’t move so that’s how I discovered the death.  The other four frogs are ok.  I rehomed my guppies out of the tank so the frogs get more frozen blood worms and brine shrimp. 

[TOtrees]

I know and know of folks who claim to have kept adf successfully in community tanks. But having had them myself, and having kept them both in species only and in community setups, I strongly and without reservation support species only (or at least no fish) setups. Anything that is small enough to not compete with them for food is small enough to become food. And any food that you feed that is in big enough pieces that the frogs can eat it but fish can't is big enough for them to choke on. 

They're just the perfect creature to be sort of compatible with everything but also not really compatible with anything. 

It sounds like a "random" death, or at least the kind of death that when it occurs, if you can't figure out why, it's not worth losing sleep over trying to figure it out. I have so many fish and tanks (but am still well below some folks here on that front), that when these "randoms" occur (and it really is rare for me), I don't even check parameters unless I see it affecting more than just the one victim, or if there is some sign that something ain't right. 

[RichNJ]

On 11/24/2022 at 4:22 PM, TOtrees said:

I know and know of folks who claim to have kept adf successfully in community tanks. But having had them myself, and having kept them both in species only and in community setups, I strongly and without reservation support species only (or at least no fish) setups. Anything that is small enough to not compete with them for food is small enough to become food. And any food that you feed that is in big enough pieces that the frogs can eat it but fish can't is big enough for them to choke on. 

They're just the perfect creature to be sort of compatible with everything but also not really compatible with anything. 

It sounds like a "random" death, or at least the kind of death that when it occurs, if you can't figure out why, it's not worth losing sleep over trying to figure it out. I have so many fish and tanks (but am still well below some folks here on that front), that when these "randoms" occur (and it really is rare for me), I don't even check parameters unless I see it affecting more than just the one victim, or if there is some sign that something ain't right. 

Thanks…I think that approach makes sense.  I am in a similar boat as you.  I am reverting the frog tank back to a species tank plus a small clean up crew.  Maybe I’ll get the frogs to breed again too.