New member - African dwarf died :(

[FrogMinch]

Hello everyone


I'm very glad to find this forum, I've been doing some research online about my frogs but it would be great to get some specific advice from the experts !


Some background : I bought 2 ADF a few weeks ago and put them in an aquarium ( 4.5 gallons / 17 liters ), couple of plants, some big smooth stones, a filter, somewhere to hide, and a floating piece of wood they can sit on and relax. They settled in pretty quickly and started eating almost immediately - munching up bloodworms and I was even able to feed them by hand. I check the water regularly for PH ( 7.5 - 8 ) and nitrates, water hardness etc because I also keep fish and do it all at the same time. I never use chemicals near them, wash my hands carefully with hot water ( no soap ) and they get a 10% water change every week or so with de chlorinated water that has been standing for 24 hours and treated with an aquarium safe water treatment. Temperature is a steady 26 degrees. In summary, happy frogs and I followed the advice of a specialized book and researched a number of care sheets. Oh, they share the tank with a couple of assassin snails and one moody, but harmless, bamboo shrimp.


Last night, I fed them both and one of them seemed to be eating a lot, while the other one wasn't so interested ( although he ate later ). One of them seemed quite bloated, which I put down to the amount of food, and he just looked a bit stunned in water floating on the top like a buoy. This morning, he was dead, still bloated up, and just floating around near the filter The other one was looking ok but I had to leave for work and didn't get a chance to test the water.


I don't know if I've overfed him, and that's the reason be died or whether he could have had something already. I was thinking perhaps Bloat, and now I'm worried the other one might get it ( I removed the body as soon as I saw him dead ) and I heard one site say to treat it with salt and another say to avoid salt altogether.


Could anyone help me out with some advice? I don't want to kill the other one and will get her a new friend this weekend but I would like to avoid making the same mistake again... Many thanks if anyone can help.


Matthew

[Felis]

Hi,

welcome to the Forum!
Bloodworms are believed to cause bloating in pipid frogs if fed excessively, so they shouldn´t be used as a staple if at all. Try to alternate with brine shrimp, glassworms, black mosquito larvae, daphnia, cyclops and the like. Earthworms contain much calcium and seem to prevent this disease to a certain extend. Bloating can, like in fish, also be a symptom of bacterial infections, most often caused by bad environmental conditions, but this doesn´t seem to apply here, although the tank is, in my opinion, too small for the frogs. I would recommend to change the food and watch the remaining frog carefully for at least four to six weeks before adding a ne buddy.

[mpmistr]

Honestly from reading your post it's hard to say. You only had these frogs for two weeks and that's a really short amount of time to blame any kind of neglect or poor diet. You seem to have a firm grasp on how to keep aquariums so I don't think it's anything you directly or indirectly did to cause the death of the frog.

I keep fish as well as frogs and I can tell you that not all fish survive after being brought home from the pet store no matter how much knowledge and how well you keep their environment. Many are just sickly to begin with from going through the whole process of breeder (or wild caught) and shipped to a pet store. It's just not enough time to really know for sure and you have no idea what these frogs have been through before you brought them home. I've purchased small schools of fish and had the same issues, for example I picked up 9 cardinal tetras and one simply did not make it. I also have a school of corydora and one lost it's barbels and died shortly thereafter.. all of the other fish in these schools are perfectly healthy yet it seems some fish simply cannot cope with the stress of surviving the 'pet trade'.

That being said you could offer some more variety than bloodworms and I agree with Felis, especially about the tank. I am of the opinion that any tank under 10 gallon is for all practical reasons, useless. It's just so much easier to maintain a 10 gallon vs a 5 gallon and it's literally the same price overall. When it comes to aquariums bigger tanks are just far more easier to keep and are so much more forgiving in terms of water quality and the overall well being of the animals that reside within.

[FrogMinch]

That's great, thank you both for your replies.

I was told in the pet store that bloodworms were the sole food and that I wouldn't need anything else, as usual this might come down to experience on his part which is contradicted elsewhere; I have seen numerous different approaches but it makes more sense to keep a varied diet. I got some krill, brine shrimp and other frozen worms and will alternate in small batches on alternate days. Thinking about it, it is unlikely they would be able to eat every day in the wild so feeding alternate days will not harm him. I also will just keep the one for now - my book on ADF said the 17L was a good size for two, but if that's not the case, I can see how he might have been a bit stressed out as well.

Ok, going to try and feed him this evening, thanks again for your posts -
matthew