New member, introducing myself

[JanetDavis1969]

Hi,

Janet here, just introducing myself.

I don't know very much about frogs but I do have 3 African black clawed frogs. One of which I have had about 4 years and 2 new babies which I bought about 2 months ago. Two of which are males, my original frog and one of the babies, and a female who is not too good at the mo as she is bloated, not huge and not hard, water filled but yesterday I noticed it looks like it might be a bit better. I found this site as I was worried about her being bloated. I am lucky said the shop guy when I phoned to ask about her being bloated that the two males sing their hearts out as he has had his guy for about 7 years and it has not sung at all.

I registered on here to find as much info about these adorable creatures and also to chat as I am an animal lover in general and love what I call 'my babies', even my frogs.

JanetDavis1969

[flybyferns]

Janet,
Welcome to Frog Forum

[DigitalPunk]

Janet welcome to the forum! We have tons of people her just as passionate as you that will do everything they can to answer your questions


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tgampper]

Hi Janet and welcome to Frog Forum
There are many people here who keep clawed frogs including myself. Bloating is fairly common occurrence when keeping these frogs. Make sure your water is conditioned and free of harmful minerals. Any good quality water conditioner will be OK. Keep the temperature around 20-22(C).

Since frogs drink through their skin, bloating can be cased by an osmotic imbalance. Water goes into the body but for some reason it cannot escape, so it causes the "Michelin-man" syndrome. Fluid accumulates in the legs and arms. Periodic water changes should reduce the bloating. There are other treatments that you can try if the bloating becomes persistent. Keep us informed.

African clawed frogs in captivity can live 10-20 years. Both males and females in this species call. Often times you will hear loud duets. My males will call constantly if the female is removed.

[Mentat]

Hello and welcome to FF Janet ! Is bloated frog in new tank? What filter if any you have in there and how long has it being established? Agree with Terry to increase periodicity and volume of water changes. Good luck!

[JanetDavis1969]

Hi Terry,

I posted a blog requesting serious help as my other frog, male has fallen ill. One day perfect, the next morning at breakfast he has damaged his eye, looks like a cataract, maybe but they are both in a tank receiving medical help via Pimafix, a treatment for internal and external bacterial infections. The girl has been in the hospital for 3 days the male 2 days. Am I doing the right thing? Are they going to die? I am very worried.

Please help me as I don't know what I am doing on here as I don't fully understand the termonology.

Thanks.

Janet.

[JanetDavis1969]

Hi Carlos,

Thank you for getting back to me.

When I first purchased them I put them both in a tank for a week to make sure they were not ill and to not contaminate my tank with my ole' boy, they seemed fine so I put the girl in there first but couldn't put the small boy as he would have been eaten my Casper, the ole' boy, things were going fine and decided to put the girl in with the small boy again in order to find out her sex as we knew from the black hands I had two boys but still did not know about the girl. It was when he tried to get her to mate that I knew she was a girl. Anyway, in both my tanks I have Interpet Internal Power Filter size mini which is quite adequate for the size tanks I have. I clean out their shedding and poo every other day and do a water change every week putting in Reptisafe Instant Water Conditioner and feed them on Zoo Med Aquatic Frog and Tadpole food, blood Worms, Organically grown live worms which you would have in the garden but these have never seen a chemical in their life and tubifex but they don't much like the tubifex. I have also stopped giving them blood worms as these can give them problems too. Occasionally I put a drop of API Stress Zyme+ and API Stress Coat. I change the filters every 2 weeks as they cannot go any longer due to being so small but only refresh one of the two filter sponges and replace the carbon filter, if the sponge that I put back is especially dirty I give it a quick rinse and then replace them in in the filter. I clean any plastic plants, one in each as they have live plants and the substrate is sand which gets a good swish round to release any built up gases. No new tanks, both established which is why I have no idea what is going on. I am still learning about these frogs as I was given one about 4 years that being Casper and he has been totally happy. Considering his living quarters before, he must feel like he is in a palace but that was a long time ago and is used to being loved and spoilt, which is why I thought I would get him some company. Do you know what might be wrong with his eye, will it get better or is this the start of another illness? I am very worried.

Janet

[JanetDavis1969]

Hi Lyn,

Wondering if you can help me with a question just arising tonight. I am not sure if you know the whole story of what is going on but one of my African black clawed frogs has a problem with his eye, looks a bit like a cataract but since originally posting this earlier, I went off to go and do a water change in both my tanks and have noticed he has a red ring almost going all the way around his eye, does this mean that his eye is sore or something else? My poor babies are really going through the mill at the moment and want to make sure I get advise and sort it as I don't want any of them to suffer in any way if I can prevent it.

Janet

[Mentat]

Hi Janet! I'm sorry your frogs are not well. It's possible his eye got a scratch and it's infected now. Get some Melafix and treat frog aquarium for 7 days according to label directions while continuing Pimafix treatment (it's OK to do both Tx at same time).

How is the bloated frog? Did it got better? Do not use any stress coat (or dechlorinators with stress coat) with frogs (or fish). The binders in those products can attach to frog skin and interfere with the frogs water intake. That could lead to edema and other issues.

[JanetDavis1969]

Hi Mentat, woop woop hooray, my baby girl has lost her bloat, at last I have beenso worried, going to keep her in the hospital for another couple of days until the 7 days are up just to be sure she is definitely ok but. That leaves my little big boy, Casper, I have some Melafix from something the fish I had a quite a while back, if it is still in date then I can start using it straight away. The Pimafix has done nothing for him yet, he has actually got a red ring almost around that bad eye, does this mean it is sore now? However I thought the Pimafix would have sorted that out.

Thank you and the other members for being so helpful as for the Stress Coat, cannot believe I am doing it all wrong. I used to use this and the Stress Zyme+ regularly in the fish tank, just shows you you can't the sellers of this stuff this is why I became I a member of FF because I knew I would get the experience and knowledge from people who know.

Thanks everyone and will keep you posted about Casper, if I can will put some pics on here too so I can share my babies with everyone.

[JanetDavis1969]

Hi Terry,

Just a quick one, my tanks are usually kept at 30 degrees, since putting the temperature down to 20/21 it feels really cold. I kept the water warm because of where they come from so thought if I kept them at a lower temperature they would get sick from the cold.

[tgampper]

Hi janet:

Sorry for not getting back sooner, i was on vacation trying to enjoy the last bit of summer before my teaching schedule begins. Glad you ere able to get the temperature down. 30(C) degrees is much too hot for this species. The water feels a bit cold but the frogs enjoy it and seems to reduce the chance of disease. Most of the problems that people face when they keep this species is maintaining proper water chemistry and cleanliness. I keep my frogs in a very simple tank, allowing about 10 gallons per adult frog. I have no substrate or filtration system. I make 100% water change every week. I feed three times a week, usually on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I clean the tank on a non-feeding day. It is also important to keep the water temperature of the "new" water within 2(C) of the "old' water, the frogs are sensitive to temperature changes. I feed my frogs exclusively Repto-Min. My adults are 15 years old and going strong

BTW, there is a closely related species Xenopus tropicalis, that is able to survive very well in temperatures around 30(C). X. tropicalis is native to West Africa.

[JanetDavis1969]

Hi,

Can you please check out the few photo's I have uploaded as I am sure I have 2 species of albino frogs. I posted the details earlier on the discussion board I think. I still don't understand how to use this properly. Also they have not done any poo's for about 2 weeks now, ever since I started putting medicine in the hospital tank when my little girl had bloat and casper is still there due to his cloudy eye.

Janet