Hello, everyone.
I have an african clawed frog. Pete is over 10 years old. He was doing exceptionally well until I moved into a new apartment. He would not eat at all but otherwise seemed healthy.
Being bothered by this, I moved his tank away from the window and thought I would treat him to a new setup by replacing his gravel with nice big river rocks (which I thoroughly cleaned before introducing to the tank). At first, Pete was ecstatic and would swim, dancing and singing around the tank. I was finally able to feed him, but now he is worse than ever. He will only float at the top of the tank and is almost completely unresponsive. I will pick him out of the water and it will take about 20 seconds before he will wriggle out of my hand and back into the water. I have also seen what I believe to be some vomit around the tank.
His PH level is at 8.0, but I am going to try taking him out and then changing the water to see if that helps.
Please, I do not want to loose my little friend.
I want to add that I have removed the rocks from the tank and changed the water after I googled and found out that certain rocks can be harmful.
It's impossible to judge what the source of the problem might be but what you've written suggests that there's some aspect of the frog's new environment causing its distress.
Although you say that "..Pete was ecstatic and would swim, dancing and singing around the tank" I suggest that it's also possible that something about the setup was "spooking" him and that he may have been panicking.
You also say that you've seen what you believe to be vomit around the tank. If it is regurgitated food it should be easy to identify as such and I'm wondering whether what you're seeing could be pieces of cast skin.
The only things I can suggest are that you look critically at the water source/chemistry, light intensity and duration and water temperature and that you avoid handling him or doing anything that's likely to cause him unnecessary stress.
Thank you very much for your quick reply.
I have an appointment to take him to the vet, but will leave him alone until then.
I have since noticed what appear to be some tiny pieces of skin hanging off him.
As to him panicking, I don't think he was. His movements when he is frightened are much more desperate and he swims frantically and quickly. There is a marked difference between his singing and dancing. He is slow and repetitious.
The chemistry is probably be what is getting to him. Thank you and I will keep the thread updated.
My dear friend Pete has passed away.
Admittedly I did not cycle very well. I let the water sit for 24 hours and treated it with baking soda to raise the PH but I changed the water all at once.
No cleaning agents were used except for hot water and a scrubby.
Thank you for your condolences.
If it wasn't the problem an uncycled tank not good for these guys# they don't take well to chlorine & heavy metals which are found in tap water in enough concentrations to cause issues# that's why water conditioner are crucial then tank should be cycled about 2 weeks # even 25% weeklycwater changes same applies to add conditioner and preferably not add the new water for 8 hours
Thank you, that will be helpful information if I decide to get another frog.
Just for future knowledge & possible help can you please tell me why you added the baking soda ie your initial PH also the amount you served by tank size
Baking soda was one of the most feasible ways to raise the PH level and it was about 4 tsp for my 20 gallons.
From info you have given maybe the PH might have been raised to quickly source https://www.algone.com/adjust-ph-aquarium
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