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Thread: African clawed frog all puffed up!

  1. #1
    budugly
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    Default African clawed frog all puffed up!

    I have an albino african clawed frog, he is about 11 yrs old. in the past 2 months he has strarted to puff up all over. He has been treated for bloat even though it didn't look like bloat. I took him to the vet, she palpitated him didn't feel any lumps or tumors and she said from where the fluids were she couldn't drain it. So she said soak him in 5% saline solution 2x's a day for about a week to dry him out, that didn't work. Now she says he that he could be going through kidney and heart failure and like humans they retain fluids. Then I have people telling me it's his water, I had it tested, it is fine, then it's his food. He has been eating repto sticks for 10 yrs, so I'm being told meal worms & freeze dried crickets.. he ate one meal worm and won't eat anymore. I don't know but now I think he is might be blind, I can wiggle a meal worm in front of him and he won't respond, but if I touch him with it he goes nuts, but if he is up at the top of the tank and I drop some repto sticks in he will attack them. Just what am I supposed to feed him? any suggestions on what is wrong with him??

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  3. #2
    Jace
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    Default Re: African clawed frog all puffed up!

    Would you be able to post a picture of him? One of our other moderators, Terry, is our go-to-guru on this species. I am sure if you post a picture and ask him to look at this thread, he might be able to help out in some way.....best of luck.

  4. #3
    budugly
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    Default Re: African clawed frog all puffed up!

    I will have to try and figure it out, took me a long time to just figure out how to get a post on here and find a place for this type of frog. May take me a couple days, I work all day and then have to do stuff at home, by the time I get on a comp again it's about 11 p.m.

  5. #4
    Moderator tgampper's Avatar
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    Default Re: African clawed frog all puffed up!

    Sorry to hear about your frog. Bloated frogs seem to be very common these days. Xenopus (African clawed frogs) experience two kinds of "bloat".

    1) "Hard" bloated frog appears all of a sudden at the surface of the water. If this is the case, you will need to quarantine yor frog. This condition is usually caused by an internal bacterial infection and in nearly all cases it is fatal. There is some success using a product called Maracyn along with a salt bath. Maracyn is a gram-positive antibiotic found in stores that sell tropical fish supplies. Your vet will be able to advise you on a treatment plan.

    2) "Soft, squishy bloat", sometimes known as the "Michelin man syndrome" or hydrops in older amphibian literature, is caused by an excessive amount of fluid accumulation in the body and limbs. Untreated, this can cause liver and kidney damage. Although, frogs can live a long period of time with this condition, it will eventually lead to death. This condition is not associated with any particular pathogen, but it does occur with poor husbandry conditions. Since aquatic frogs live in water, their skin acts as an way for fluids to enter and exit the body (osmosis). When this process is interrupted, the frog begins to swell. The two leading causes of this swelling is poor water conditions and poor diet. Repto-Min is a perfect diet for your clawed frogs. ACFs are both predator and scavenger, so they do not require live foods like other frogs. I have been keeping clawed frogs for over 30 years and only feed Repto-Min. The only other problem could be the water. Make sure you use a good water conditioner, I recommend Stress-Coat. Keep the water clean and siphon any uneaten particles or waste. I would talk to the vet again about draining the fluid, the frog will probably recover without the additional stress. Also, continue the salt bath, ACFs are very salt tolerant and this would reduce the bloat. Good luck!
    Terry Gampper
    Nebraska Herpetological Society




    “If we can discover the meaning in the trilling of a frog, perhaps we may understand why it is for us not merely noise but a song of poetry and emotion.”
    ---
    Adrian Forsyth

  6. #5
    budugly
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    Default Re: African clawed frog all puffed up!


    I hope this picture comes up of him, the second problem is what he looks like all sqishy, the saline soak the vet was giving me was 15$ a bag and doesn't last very long, is there another option? I have read epsome salt on some sites but haven't used it and aquarium salts like the ones people use in the salt water tanks for fish and land hermit crabs. He was treated for the first problem you mentioned and that didn't help at all. I did become very ill and his tank became very bad at one point, but he had started puffing up before that. The vet said she can't drain the fluid. I can't afford to take him to the vet at 45 & 50$ to walk in the door plus treatment right now, I'm looking at trying to pay off a huge 5000$ mri bill the insurance is refusing to pay cause the stupid hospital didn't call to pre approve, so any home remedies would be helpful! I did go spend about 25$ on dried crickets and dried & fresh meal worms cause people said he would eat those and repto sticks were bad for him, now I'm stuck with them cause he won't touch them and the land hermit crabs won't eat them either. picky eaters!

  7. #6
    Moderator tgampper's Avatar
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    Default Re: African clawed frog all puffed up!

    I understand about vet bills!

    Thanks for the picture. Without knowing if there is any internal infection - it probably a good idea to treat for a possible bacterial infection. Treatment:

    1) Salt bath, one tablespoon non-iodized table salt, sea salt, or epsom salt per 5 gallons
    2) Use Maracyn or Koizyme to treat for possible internal bacterial infection

    The legs are slightly bloated which could indicate the beginnings of a "hard bloat" and suspect there may be an internal bacterial infection. A "soft" bloat usually involves the entire body. Continue treatment for 5-10 days. Good luck!
    Last edited by tgampper; November 2nd, 2010 at 11:44 AM. Reason: minor edit

  8. #7
    budugly
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    Default Re: African clawed frog all puffed up!

    do I make this and put him in it and leave him in it or just leave him it for so many minutes & take him out, thank you for your help

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