Old floating frog

[Merenwen]

Hi! First of all, I'm sorry for my bad English (I'm Italian).

A friend of mine, who moved to Belgium for a year, asked me to keep his hymenochirus Frankie while he was away. He used to keep Frankie in a simple plastic tank, no thermoregulator, no filter, nothing. He changed the water once every 3 weeks and that's it.

Frankie is now in a bigger aquarium with a small plant and gravel on the floor. She seemed to enjoy her new home for the first 2 months, but in the last 10 days she has become lethargic and floats on the surface without being able to go down. She's not swollen or bloated, she looks normal but only moves a bit when you touch her. She's not even reacting when I throw her food or tap lightly on the tank... ok, let's say she's almost 9 years old. Is she dying? Is it my fault?

[Geoff]

The problem might be due to water temperature. Hymenochirus frogs need a stable water temperature between 21°C and 25°C - but no lower than 21°C.

[Mentat]

Hello and welcome to FF! Sorry your ADF is not doing well . Please answer the below questions to try and figure out what is issue. Hope your translator can make sense of them, thank you !

“Trouble in the Frog Enclosure”

The following information will be very helpful if provided when requesting assistance with either your frog or enclosure. To help with your questions, please utilize the below list and post the information in the proper forum area to get advice from FF members that keep the same frog. This will allow for little confusion and a faster more informed response.

1. Tank Size and volume of water in it (full, 1/2 filled, etc.)?

2. Number of inhabitants including all frogs and any fish?

3. Water source and any conditioner treatments?

4. Water Temperature and how is it heated (if so)?

5. Water chemistry levels: pH; Ammonia (NH3); Nitrites (NO2); Nitrates (NO3)? Note that if you do not have test kits, most aquariums/pet shops will do complimentary tests if you take a clean water sample.

6. Describe any filter system including model and media?[/COLOR]

7. Substrate type?

8. Tank set-up (plants (live or artificial), driftwood, hide outs and other decor? - How were things prepared prior to being put into the tank?

9. Main frog staple food and any treats? How often you feed?

10. CA, vitamins, and any other additives used (how often)?

11. Lighting set-up and hours it's used?

12. When is the last time frog ate?

13. Have you found poop lately?

14. A picture would be helpful including frog and tank (any including cell phone pics are fine).

15. Describe frog's symptoms and/or recent physical changes; to include it's ventral/belly area.

16. How old is the frog?

17. How long have you owned him/her?

18. Is the frog wild caught or captive bred?

19. Any medications in the water (treatment doses and for how long)?

20. Any salt in water (how much)?

21. Is the tank kept in a high or low traffic area?

22. Describe tank maintenance to include water changes, cleaning, media changes, etc.).

By Lynn(flybyferns), GrifTheGreat, and aquatic questions added by Carlos(Mentat)

[Merenwen]

I checked: the water temperature is 22°C, so it shouldn't be too cold for her. I have no clue

[Strider18]

If you could answer the questions that Carlos gave you that would help a ton. I can think of several things that could be wrong but I won't know for sure until those questions are answered.

0.0.1 PCf
Soon to come 0.0.4 Phyllobates bicolor