Help Request: Western Chorus Frog bloated red vocal sac

[Xantraun]

Hi all!

I've been scouring the internet for hours for something that looks similar to what this lil' guy is displaying and have had no luck. I've officially called every vet in a 25 mile radius and found only one that is willing to see him but they want $89 just to walk in the door and then whatever meds on top of that. He's not getting any worse and I'm worried that the additional stress of a 45 minute car ride will weaken his immune system and ruin whatever chance he has at a recovery. Was not getting a response from another forum and stumbled across this one in my frantic searching...

Setup & history:
6 Western Chorus Frogs in a 20gallon tall tank. I raised these guys from tadpoles that were rescued from a huge puddle that was drying up almost three years ago so wild at heart but not "caught". Finely shredded cocoa husk substrate from Zoo Med. Some branches for climbing (from the wild but debarked baked in the over for 3 hours to kill anything on them) and some caves to hide in. Usually around 40%-55% humidity and 65-70 degrees. Water is natural artesian or spring with no additives. Only food is crickets twice a week, dusted every couple of feedings and never any bigger than the width of their head. The other 5 frogs in the tank are doing just fine and exhibit no issues at all.

The issue:
Friday evening I droped a few crickets into the tank and watched as I always do as the froggles immediately pounce and lunge for their meals. I noticed this guy was just letting the crickets walk right over him and ignored them completely. This odd behaviour set off the alarms and upon closer inspection I noticed his throat was rather red and swollen. Immediately built a hospital setup with some misted white paper towel as substrate and a small water dish with nothing else. I placed two tiny crickets in there with him so I could monitor if he ate and yesterday morning the crickets were still there and no feces to be found. Have since removed the crickets.

He doesn't seem uncomfortable and isn't moving irregularly. Seems to have plenty of energy as he was very unhappy about being in the hospital the first few hours and was bouncing off the walls. He calmed down yesterday and is now just doing the normal hang out near the pool and relax routine. Gave him a Pedialyte bath for 10 minutes last night while I cleaned the hostpital tank. Took the pics just before reintroducing him to the hospital.

Photo Album - Imgur

Oh, one last important note I guess, recently someone in the tank has been trying to call every now and then. Just started a few weeks ago. It usually happens when the girlfriend and I have a movie on. Something in the audio must set him off. It's never been a full call but it's a rather loud sort of clicking sound they produce. It's never prolonged enough to see which frog is making the noises. Wondering if this little guy is the one.

Any thoughts? I'm hoping it could just be an adolescent injury due to not knowing how to call. I know some frogs don't get the hang of retracting their vocal sac when they're just maturing. However, the redness makes me fear it's something bacterial. Soooo... I've found a few places online to order Baytril otic from but am hoping to get some feedback before going that route. I've read some people suggest rubbing non pain relieving Neosporin on wounds but this technically isn't a wound. I've also seen a lot of mention of dilluted salt baths with distilled water for one minute to kill any bacteria or fungus on the skin. Wondering if that might be my best bet and to continue the Pedialyte soaks.

Hope to hear back from someone soon. Would like to get meds ordered this evening if that is what is recommended.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

[Xantraun]

I'm updating this in hopes that someone out there can give me some guidance through this...

Lil' guy still doesn't want anything to do with food. If you drop a cricket in with him he just acts like it's not even there. The swelling has come down a bit but the vocal sac area has darkened some and his tympanium is now reddish as well but only on the left side. Almost like a dark bruising now... New development is what is coming out of him. I tried to snap some decent pics of his current state and show the two slime balls it left in the hospital tank today. Looks like flecks of cocoa husk substrate in one of them. I'm continuing the Pedialyte soaks every night and have yet to try any actual medications. He's still moving quite strong and isn't acting very distressed.

Photo Album - Imgur

I have completely torn their enclosure down for a sanitization/rebuild. I've quarantined the 5 other frogs in a seperate hospital setup for monitoring just in case. None of the others are exhibiting any signs of injury or sickness. I also followed a guide on a sanitizing salt dip on the 5 healthy frogs before transferring to the quarantine in case something got in to the tank and was living on their skin. (1 teaspoon of salt to 1 cup of distilled water. Soak for 1 minute then transfer between two clean treated water soaking dishes for a rinse.) They really didn't like the high salt concentration but they appear to be doing just fine now.

Have any of you ever dealt with a bacterial/fungal issue before? I'm a little shocked no one has chimed in on this yet. Still worried about trying Baytril and possibly doing more harm than good. Does anyone know of a broad spectrum remedy that has no side effects and is a sort of "can't hurt so might as well" treatment? Some posts I recently found seem like Lamisil is worth a shot. Also, if I can part with my grocery money for the rest of the month and make it to the vet and they prescribe Baytril, what is the shelf life on that stuff? If it's already too late for this guy, will I be able to keep that for a few years in case I run into something like this down the road again or is it a one time use drug?

Would really appreciate any help you guys can offer.

[NetworkLabs]

I was reading up infection treatment for my frogs to prevent infections, and found something that might match your case. It seems like a Fungal Infection. I think this because fungal infections usually take place in soft white tissue. Go to this we page, it may help - The Frog Doctor

Just look under Fungal Infections

[Xantraun]

Thanks for chiming in!

Finally found a specialty fish store that has a few of the anti-fungal solutions I've read about. I picked up Melafix & Methylene Blue which are two treatments I've seen pop up across the forums. The site you linked to recommends Malachite Green which seems to be pretty widely used for this sort of case but the only solution I could find had equal parts Malachite Green & Sodium Chloride. I didn't buy it because my brain said "Chloride ...must be Chlorine. That's bad!" but after getting back to a computer and looking it up I now realize that's just salt. Grr... so frustrated. Seems like the Methylene Blue and Malachite Green are used in the same way, do you think I should go back out and get the Malachite Green instead? Stuck at the office another couple hours and then planning to head home and try this stuff out unless someone thinks the Methylene Blue is a bad idea.

So stressed about this.

[Xantraun]

So after having found the supplies to try and treat the lil' guy at home, I was having a really hard time digging up a consistent method of treatment. Dosing on some forums was saying to apply a drop of the Methylene Blue right on the affected area, some were saying dilute a drop in two gallons of water. In all my frustrations and trying to dig in to legitimate write-ups on herp treatments, I stumbled across a site that had a listing of herpetologists by zip code. Found one within a half hour's drive that let me bring him in for $45 and gave me an hour of his time to chat about things.

He said it's definitely not a fungal or bacterial infection but more likely an injury from a fall in the tank or an abscess behind the tongue. We couldn't get a safe look inside but his instructions were to keep doing what I'm doing. Sterile hospital environment to monitor excrement, keep up the Pedialyte soaks, and if possible try to get a cricket in its mouth and see if it can manage to swallow.

The swelling in its throat is nearly gone now and it cooperated enough for me to work a tiny cricket in to its mouth. Didn't reject it right away so here's hoping it actually went down. Going to keep doing what I'm doing and listen to the vet. Sometimes it's best not to treat anything at all and let it work things out on it's own.