I think my frog has Chytrid, what can I do?

[catsta]

I've had my Pacman frog for about a year and a half, the previous owner had traded him in at the store so I don't know how old he is. I've had no problems in that time period until just recently.

Last Thursday I found my Pacman frog upside down in the morning, his legs stretched out, not moving. I've read about this before and it seems to be a sign of a chytrid infection. I flipped him right-side up and later that day went looking for Lamisil AT only to find that it's prescription only in my country so I have no means to get any.

The last time he ate was the week prior when I gave him about 20 crickets over the course of the week. Since then he has lost weight and has refused to eat. I've left him in a smaller quarantine tank for several hours at a time with one to two crickets but he didn't show any interest. Feeding with tongs hasn't worked either, anytime I hold a cricket for him he just closes his eyes.

Other things I have noticed are that his underside is reddish where the skin is white, he shed on Thursday and the skin was dark colored and he wasn't able to get it off himself so I had to help, he's been laying flat against the floor of the quarantine tank, and he has moved very little in the past few days.

I've looked for alternatives to Lamisil but haven't found any, is it the only option for treatment? Is there anything else I can do for him?

[DVirginiana]

You will probably have to go to a vet if you can't access lamisil over the counter. Even if you don't have a herp vet near you, if you know what the problem is and take the frog in many vets will order antibiotics/antifunals/whatever for you. Just make sure you make it clear that you know they aren't specialists and are willing to take the risk. I ran into a similar situation with my turtle awhile back; I knew what I needed to treat the infection, but the only way to get my hands on it was to go through my vet who had never treated any sort of herp before.

There may be another home treatment for chytrid, but I haven't heard of it.

[catsta]

You will probably have to go to a vet if you can't access lamisil over the counter. Even if you don't have a herp vet near you, if you know what the problem is and take the frog in many vets will order antibiotics/antifunals/whatever for you. Just make sure you make it clear that you know they aren't specialists and are willing to take the risk. I ran into a similar situation with my turtle awhile back; I knew what I needed to treat the infection, but the only way to get my hands on it was to go through my vet who had never treated any sort of herp before.

There may be another home treatment for chytrid, but I haven't heard of it.

Thank you for the response. There are no herp vets nearby and when I called a vet office they told me they only treat cats and dogs, I'm going to try this though and hopefully it will work.

[Namio]

Meanwhile, raise the temperature of your frog's enclsure to 30 degree Celcius. Chytrid grows best between 17-24 degree C, and their growth ceases around 29 and will start dying above 30 degree Celcius. In a lab experiment, constant temperature of 30 degree C for 8 straight days can kill chytrid. Not saying you should do that because it's too hot for your frog for too long, but raising the temperature will definitely stunt chytrid growth while you seek solution to saving your frog.

[Ra]

Raising the temperature that high for 8 days will stress your frog out, and it will need extra special care in recovery, but it wont kill it. Just make sure the tank doesnt dry out at all. Keep the humidity high
Chytrid on the other hand, will definately kill your frog.

I would say just go to a vet. If not, then you have to risk taking a **** shoot and your frog dies anyway, or you get lucky and he gets better.

[bobrez]

How to find a vet Start Here Arav – Find a Vet

[GrifTheGreat]

Raising the temperature that high for 8 days will stress your frog out, and it will need extra special care in recovery, but it wont kill it. Just make sure the tank doesnt dry out at all. Keep the humidity high
Chytrid on the other hand, will definately kill your frog.

I would say just go to a vet. If not, then you have to risk taking a **** shoot and your frog dies anyway, or you get lucky and he gets better.

Agreed. Heat stress is extremely dangerous. Kidney Failure is usually the result of prolonged exposure to temps that are much too high. It is advised to never perform the heat treatment on frogs because they can't handle it and WILL die. There are very few amphibians that can survive this treatment and those are Salamanders, but not all salamanders will survive it either.

Your best shot is to try and get a vet to prescribe the Lamisil AT. It must be a spray and not a cream.

When you get the Lamisil AT make a Luke warm bath of de-chlorinated water 200 millilieters and spray ten pumps into the water soak the frog in this solution for 5 minutes per day for 10 days. While the treatment is being performed over these 10 days the frog must be in a hospital setup with nothing but moist paper towels as substrate and a water dish. You can provide hides for security, but they must be easily cleaned so plastic hides would be preferable or fake plants. Everyday while the frog is soaking clean and disinfect the hospital setup and replace the moist paper towels with new ones. YOU MUST PERFORM THESE DUTIES EVERYDAY FOR THE ENTIRE 10 DAYS.

Please note that this treatment is highly stressful on the frog, but does work and eliminates Chytrid fungus. You must throw everything away that your frog has come into contact with prior to treatment. incinerating any furniture, fake plants, hides, substrate, etc. This helps to prevent future infection from the fungus. Also note that there is no proof that this treatment is sideaffect free so keep a close eye on your frog while treating it.

Keep us posted.