My Clawed Frog Jumped Out (Still Alive)

[JayFrog]

I accidentally left the lid open from my tank and one of these little ninjas escaped =T He's been out for about 3-5 minutes and I immediately filled up my smaller tank with the tank water at low level water where he could still breath. His nose is a little pink and he does seem to want air really badly, anything else I can do for the little guy? =T

[mpmistr]

He may have landed on his nose and injured it. I assume he is an albino if the nose is pink? I would just let him rest and recover, being out for 5 minutes isn't going to hurt him but falling certainly would frazzle him.

What size tank was he in and is the tank cycled and/or treated with dechlorinator? Just curious if he's flailing trying to get out some times that means something in the water is irritating him, like chlorine or ammonia.

I had one of my frogs jump out and fall at least 4 feet and land on a hardwood floor and he was out for a few hours until I finally found him under my lounge chair and he didn't seem to suffer negatively from the experience.

[JayFrog]

My brother is looking after the frog and I'm currently at work so I can't test the water until I get home, and he doesn't know how to =[ I do dechlorinate the water with "Aquasafe" and cycle the water every week or as much as I can before it hits a week and a half. I will definitely test the water as soon as I get home. Is there anything else I can do for him as far as hourly?

[mpmistr]

Never heard of that brand but I'm sure it does the job and removes chlorine from water.

When I say cycle I mean having a filter that cycles Ammonia to Nitrite and Nitrite to Nitrate which when becomes high is removed with partial water changes (preferably about 25% of the water weekly). It is good you change the water often if there is no filter but if you don't have one I would invest in one since it makes maintenance much easier.

I have not seen the frog but from what you're saying, he was only out for a few minutes and now he's back in the water. That really should not effect them at all a few minutes is not enough to dehydrate these frogs, if he was out for 6+ hours that would be a different story.

[Mentat]

Would call your brother and ensure he used water from frog tank and not the tap. Michael information on tank cycling is important to your frog's well being. When you can, please describe your set-up including number of animals, and then we can make some recommendations for it. Good luck !

[JayFrog]

@Michael - Thank your for your responses! I must have misunderstood what "cycling" meant, in that case, although I do have a filter, I don't think the water has been cycling or possibly it has. Assuming I did my 5 minute research correctly, I would have to have bacteria growing in the filter? Hopefully my frog will be fine being out for that long, he had a lot of dust bunnies when I found him in the kitchen, those dust bunnies are now my second priority.

@Carlos - I was the one who found him in the kitchen and used the tank water to rehydrate him. I told my brother to look after him just in case anything happened. According to him he looks fine now, he's not breathing heavily anymore. I would like to know more about cycling. As Michael mentioned, that may have been a cause for his escape.

As Requested:
- Two clawed frogs, 1 male (the escape artist) and 1 female.
- 3 1/2 gallon tank (will be upgrading to 10 gallon, they are getting big)
- I use a Tom Mini Aquarium filter link: Amazon.com: TOM Aquarium Mini Internal Filter 45gph adjustable flow: Pet Supplies
- I have one live plant and a decorative "rock shelter" for the frogs to enter. It's quite spacious.

[Mentat]

How long are your frogs snout to vent (SVL)? Need that to have an idea of biomass. Recommend tell your brother to release frog back into aquarium now and you to upgrade tank to at least a 15 gal.; much better a 20L.

To simplify the cycling process, your frogs produce urea which is rich in ammonia (very toxic). Some nice bacteria in surfaces (substrate, filter) convert that to nitrites (toxic) and other nice ones convert that to nitrate (only toxic if concentrated). So.. bacteria in your filter and to a lesser extent in your substrate (if any) take care of first two baddies for you.

When both ammonia and nitrites reach zero... your tank is cycled (around 30 days). Then you do required water changes adjusted to biomass in water to reduce nitrates (want to keep below 25ppm for most organisms and try to avoid anything above 50ppm). Some fish do require lower levels, but frogs will be OK. As long as you rinse media in tank water during water change, or don't replace all of it at once, your tank remains cycled. If your filter uses cartridges and you replace them... that will trigger a mini-cycle because you removed the bacteria population in filter.

Try and get new larger set-up as soon as possible. Will need a new filter (yours is too small) and because frogs are messy, a minimun of 2x the filter output is a must (i.e. a 40 gal. filter for a 20L). Since your little filter is "primed" with good bacteria would also transfer to new tank (with old cartridge in use) in conjunction with new filter for first 30 days. That will help prime the new filter and prevent an ammonia/nitrite shock to your frogs. Good luck !

[JayFrog]

I am following up on the cycling to which I'm still new. After the drop my frog took, he is perfectly back to normal, crazy, haha. Anyway, I have the API test kit and it's been a week since I started cycling, feel bad since I've had these frogs quite a while.
PH: 7.4
Ammonia: .25 ppm
Nitrite: .25 ppm

Anything to watch out for or consider?

[Miss Blue]

Glad your frog is ok! That must have been scary! I do not own acfs so cannot give you any advice but wanted to praise your good work! Cheers,