Sad sad day :(

[mattfish]

over and over again. water bowls and water features are a HUGE problem!!!! Constant Carbon use in the water is HORRIBLE for frogs!!!! carbon strips the water of everything! in aquariums, fish can lose their protective slime coat and develope pits in their skin if carbon is constantly used!!!! frogs are even more sensative. Carbon does NOT remove bacteria from the water!!!! it is a porous substate that can develope and help colonize bacteria! if there is a bacteria problem in the water ususally you wont see it, in fact the water may even look "very clean" to the eye! You must have the whole thing Bleached!!! bleach is the only sure fire way to kill alll bacteria. OR if you have a water feature then you MUST install an Ultraviolet sterilizing unit (Aquaultraviolet and lifeguard units are the most relaible brands on the market today) to the system. but this requires the water feature to have an external filter unit, like a canaster filter. the U.V. unit can be made inline with the return line from the canaster unit that goes back to the enclosure. Sorry for your lose! If you have a water bowl or water feature you MUST keep it sterile. frogs need the same heat and humidity that bacteria cultures explode in growth under.

[Thevacantface]

Thanks for the info, I really wish this was clear in the care guidelines. For future reference and the health of my pacmans would you recommend that I sterilize their water bowl by boiling them weekly? I know bleach would do it, but using it on their stuff makes me a little nervous. I have such regrets about not proving her with the most upscale filter setup available, she just never showed an issue and we were good about keeping the water clean. Hopefully this can help others.

[mattfish]

Thanks for the info, I really wish this was clear in the care guidelines. For future reference and the health of my pacmans would you recommend that I sterilize their water bowl by boiling them weekly? I know bleach would do it, but using it on their stuff makes me a little nervous. I have such regrets about not proving her with the most upscale filter setup available, she just never showed an issue and we were good about keeping the water clean. Hopefully this can help others.

Yes you would need to sterilize the frogs water container almost daily. the enviroment that frogs need to be housed in is also the Perfect enviroment for bacteria to proliferate also. Most bacterias are harmess and even helpful for the ecosystem that the frogs live in But If a bad bacteria or mold spore get in the enviroment it can rapidly start to reek havok on the frogs health. Animals are programed to Not show weakness in nature. You can have a Bird that is eating and tweeting one day and the next it is sitting on the bottom of the cage. Once they are sitting on the bottom of the cage Most vets will tell you they are to far gone to help. Animals can be very very very sick but act fine until they can no longer. A frog plaqued with a bacteria infection may eat and look bright eyed and bushy tailed one night and the next morning be dead. They just instinctually wont show weakness. Now most bacterial infects take a long while before they kill their host so If you start sterilizing their cage you can break the bacteria or mold colony fast and the frog immune system will take care of the rest. If you choose to have water bowls then you MUst sterlize them regularly, not just clean them with your fingers in the sink or with just soap and water. they need to be bleached or boiled. If you have a water feature in the encloser that can not be easilly removed for regular cleaning them you MUST install a Ultraviolet sterilizer to it some how. that is the only way!!! carbon Does NOT kill bacteria or mold!!!!!
I hope you get anotherr African Pixie! Pacman frogs are Awesome to and involve the same maintenance instructions to the water containers! (:

[Lija]

I'm kinda late on board here, was away.
First of all im so very sorry for your loss. Some frogs get under our skin really badly and losing them feels like you just lost a human being, know that so very well so sorry, with time it'll get better, but you will always remember her.

Now for reasons.
I very highly doubt there is a possibility of toxicosis it would be visible clearly on a necropsy.

yes, I agree that the water very likely contributed to the loss of a frog. Regular Filters for these big frogs are simply not strong enough, only daily changes of water can work, with a huge external filters you can get away without changing water for a few days, but never a week. If you have a huge sump for a very small in comparison amount then possibly you can stretch water changes to some extend.

Now as for pacmans. You don't really need to go crazy on uv or anything, change the water ( tap with reptisafe, prime, any conditioner), if you know you can't trust your tap, get spring water, and treat with water conditioner too. Sterilizing water bowl daily seems very excessive

Usually i desinfect the water bowl at the same time as tank - once a month with mild bleach or vinegar. Vinegar is awesome to remove water marks from the bowl.

Regarding showing symptoms when it's too late I disagree, although sometimes that is the case and they just die for no obvious reason, but most of the time they do show symptoms, but not everybody can recognize them and react accordingly, that is a difference between experienced keeper and not quite there yet person.
Please don't think Im judging you or blaming you in any way, stuff happens and frankly everybody has something they regret, me included, you just try to think of how to prevent this from happening. Mistakes don't define you, it's how you learn from them do.