ACF with soft bloat

[jlfrogfan]

Can you post any bloat pictures? How much water is in your tank? Have you separated the frogs? In the event that your water quality is too low due to inadequate filtration or PWC's, then it may have initiated an internal bacterial infection in the sick frog.

I found this from an older thread here on Frog Forum (this is for soft bloat). All credit goes to forum member Terry:

Treatment: The easiest way to treat the frog is to put him in a plastic container (like Rubbermaid) about 3 gallons in size. Put a gallon of conditioned water with about a half-teaspoon of epsom salts. Water temperature should be about 72 degrees. Dissolve the salt before putting the frog in. Don't put anything else in the container. Punch some small holes in the lid for ventilation. Leave the frog in the bath for 1 hour each day until the bloat is clear. Replace fresh water and salts each day. If the bloat isn't cleared within 10 days, then there isn't much more you can do. Don't feed live food. I suggest Tetra's Repto-Min frog pellets.

Watch for any unusual skin discoloration which could be as sign of bacterial or fungal infection. Usually the salt bath will take care of this problem too.

[vallio86]

Thank you so much for your help. I have him in a 20 gallon. Have not separated the frogs. His buddy is doing well. I can't get a good pic of him, but he basically looks like a blown up balloon, getting worse every day. I have been doing the salt baths, and over two days completed a 100% water change. I have a whisper filter for 20 gal tank. Just wondering if there was anything else I could do. Also if I would see any change for the better before ten days. I'm just very concerned because while I am providing him with fresh water and salt baths, he continues to get worse.

P.S. He is natural colored, not albino, and I noticed since we got him that his skin seems pale. Would that be considered discoloration? Should I purchase antibiotics? Thank you!

[jlfrogfan]

Hi again,

The main problem I see is that your frog tank has been under-filtered. Rather than a filter rated for a 20 gallon tank, you should have found one rated for 40 gallon tanks. ACF are a lot messier than fish! This may be the reason why you're not seeing much improvement (which you should have seen by now). Poor water quality is most likely the culprit here.

Unfortunately, I've never had to give a salt bath before, so I can't help you there.

I'm sure there is a continuum of skin colors in ACF--what you see as pale may have just been its normal color. If it suddenly changed color around when/shortly before this situation began, then yes it is a problem.

The only medication I usually use is Pimafix. Some keepers also like Mar-Oxy, but I've never had a time when I needed to buy it.

You're doing great with the water changes! You probably don't have to do 100% every two days, especially if you aren't using dechlorinator (which you should be). I'm sorry your frog isn't feeling better, yet--mine has been acting oddly too, but its symptoms don't seem to match up with anything I've seen from anyone else here on the forum.


P.S.: I strongly encourage you to separate the frogs--you never know when infection may set in.