Unnecessary Hitchhiker?

[jlfrogfan]

I was getting ready to do a PWC on my ACF's tank (20G long, bare bottom, Tetra Whisper 40i filter), and found a large white stringy item attached to a piece of poop. There's another piece of poop nearby that looks perfectly normal. The white string hasn't moved all day (I've been watching it ever since I found it). I normally find little aquatic detritus worms, etc. that inevitably show up in aquariums, but nothing like this. Does anybody have an idea of what it could be? Diet is mainly Reptomin.

Thanks!

[jlfrogfan]

Hi all,

Sorry for the double post but I wanted to give a disturbing update. I'm not sure what that white thing was, as it has been disposed of (not moving even once the whole time), but its excretion seems to have caused a problem. The day I found it, the frog didn't seem overly active and took a while to eat. I've seen that before and she went back to normal in the past, so I didn't think much of it. However, over the next couple of days after that, she has been spending more time under her hiding cave and almost never swims. She is still capable of it, though--I've seen her go up to the surface when it's time to get air. (The same goes for food, she's just slower to eat).

Today, though, an odd new symptom arose. She started making odd movements--not so much a seizure as a hiccup, so to speak. She does this occasionally whether she's swimming or sitting still. It looks like she's trying to do The Worm (the dance move) in slow motion, undulating starts at the head and goes down. Her toes and claws also twitch on occasion. I think her filter may have something to do with that--I let the water level get a bit too low, and now there's a stronger-than-usual current in the tank. Maybe it's stressing her lateral line out.

She doesn't appear to have bloat either, but a patch of skin on her back turned somewhat lighter than I remember it being before. When I get home, I am planning to do a 50-55% PWC.

Any advice is appreciated, at this point!

[jlfrogfan]

Anybody...?

Today, she tried to swim a little bit but seemed to tire out after a few minutes and went back into her hide. Her breathing seems a bit shallower than usual. I also think I've found 2 nematodes (the thin, squiggly free-swimmers) in the tank. I researched them, and everything I've read says that the kind I found are more of an aesthetic problem than a real health threat. Is this true, or do all nematodes cause lung problems in ACF? If so, could they explain at least some of my ACF's symptoms?

[jlfrogfan]

I finally got some pictures of the actual frog. Here are a couple of pictures from yesterday, when her condition was the worst:



Here is one from today. She spent most of her time sitting under her hide and staring at the wall...Still breathing more shallowly than normal, and occasionally twitching (usually one front leg and one back leg simultaneously).

However, she did eat 2 Reptomin pellets and is swimming around somewhat awkwardly (i.e., her legs don't seem to be very well-coordinated when they kick). From what I understand, this may be a soft bloat symptom. Does anybody else agree or disagree?

[mpmistr]

You're frog looks okay. With most parasites, if you can see them with the naked eye, they probably aren't really something that will harm your frog.

What temperature do you keep your frog at? Have you tested Nitrate/Nitrite/Ammonia lately? What does her diet consist of? Also what size tank is this frog kept in (how many gallons)?

[jlfrogfan]

Thank you very much for your reply! The temperature is usually 68 or 69. Unfortunately, I haven't tested the chemistry lately (and, unfortunately, it wouldn't help to do so now--I've been doing significant PWC's every day since this thread began). I'm using a Tetra Whisper 40i on a 20 gallon Long tank. It's bare-bottom, and the frog is the only creature in there. She eats Reptomin pellets. I've tried earthworms before, but she normally just got so excited she ended up kicking them into the filter. If it's any help, she is 8 years old (which, from what I understand, is well below the average).

The frustrating part of all this is that her "normal" appearance is completely at odds with her behavior...While her breathing is at the same intervals as it was before this, it's like she's taking "half breaths" compared to how she's breathing now. She ate 1 pellet the day before yesterday, and hasn't eaten since. Although she did poop today, so she probably has a good amount left in her stomach.

Before, she used to swim constantly. Now, the few times she does swim it's very awkward-looking. It's like one of her legs will move, there will be a 1-second delay, and then the other one will move. Apart from that, she has developed a weird twitch that looks like a combination of a big hiccup and The Worm. Sometimes, that's the only way she can start "swimming" along the bottom.

However, I should clarify that her back legs work together just fine when she uses them to jump/push off from the floor to the surface, when she needs air. After moving around at the surface for a minutes or so, she goes back down, scuttles around on the floor a little bit, and then returns to her cave. Finally, when she moves around on the floor, it's like she thinks there's food down there (again, there usually isn't). She keeps directing her hands at her mouth on the floor, but stops when she gets to the surface (where food usually is). It's like she's seeing the world upside-down.

She doesn't have any redness or problems going to the bottom, so for me that rules out Red Leg or bloat.