Sick Pacman Frog, what should I do?

[KerkeringJ]

WOkay, I've got some pictures. One isof the legs and one is of the one on his back. The thing on the legs is that they're so peely that you can basically see all the capillaries, they're semi-translucent. He has sores on his belly as well, covered by his hand in the picture.

I suspected chyrtid because the shedding has been consistent throughout antibiotic and nolvasan treatments, so a fungus not eliminated by nolvasan would make sense. The doctor recommended stopping the treatment and putting him on moss to rest the tissue, but since his sores look a little more inflamed after being in it I may switch back to wet paper towels, which he's been on since the prolapse. Any help would be appreciated!

[DVirginiana]

The first picture isn't showing up, try reloading it.

As for the bottoms of his legs, it may just be a result of the camera flash, but they don't look like they have anything wrong with them to me. Is there redness, open sores, or swelling that just isn't showing up in the photo?
Having not seen the frog in person (and not being a vet) I don't want you to go against doctor's orders here, but it may be worth asking if they'll let you email them a picture of the frog's legs and see if they still want you to stop the antibiotic. From the first post I got the impression that the legs were basically skinless, so the vet may have gotten the same impression if you described it the same way. I think that's important, because antibiotics often don't show signs of improvement until near the end of the treatment, so it may be responding to them just very slowly (I'm not seeing any belly sores to speak of at the moment, so that's good at least).

If there are no open sores, I see nothing wrong with keeping him on moss for the time being as long as you move him before feeding. If wet paper towels works better for you though, just ask the vet if that would be acceptable. I imagine they'll say yes.

As for the increased shedding, it's not surprising that it would start around the time he got sick and started treatment. It could easily just be due to the stress of the whole situation. Unless something else happens that makes you absolutely sure it's chytrid I'd stay away from treating for it right now. That's a long, drawn out process that's stressful for you and the frog, and for a problem that isn't super common in captive bred animals.

[KerkeringJ]

Thanks for the quick response! I'll try to fix the first picture, there are two more on his underside that have been there for a while now. I suppose nolvasan soaks might have been keeping them from healing properly though.

For what it's worth, he's also had some watery bloating at first that's now disappeared after the nolvasan soaks, and the sore on his back came about because of a burst cyst. Anything I should be looking out for?

It's really hard to see with the flash, but I do feel like the layer of skin on like the inside of his legs is absurdly thin.

[DVirginiana]

Okay, the pic is working now.

The sore on his back doesn't look bad at all. Probably would be fine if you did nothing. Putting a bit of PAINKILLER FREE Neosporin on it won't hurt anything though. The painkiller-free bit is important; painkillers can seriously harm the frog.

The skin on the legs does look thin, but it's not abnormal. It should have an almost translucent look and maybe a slight tinge of pink (you'll notice the inside of the front legs look the same way). You've got a problem if the underside starts to look red or inflamed, but this seems okay to me. I think it's definitely worth a call to double check if the vet still wants you to quit the antibiotic treatment.

If he starts to bloat up again, you can do a honey soak. 5-6 drops of honey in a tub of luke-warm water up to the frog's chin for about 15 minutes.

[KerkeringJ]

Thanks for the response! He's been doing well, although he does look a little thin. And I think I might know the reason why! The last time he pooped, the whole thing was mostly a gray color, which is apparently indicative of liver/bile release malfunction. If his gallbladder isn't working properly, that would explain his thinness despite the fact that I've been feeding him. So uhh... any tips? Not sure if this is something I'll be able to fix unfortunately, but is this indicative of any bacterial/fungal/viral infection that you guys know of? Please let me know!

[DVirginiana]

Hm... I generally associate bacterial infections with runny poo, but you can't rule that out completely. Being on antibiotics can also mess with the digestive system, so that could be what you're seeing. Abnormal poo can also be a sign of parasites; do you know if he's ever been fed anything like feeder fish? Those are really bad to transmit parasites.

Can you post another picture from above so we can see just how thin he is? Also if the oddly colored poo happens again, snap a picture and put it up.

If the oddly colored poo continues to happen, it might be a good idea to get a fecal done (save the poo in a moist paper towel inside a ziploc bag and store it in the refrigerator for no more than two days if you can't get it to the vet immediately) just to make sure there's no parasite issue. Fecals are usually pretty inexpensive. My gut is saying that it's probably due to the antibiotic, but it's hard to say for sure especially without seeing the poo.

If he doesn't have trouble with impaction, you can feed him a pinkie mouse (no more than once a month) to try and put some weight back on him. They have a pretty high fat and protein content compared to worms and crickets. However, don't do this unless he's medically stable; acting pretty much normally and alert. The mice put a little more stress on the digestive system than invertebrates, so I wouldn't feed one to a frog that's seriously ill.

[KerkeringJ]

I really can't get a good picture. His skin is really tight (you can see the edges of his skull), you can see bumps on his back which kinda look like bone, and other areas have faint red dogs like you see when you get a really bad skin burn. His sores (ulcers?) on his belly haven't been healing either.

This is all chrytid, yeah? Slow onset, redding of belly, shedding of skin, formation of growths, watery abcesses, and lots of thinness. I think I'm gonna put him back on the chrytid mess. Obviously doing nothing isn't working, and the antibiotics didn't work before even though I basically completed them.

For what it's worth, his poo was runny a few weeks ago before it turned gray. Not liquidy, but not like super solid.