Quarantine Process

[Jeff Kennedy]

Today I was able to secure (4) more Golden Mantella that I hope to house with my current Golden Mantella after the quarantine process. I have the quarantine tank set up. Very basic 10 gal., with all three sides painted black for security, substrate, water dish and several pieces of corkbark for them to hide under. My question is, what should I be doing this month while they are in quarantine? Anything special that I should be looking for or any special treatments that should be applied as a precaution??

[John]

What you're doing sounds fine. However, if these are not CB then you need to consider dosing them for parasites.

[Jeff Kennedy]

Thanks for the reply John. How would I go about dosing them? That's foreign territory for me.

[John]

There have been posts on this elsewhere on the forum. Do a search, or maybe Kurt will respond.

[Kurt]

If you don't know what your doing, I would strongly reccomended taking them to the vet for this. He/she should treat the frogs with metronidazole (orally) for protozoan parasites and with fenbendazole (orally), but not at the same time. I know Paul will suggest dusting their food with these medications, but my vet (who is also my boss) will tell you that by doing so, you are under dosing and this will lead to drug-resistant parasites. The drugs can be used about a week apart or so from each other. About three days after a dosing, the substrate should be changed. For this reason, I use paper towels in quarantine set ups. They are simply and cheaply replaced. They also allow you to monitor fecal out-put and health of fecal samples.

I would also keep a log in this time period. Log any thing unusual, feeding habits, appearence, anything that might seem worth noting. If there is a problem this will help the vet make a proper diagnosis.