Sick Pacific Treefrogs tadpoles

[daybr4ke]

Some time ago I found some treefrogs in a shallow pool. I was looking for California Toads tadpoles and treefrogs toa lesser degree, so I took many before it dried. I kept them and the 2 newt larvae I got by accident from the same pool in a number of containers to facilitate easier cleaning, but switched them all into on larger container prior to a trip to make care easier on my "babysitter", but before the trip I noticed some appeared to fall ill. One bloated up, and a number of the nearly metamorphosized ones had a red leg. I seperated those and immediately picked up API T.C. Tetracycline and began treatment of both populations, and left instructions for my stand in on it. The nearly metamorphosized ones' legs are no longer red, and were fully changed when I returned. I moved them to a seperated container from my other PCFs, but another tadpole in the main chamber has bloated up like a beach ball, and another (not in the attached album) seems to be bloating in the back and sides rather than the underbelly, making it less noticeable, I barely caught it and seperated him. All the bloated ones have been seperated into sobituary confinement. I doubt anything can be done for them, but I want to know if there's anything else I should be doing. Other things are some have somehow lost the tip of their tails, and the one in the album showing a red front leg isn't using the red limb, it drags behind him.
http://imgur.com/a/CvKQZ

[LeapyIsAFrog]

I'm no specialist, but this seems to be a case of red leg. This can kill the animal and is caused by bacteria. Before you take any action, I would wait for some other members to respond their opinions. I would advise a vet visit. Good luck with your little guy!

[elly]

I took a while responding because I don't have any experience with tadpoles. I looked up bloating, and apparently sometimes it can happen because tads injest air along with food. Not feeding for a while can help apparently.
As far as the red leg, I hope the tads will be okay. They're delicate and even my full grown frog has responded badly to medicine before. Hopefully most will pull through.

Edit: You seem to know what you're doing medication wise. If you have tips or a formula for dosing frogs with red leg I'd really love to hear it if you feel comfortable sharing. (Yes, taking frogs to vets is often the best option but so many people here have no access to frog vets or their vet just died or something.)

[daybr4ke]

Thanks for replying! I was pretty sure it was red leg, but not 100%. The group of nearly metamorphosed froglets I treated separately seem to have no symptoms now, and I have moved them into a kritter keeper for the time being as quarantine. I read up on red leg and the treatments for it, and tetracycline was recommended, but it was noted it wasn't a for-sure thing. I thought the bloating was some REALLY nasty infection, but they're all still alive, and it's been a while, so air ingestion seems possible. Some are de-bloating, as well! In any case, I am actually very lucky. I happen to live near the East Bay Vivarium, pretty much the oldest and largest reptile store in the US, so I have easy access to advice, so after reading about tetracycline I went by to see if they had any antibiotics for use in water. It was 1$ plus change for a small pack, but one pack can be used multiple times in smaller tanks, so I got almost a week out of one. The lady I spoke to wasn't sure it'd save the tadpoles, but figured it was the best bet. She recommended a 10 day treatment cycle. I'll add a post later updating with how well things go.

[daybr4ke]

So far I have treated the tadpoles with tetracycline in a large group as well as smaller groups for more mature froglets. I have left the bloated tadpoles alone, and the condition of most improved. A tiny sprinkle is enough to treat a whole small(5 gallon or smaller) container, such as the one I use for my tadpoles. The small ones are measured at 1 packet (sugar packet size, roughly) for a 30 gallon tank. After use you have to switch out a good n portion of the water. The newly transformed froglets seem fine, with no traces of redness. They seemed fine after only a about 6 days of treatment, before they emerged from the water. One, in the pictures above lost his right front leg, but the others were fine. It seems best to estimate on the lower end for dosage, and then after some time passes removal of about 30-40% of the water removes a lot. This seems necessary, since a small group in a tiny cup I forgot about died before emerging from the water, presumanly because I didn't switch the water. I wish I could add more. Only things I can think are possibly only treating every other day, and doing some math to get exact portions for smaller containers.

[elly]

Thanks for the update and please let me know how it goes.