Other ACF sick

[Geoff]

He is shedding the skin in the normal manner, so its not patchy. He's just shedding it way too often. I also have not noticed any redness. His activity seems to be fairly normal. I have been feeding him every other day. I do notice that he seems to be a lot less active on the day after I feed him though.

If there's a significant health problem with the frog I don't know what it is. The fact that the frog's still feeding is uncharacteristic of a sick animal. Being inactive after feeding is normal. Subjecting it to a temperature of 80°F and daily water changes is unlikely to have a beneficial effect on its wellbeing. The redness near the eye might have been a simple abrasion that would have healed naturally anyway. X. laevis doesn't need a heater if the ambient room temperature doesn't fall below the 60s°F. If you're going to keep the frog in the small tank I suggest that you try positioning the tank as close to floor level as you can where the air temperature will be cooler.

Almost everyone with a sick frog wants to do all they can to administer medication in order to cure it, which is understandable. I strongly suspect that very few people truly understand what exactly they're dealing with or what possible side effects any medication used may have. It's nearly always a gamble that carries a high risk of doing more harm than good and my attitude towards using medication is entirely negative. Using antibiotics like Tetracycline if it's not known that the source of the problem is bacterial is potentially storing up problems for the future.

I kept Xenopus continuously for over 26 years. One of the reasons I stayed with them for so long was that they are incredibly resilient and undemanding frogs to maintain. In your position I'd simply ensure that the tank's water quality is good and that its temperature is correct and stable. Then I'd wait and hope for the best.

Good luck.

Geoff.

[Dejavudoo]

He seems to be hanging at the surface quite a bit lately. But he'll also try to push himself further out of the water. I can only describe it as trying to swim out of the water. I think his skin looks a little lighter as well. When I tried to feed him tonight his appetite was seemed to be nearly nothing. What he did eat, he seemed to have problems getting down. Does this help narrow it down as to what could be making him sick??