Red eye in Fire-Bellied Toad

[flip]

As I was feeding my year old fire bellies today, I noticed one had an ugly red eye with no external bleeding. Could this be a sign of bacteria, illness or trauma? Any ideas for treating it?
Thanks

[Han]

Prevention is better than cure...........
So you better share some information on tanksize, ventilation, water/landpart,
lighting, temperatures and last but not least food. A guess: crickets?

Han

[flip]

I have two fire-bellies in a 10 gallon tank with a screen lid and separate day/night lighting fixtures for heat and light control. Temp is around 72, warmer in summer. Tank is lined with frog moss and has a small natural plant(like a spider plant) in the center rear. There is a stepped hut to bask or hide under on one side and a water dish on the other. The dish has gentle steps into the pool and is deep enough to just submerge but not to really swim. It is stabilized and supported by a sculpted hill of moss around the edges and under the lip of the dish so the frogs can easily get in and out of the bowl safely and leaves two areas where they have a cozy little cave under the lip of the dish where they like to cuddle.

'Flop' likes to hang out in the water or in the cave. 'Flip', whose eye is in question, visits the water and spends some time in the cave but really loves the corner of the tank where he burrows his butt down between the moss and the tank where he looks like one of those 'Dune' worm monsters just ready for a hapless cricket. And yes, their diet is crickets and the crickets are fed Fluker's cricket diet and water gel. The pet shops insist that is all they'll eat so we've not tried other foods.

I water the moss like rain mostly on one side so one half is always drier than the other allowing for frog options.

'Flip' appears otherwise healthy and is not acting strangely but I will probably offer some crickets by tweezer to be sure she's eating.

I've also wondered, does their color mean anything? 'Flip' was bright green when we got her but changed about 5 months later(two months after getting Flop) to mottled and is now darker green. She's noticeably rounder than the Flop and has been 'rounder' since at least November. Flip is also thinks if there are four crickets in the tank then the one who eats the most the fastest, wins(regardless that there is no possible way she could stuff another plump bug in her gut).

Between you and me, I think this is a deep seeded issue from when Flop first came to live with us and he ate like a vacuum. He never gained weight while Flip got real skinny from not eating so well. Then Flip got her 'Alpha' on and decided she got first dibs on any meal. Now here she is all round and dull with a big red eye. Flop seems to adore Flip and I can't imagine him hurting her so I doubt it's 'frogal' abuse.

Any other ideas?

[Han]

No need for extra heat, 72 is ok. Waterpart is far too small/shallow: it
should be 2/3 of the set-up, some 5" deep. Bad waterquality can easily cause all
kinds of nasty skin/eye-trouble: to create a landpart, try to avoid soil, bark, moss
or whatever polluting material. You better use slate, bricks etc. to create dry, half-
submerged landparts. Install a proper filtration-system, if possible. A very well
ventilated set-up is important to avoid a mouldy atmosphere on the tank-floor, which
is the place where the toads live.
Try earthworms for food, feed by hand by using tweezers. Keep trying.

Han