Hello,

Methylene blue (fish medication) has proven useful in treating unidentifiable lesions on a variety of amphibians, including horned frogs. Here is a brief article I wrote on the subject. If you have a chance, please check others posted at www.thatpetplace.com - click on blogs, then reptile blog:

Amphibian Medicine: Methylene Blue as a Treatment Option for Fungal, Protozoan and Bacterial Infections in Frogs and Salamanders

Hello, Frank Indiviglio here.

A common drawback in dealing with pathogen outbreaks among captive amphibians is the great sensitivity of most species to available medications. Drugs formulated for fish, used as a soak or bath, have great potential. However, amphibians absorb liquids over a much greater surface area than do fishes – in some cases with the entire skin surface - and it is therefore difficult to ascertain proper dosages. Dose reduction is largely a hit-and-miss prospect, as each amphibian differs in absorption ability – medication failure and patient death are all too frequent.

A Malaria Medicine Rescues Stranded Tadpoles
Methylene Blue, a compound that found favor in 1891 as a human anti-malarial agent (and subsequently lost favor due to its propensity to turn the urine green and the whites of the eyes blue!) is one of the safest medications to use with amphibians. It is widely used as a fish medication, but often overlooked by those working with amphibians. I was first impressed by its benign nature when called to rescue several hundred American bullfrog tadpoles from the bottom of a recently drained pond in NYC. The tadpoles had been flopping about for over an hour by the time I arrived, and were all cut up and bleeding.

Without much hope of success, I transferred the tadpoles to several plastic garbage cans and added Methylene Blue at a concentration a bit higher than recommended for fish. Normal procedure would have been to use ½ fish strength and gradually increase the dosage while observing the tadpoles’ reactions, but such takes time and these fellows had little of that. I was surprised to see no signs of stress, and astonished the next morning when most looked quite well. Eventually, a great many recovered.
Useing Methylene Blue
I have since used Methylene Blue in private and public collections for a range of amphibians, including Argentine horned frogs, spotted salamanders and Surinam toads. It has been successful against fungus (most likely Saprolegnia) and certain bacteria associated with wounds and “red leg”. I’ve had mixed success in using it to combat fungus on amphibian eggs (smoky jungle frog, bell frogs, poison frogs) – the results likely depend upon the species of fungus involved. I begin with ½ the fish dose and a soak time of approximately 1 hour - gradually increasing both if necessary. For eggs, I dilute the Methylene Blue in water and then use an eye dropper to place it on the eggs (approximately 1 drop per 2 inch square of egg mass).

Treated amphibians will be stained blue for awhile (as will your hands if you do not wear gloves), but results have been very good. Where the compound has not worked, it at least caused no harm, and therefore lent the option of using alternative medications.

Here is a link for methylene blue (I'm not sure if the comapny ships overseas):
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/214325/product.web

Heating your frog with a pad attached to the tank bottom is not the best method to use...I'm not sure if that contributes to the skin's conditions, but it could be possible. A low wattage ceramic heat emitter is preferable, and will not disturb the day/night cycle. A "night viewing" bulb sold for reptiles would also work...just watch that it doesn't dry out the enclosure. Some report that below-tank heaters attached to the side of the tank, as oppossed to the bottom, will raise the ambient. I'm not sure, but if such works it would be preferable to having your frog's skin in close contact with the heater.

Here is a link to a Hagen ceramic heater:
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/215501/product.web

Good luck and best regards, Frank