Fire Bellied Toad (B. orientalis) cloudy eyes

[Sugar]

Sugar, once you've contacted Kurt, could you please share his thoughts with us? I have a pair of FTB and would like to know if this ever happens to mine what could be done in a similare case. Thank you, and good luck!
Eric

So I contacted Kurt and he replied quickly (which I really appreciate) and he suggested that I see a veterinarian.

Unfortunately for my toad, I had already called several who have all referred me to a single individual who will be out of town for about a month. In the mean time, I'm going to continue using the saline drops since they're definitely helping. However, if this isn't completely gone by the time the recommended vet returns, the toad is definitely going in for an exam.

[KayIS]

So I contacted Kurt and he replied quickly (which I really appreciate) and he suggested that I see a veterinarian.

Unfortunately for my toad, I had already called several who have all referred me to a single individual who will be out of town for about a month. In the mean time, I'm going to continue using the saline drops since they're definitely helping. However, if this isn't completely gone by the time the recommended vet returns, the toad is definitely going in for an exam.

Sugar, did you ever figure out what was wrong with your FBT's cloudy eye? Please let us know what happened.

[Sugar]

Hi everyone,

I know this thread is like, pretty old, but I wanted to update the outcome for this FBT for those who may be dealing with the same issue.

So the FBTs I was writing about initially were adopted by me for rehabilitation. They were initially kept by a local children's museum whose animal caretaker resigned for new opportunities, leaving them with people who weren't really invested in the animals' well-being. From them I also adopted two axolotls. All of the amphibians were in really rough shape. It's infuriating to think about so I'm not going to describe it, but the FBT who was the subject of this thread was the worse of the FBTs.

As noted, he was completely blind.

I am conjecturing based on the information I had available to me that the cause of the cloudiness was poor husbandry at the museum, and more specifically, dirty water.

As we all know, toads excrete toxins into water. The water the toads were using initially was like 16 ounces to be shared among the four toads. Neither the water nore the filter had been cleaned in months. The people were basically just refilling it. I moved them to another tank and performed twice-weekly (or more) water changes in addition to administering the eye drops. I had pieces of driftwood in the water as well which left the water fairly rich in tannins, but still an acceptable pH. I also spot-cleaned, removing old food and poo.

As I stated previously, the only vet I could find willing to see toads was out of town when I posted. The toad's eyes had cleared up completely by the time the vet returned, meaning the toad's eyes had completely cleared in about 4 weeks.

I then went out of town later in 2011, and left my roommate to care for all of my herps. She didn't do the greatest job, and when I returned, the initial toad, and another toad both had started developing the eye cloudiness again. She didn't do their water changes or fill up the water as it evaporated, and left food and poo in the water.

Once again, I administered the Zoo Med turtle eye drops and kept the enclosure clean, and the cloudiness resolved.

I later gave the FBTs to a fellow amphibian enthusiast who had a lone FBT in a large tank. She added my four to her 40 gallon toad tank where they all lived happily until three of mine eventually passed away this year. Hers passed away as well, and she now has only one of the four I gave her in 2011.

I estimate that the toads were 4 to 6 years old when they passed.

I know correlation doesn't prove causation, but dirty water being the cause of the cloudiness seems pretty legit.

[KayIS]

I know this is an old thread, but cloudy eyes is a real problem with Firebelly Toads. I am fortunate to have access to a herpetologist who works for our local zoo, and he recently took a look at one of my older toads, who developed a cloudy eye years ago. I had just assumed that this eye was cholesterol deposits due to too many crickets in the diet, and thus permanent but the vet prescribed Neo-poly-bac, which is neomycin/polymyxin B sulfates/Bacitracin Zinc in n ophthalmic ointment (I presume this is vaseline-based). We've been putting this on the eye once daily, and to my surprise, her eye has almost totally cleared up.

Also, my original toad Brownie, whose cloudy eye started this thread, has since totally recovered wrt the eye - it's clear without any haziness. No ointment at all - we put him on a diet and he's been eating wild bugs caught by my daughter. It has taken a few years though. I have the other frog on a diet too, along with the ointment. When Brownie was fatter, the eye changed but didn't ever clear completely.