HELP! African Dwarf Frog sick..

I would treat the frog in a separate hospital tank with Binox or similar sulfa/antifungal drug @ 1/2 teaspoon per 10 gallons.

edit: As far as I know, most anti-fungals, antibiotics, and sulfa drugs are safe for amphibians. They can't tolerate any metal-based like copper, or dyes like malachite green.

Are you sure its not just shedding?

good luck

hope she gets better

and as a precaution inspect the other frogs closely for a while or maybe quarantine them too? as they might have it? idk, hope she lives

Ara, I think your frog has Chytrid, a fungal infection that is decimating amphibians world wide. I did a lot of research on this back when I had some ADFs and found that New Zealand researchers discovered that chloramphenicol is an immediate cure, but the problem is this is not generally available in this country.

Dangerous health consequences in some humans after exposure, though I believe I remember that this requires a certain genetic susceptibility, but no one knows who will develop aplastic anemia upon exposure. Caution when using it should be exercised, and I have used it myself.

Vets have eye drops for cats or dogs, often, with chloramphenicol in it so you might ask your vet if you could get some of that. My vet was willing to write an RX and have it compounded for me, but it was going to be ridiculously expensive.

There is another treatment involving Lamasil AT, an anti-fungal spray that is over-the-counter. I had saved that information, but my laptop crashed and was replaced and I lost a lot of information I had collected.

Google using keywords - Chytrid, African Dwarf frogs, Lamasil treatment - to see if you can get the protocol for treating this. You may be able to compare photos of frogs with a definite diagnosis of Chytrid to see if this looks like what you're seeing.

What temp do you keep your tank? Warmer temps seem to help; don't let the tank drop below 78 degrees.

I'll keep looking for information, but I think your frogs are in serious trouble and this is extremely contagious. You have to sanitize and dry out completely their tank, all supplies and anything that has been exposed, if this is indeed Chytridiomycosis. Also, be careful and do not dispose of water outside in your yard, and it's best, actually, to nuke any tank water in a bucket with a lot of bleach before disposing of it. This could be spread to the frogs that may be in your yard or nearby.

Again, I'm not 100% positive this is Chytrid, but it sure looks like it. I'm so sorry. I hope for the best for you and your sweet little frogs.

Here's an exerpt from an article that offers another treatment method that has met with considerable success. This was at this link:

http://amphibiaweb.org/chytrid/chytridiomycosis.html#cure

"Thermal treatment may prove to be the safest and most effective way to treat captive amphibians and their enclosures (Woodhams et al. 2003). Frogs (e.g., Woodhams et al. 2003, Retallick and Miera 2007; Andre et al. 2008), salamanders (e.g., Weinstein 2009), and caecilians (Raphael and Pramuk 2007, unpublished) have been reported to clear Bd infections when kept at higher temperatures for a time. When experimentally infected Litoria chloris enclosure temperatures were raised to 37°C for 8 h on two successive days (also allowing 45 min for warming and 45 min for cooling on each day), the frogs were able to completely clear chytrid infections (Woodhams et al. 2003). Similarly, experimentally infected Pseudacris triseriata were able to get rid of Bd after being held at 32°C for five days (Retallick and Miera 2007). However, it has also been reported that this treatment does not work in all species (Marantelli, pers. comm., cited in Young et al. 2007). Bd can be killed by heating to 37°C for 4 hours (Johnson and Speare 2003; Johnson et al. 2003). Thus Young et al. (2007) recommend holding heat-tolerant amphibian species at the highest temperature they can tolerate."

That's possible Mel, but I was under the impression that Ara has had this frog for awhile. If she's still eating well and moving normally without abnormal posture or odd behavior I tend to think it's not Chytrid, but I could be wrong. Hope not.