African Dwarf Frog help. FUNGUS?????

[Titleist]

My ADF is about 2.5 yrs and i noticed a white spot on her lower back 4 days ago and thought nothing of it. I was hoping it was just skin, but it hasn't changed size so far and she is still pretty active. Skinnier then the others but still eating.

Here's a pic of the white spot:

Her eyes are not as clear as the other frogs either. Just a bit of haze to them:

Anyone have any advice what to do? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Titleist]

Also...i have MelaFix. Should i try that along with some aquarium salt(1 tablespoon per 5 gallons)?

 

[Leopardess]

I would guess that it is indeed a fungal infection, usually cloudy eyes go hand in hand with it. My suggestion is to keep the water extremely clean (often times less than ideal water parameters are what cause fungus breakouts).

I would just skip the melafix in this case and go right to a more serious treatment. Fungi are a PITA. I have seen 1 tbsp/5 gallons suggested for ACF's, for an ADF I might knock it back down to 1 tbsp for something like 7 gallons at first. Make sure they're comfortable with it (I've not yet had to use salt on them so I dont' know their threshold) and then go up to 1/5 gallons. Or you could try some sort of commericial fungicide like Maroxy.

If you have your tank heated (and you probably should), try dropping the temperature - gradually - a couple of degrees since fungi don't like colder waters.

Keep your eye on the spot and tell us if it gets red...if it does it could be Red Leg disease.

 

[cherrypie]

I'm not 100% on frogs and their tolerance to antibiotics, but if they'll tolerate nitrofurizone, then that is without a doubt your best shot. If you can get a topical application on the site and prevent her from going for a swim for 30minutes that should do the trick nicely (you'll probably need to repeat that at least once daily for the next few days). I doubt you'll be able to get nitrofurizone in a cream without a prescription but it's ussually sold in a tablet or capsule form for aquarium use in many countries. If you can get it in tablet/capsule form, grind it down (or break open the capsule) and disolve in enough water to make a 0.5% solution then paint a small amount onto the spot with a q-tip.

 

[Titleist]

Do i keep adding salt everyday or do I add salt then eventually do a water change before adding another dose of salt? I've been doing 30% water changes for the past couple of days. I added a little less than a tbsp of salt last night and made sure it mixed/dissolved well. So far they seem to be handling it okay. Water is at about 77 degrees.

 

[Leopardess]

That's likely to be awfully stressful for the frog. Salt will cure most things well enough. I mean if it's something you're willing to try, you could. Also, what do you mean keep it from going for a swim? You mean just moving around a lot? Frogs are fully aquatic; out of water for 30 minutes and they'd be having some serious issues.

 

[Leopardess]

What size tank is it?

You should add your dosage of salt once, then only add enough to replace what you proportionally remove via a water change. You want to keep doing water changes to keep the water nice and clean. I would up it to 50% changes, that way it is also easier for dosing the salt, when you're working with halves.

Add enough salt, at first, to get to that mark of about 1tbsp/5 gallons. Make sure your dose does not exceed this. Since salt does not break down, the only way it gets removed is from water changes. So you only need to put back what you take out, to keep it at a constant level.

 

[Titleist]

MY tank is 5 gallons. So i'm thinking a 50% change tonight and a half tbsp of salt to go along with it? Thanks for the help. I really don't want her to die and i've noticed her appetite isn't as verocious as before...especially compared to the others.

 

[cherrypie]

Further thoughts.

Also, what do you mean keep it from going for a swim? You mean just moving around a lot? Frogs are fully aquatic; out of water for 30 minutes and they'd be having some serious issues.

Last I heard frogs were amphibians . Not familiar with African dwarf frogs as amphibians aren't allowed to be imported to us Australia but all the local species I know of can go 24hours plus out of water providing humidity is adequate. The garden at my house is full of burrowing frogs, they spend the majority of their adult life out of water.

Anyhow, if the species can't be out of the water for more than a few minutes I'd still try topical application of a 0.5% nitrofurizone solution and see what sort of reaction you get, if the frog tolerates it fine, I'd be inclined to move up to a 1% solution from then on or consider treating the water with it, due to the low topical exposure times.

 

[Leopardess]

I'm sorry. When I said "frogs are aquatic" I was referring to the species kept in aquariums. But, no, ADFs are fully aquatic. They do not ever leave the water. An African Dwarf frog is a very different species that other frogs. Read the article I wrote, it's linked in my signature, if you're interested. They breathe atmospherically, but they do not/cannot leave the water to do so.