A couple of months ago my son and I decided to get some African Dwarf frogs. We have lots of experience with goldfish but these little guys are so cute we wanted to try them. So we took our clean 10 gal tank (hasn't had an occupant for over a year) and set it up for the froggies: undergravel filter, heater set to 78 degrees, small epoxy-coated gravel for the bottom (big enough so they won't eat it), gro-lite and natural plants (Amazon sword, cobamba, and jungle something-or-other (it's long and skinny). We let the aquarium cycle for 2 weeks without the animals and then added an apple snail and 3 ADFs, which we bought at the best pet store we know of. We are feeding them frozen bloodworms which we spread around the tank so they won't fight over them. The snail also eats shrimp pellets and algae wafers, but I've never seen the frogs touch those.

After 4 days, we lost one of the ADFs. Before he died, he spent more and more time sitting on top of the heater, half out of the water. We took the pet store up on their guarantee and replaced him. But within another 3 days, all of the frogs were dead. They didn't look like anything was wrong with them. I was concerned that the whole batch had been sick when we got them, so we left the tank for another 2 weeks with just the snail happily puttering around, did lots of water changes and added a dose of Melafix just in case bacteria was a problem.

We got 3 new frogs from another pet store and for the first couple of weeks they were fine. Then 2 days ago we lost one: again, he spent his last days sitting on the heater. His chest looked like his heart had exploded, but he wasn't bloated. Today it looks like we're going to lose another one, as he was laying upside down on the bottom when I rescued him to a small container where he can't drown. He's very lethargic. The 3rd one seems normal for now but considering the past, I don't give him long.

I vacuum the gravel once a week and do a 20% water change with clean, dechlorinated water at room temperature.

What are we doing wrong? I want to get more frogs but we can't keep having funerals! This is too heartbreaking.

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