Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I have several RETFs in a 55 gallon tank with a shallow water area on one end of the tank. I siphon the water out every 3 or 4 days and replace it completely. The problem is, when I test the water, even after about 2 days, the Nitrite levels are considerably high. (I think this is because of the frogs habit of urinating in the water.) I asked at the local petstore, and they said that I need to bring the nitrite level down, and that the only way to do this was with a little aquarium salt. I am a little skeptical of this, because I am afraid that salt in the water might damage the frog's skin. If anyone has any tips about this I would REALLY appreciate it.

Thanks!

-northstar951

Could you put gravel at the bottom and have a cycle started? You can use one of those products like Stress Zyme that speed up the process.

Anyway, I'd go ahead and post this in the aquariumhobbyist forums, where applicable, too I don't think you should put salt with red eyes, but good luck.

I can't tell you how to fix this but I wouldn't put salt in the water. Hang tight and someone will be able to help you with this.
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Happy Frogging!!!

~Becki~

The ONLY way to bring nitrite down is with salt? Apparently these people know NOTHING about the nitrogen cycle. If salt corrects nitrite, then have them explain to me how marine tanks will also have nitrite? This solution reminds of the chlorinated water Reptiles magazine recommends to treat red leg!

Amphibians usually can not tolerate salt above their own bodily salt concentrations. Following their advice likely would have killed your frogs, especially without an expensive refractometer to properly measure the salinity.

Along with ammonia and nitrate, nitrite is the product of certain bacteria breaking down organic waste. Chances are if you have high nitrite, you will also have high ammonia (which is more toxic), and high nitrate. This is a result of an inadequate biological filtration. The ONLY way to reduce nitrite is to improve the biological filtration.

I recommend changing your setup. Either eliminate the water feature and go with a smaller water bowl that can (and should) be changed everday, or make the water larger that will allow for proper aeration and filtration. A small body of water will never be clean.

In the meantime, check out the link to learn about the N2 cycle.

Also, do us all a favor and print this email out and give it to the petstore.
Click here for the link...

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*Humans aren't the only species on earth... we just act like it.

".the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without
spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

Thank you for your replys, I really appreciate it.

The water that I have, when siphoned out, equals out to be about 5 gallons. I have a filter in it (a Whisper turtle filter that spills over the side to aerate the water) and gravel (larger so the frogs can't eat it) at the bottom. I had a water bowl in the tank in the begining and changed to this, because the humidity in the tank was never high enough.. no matter what else I tried. (Well, unless you count covering up the top completely, and then there was no ventilation..bad bad bad..) So that's why I did the little pond thingy, and it brought the humidity up nicely without sacrificing ventilation. Any other suggestions would be appreciated!

As for the petstore.. I quit taking any advice from them with out researching it first, when one employee told me I should be using nothing but distilled water for my frogs...

Thanks again.

Why not keep the bowl and msit a few times a day. Yes this works, I do it in a lot of my tanks to raise humidity.
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P. sauvagei
derekb15.tripod.com/tropicaltreasures
3.1 P. sauvagei
2.1.2 P. hypochondrialis
2.0 P. vaillanti
0.0.3 P. aurotaenia
2.2 B. orientalis
0.0.10 S. pustulosa
0.0.3 B. americanus
1.0 T. horsefieldi

I agree with Derek. This is the method that I prefer and is by far easiest to clean. No need to worry about biological filtration!
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*Humans aren't the only species on earth... we just act like it.

".the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without
spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

I keep shallow water bowls in all of my frog tanks, thay way if they need a dip, they take one. All of my juvenile WTF's hang out in the water bowl like it's a hot tub. They love it, I just have to clean it everyday. Also maybe installing a misting system could help, if you cannot be there to spray 3 times a day.

What substrate are you using? Moss can help keep the humidity up.

I have an automatic mister that sprays every hour on the hour, a manual spray bottle that I use several times a day, and I also have moss. All of this, combined with the pond area (including the splashing from the filter), and almost all of the holes covered up in the top keep the humidity at about 80%. I have never been able to raise it above this though. The ambient air is just really dry I think.

Now I have to question your method of measuring humidity. The digital Thermohygometers that you can buy from Wal-Mart are notoriously inaccurate. If you're using one of the stick on dial hygometers, I would trust that number even less. I had to purchase a digital one that costs $50 for my thesis work just to get one with decent accuracy. I am wondering if the number you're getting is actually much higher than what it is. I find it very hard to believe with all of the measures you're taking to increase humidity you are only getting 88 percent (which is still decently high).
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*Humans aren't the only species on earth... we just act like it.

".the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without
spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

Somehow I managed to misspell "hygrometers" 3 times!
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*Humans aren't the only species on earth... we just act like it.

".the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without
spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

Sorry I'm so late here, but what type of substrate do you have in your tank? And if you do have the stick on type humidity guages, where in the tank are they? If they are near the top you need to move them to the middle to get accurate readings. I use bed-a-beast in all my tanks and I as well have RETF. They have a small water bowl and full screen lid and I manually mist the tank 2-3 times per day everyday and then kinda douse the b-a-b with water to keep it moist in the drier areas about once a week and I have no problem maintaining 70% humidity which they are quite comfortable at. And since the guages aren't always accurate, what I have done is paid close attention to the imparticular readings and the look of my frogs. You want them to be nice and glossy with bright "content" color. I can see with mine that if it drops to 55% they will begin to lose some gloss, at 50% they begin to look a bit dry, at 80% they will get a bit darker colored and higher than that their respirations increase a bit - so even if my guage isn't completely accurate, I know if they are uncomfortable. I could not however manage to keep their humidity up enough without the b-a-b while keeping moistened sponges in inconspicuous spots did help some - they just need to be changed frequently to prevent any unwanted pathogen growth in them as they do make perfect breeding grounds for lots of icky stuff. Dunno if any of this will help, just thought I'd share some of my tips.
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Happy Frogging!!!

~Becki~

Hey,

Yeah, I have the Flukers anolog terrarium dials, and they are positioned right smack in the middle of the back wall. I know that the temperature one works at least... for my substrate I have small polished rocks (half the size of a plum maybe) on the bottom, then I have on the land area a mound of polished pebbles, and this is covered in bed-a-beast so the frogs can't get to it. I have several plants directly in the dirt, and moss covering all of the dirt (because the frogs kept eating the dirt when they missed the crickets..eww). I also have several climbing things like branches and decorations, but I probably could have saved my money because the frogs seem content with the plants and the tank glass... beats me. Back to my origional question, I think I got it worked out. I bought a bottle of Amquel (that stuff smells SO bad) and a cheap goldfish, like the link that Colchichine posted said to and when I checked this morning the Ammonia and Nitrites were fine, and the Nitrate level was "okay". So thank you all very much, I appreciate your help alot.

Well, in this person's defense, I'd think they tested for ammonia and nitrates if they tested for nitrites. But from what I hear, some communities have high amounts of nitrites in their water, so it could be that if she is cleaning them so often.

Either way, it's irrelevant since the solutions are the same!

Yeah, I did.. ammonia and nitrate levels were fine, and I also checked the clean treated tap water before putting it into the tank, and all the levels were fine in it. *sighs*