Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently had a problem with a couple of tads dying. I looked and looked for a possible cause, the pH was fine, they had fed recently, etc. BUT, I had just changed the water in the tank, and let the dechlorinating drops settle and work for a while. I then reattached the air pump (one small one). I then placed the tads back into the water. When I came back later, both of them were still swimming, but only at the top, and they were not behaving naturally. One looked ok physically, but the other looked a little bloated. They both died a couple hours later.
I really took so many precautions with temperature, pH, food, water clarity, tank size, etc. But it seems there is something I overlooked. As I was reading some causes of tad death online, I came across a source that cited too much oxygen. It said that when tap water is poured into the tank, a lot of oxygen comes with it (which I knew), and it should be allowed to sit for 24 hours in order for the oxygen to balance out. It said that tads can take in too much oxygen and die from a belly full of it!
I had no idea, that is not something that is commonly discussed in tad care, and I feel terrible that this happened. I just never imagined providing too much oxygen!
Has anyone else had a similar problem, or did I just really miss out on the obvious?? I am interested in some input on this.
Thanks

I guess I should clarify that I am talking about tadpoles. Oops.

I've raised a few tads and I don't think the oxygen thing would usually be a big deal. You'd probably see some strange bloating and it would probably have to be a lot of oxygen, because a lot of people use filters in their tad tanks that add a lot of oxygen and they don't die.

I've read that tadpoles are very sensitive to many metals, even trace amounts, in the water. I can't verify it, but I always tried to take precautions in addition to use NovAqua which claims to neutralize them into salts.

Also, like fish, they're very sensitive to water changes. Even if you think everything is the same you don't have a way to measure all the chemicals in your tap water, I'm assuming. At least with fish, you're never supposed to change more than half of the water at a time. That said, however, I've changed a good 30% of the water for fish and lost a few and changed 90% of the water with fish and changed none. Ammonia build-up, from before the water change, could leave them more sensitive and even something small could kill them. Weakened tads will always be more vulnerable in that sense, and ammonia will definitely weaken a tad.
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Got hips like Cinderella / Must be having a good shame / Talking sweet about nothing / Cookie I think you're Tame

Yes,
too much disolved oxygen is a serious problem for Tadpoles and difficult to control. Its best to let the water sit for 24-48 hrs before adding it to the tank. Still water without airation is usually best.Even in still water plants and algae can raise the disolved oxygen levels up enough to cause air bubble desease. Also, tadpoles are very sensitive to copper ions which can come from tap water if you have copper pipes. What kind of tadpoles do you have? One thing that I have noticed with leopard frog tadpoles is that they are suseptible to air bubble desease if they are reared above 65 degrees. These tadpoles are used to cooler waters and will have developmental abnormalities when raised at higher temperatures.

I don't know that copper ions were the problem, as I had the tadpoles for a couple of weeks, and they seemed to be doing fine in the same water. One of them was clearly bloated when I looked in the tank (within 2 hours of their return to the permanent tank) and the other, which had already developed all four legs and a normal frog mouth showed no signs of bloating. They were bullfrog tadpoles, and I have had fish survive fine in the same water (with the anti-chlorine drops) and African Clawed Frogs as well. I also have a bullfrog in the same tank that had morphed earlier in the summer, and it is still doing fine, eating daily, swimming about in the water. I also use the same water (after treating it) to mist my salamander vivarium, and fill their shallow water "pond". I really had no idea that a tadpole could die from too much oxygen, but it was a valuable lesson that I won't forget, that is for sure.

What about Southern Leos? I raised a couple of those and the water was well above 65*F.
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Got hips like Cinderella / Must be having a good shame / Talking sweet about nothing / Cookie I think you're Tame

I don't know maybe they fair better. It may well be the reason why they dominate the southern most part of the range.