Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everybody. I've noticed within the last week orange dots appearing on my plants and my log. So far I've only seen two but this is kinda weird to me. It looks like someone took a paintbrush and put an orange dot on my plants and log. Any ideas what this could be? I don't think I should be concerned but I may be wrong. Thanks for any responses.

This is probably a fungus of some sort and more than likely harmless to your frogs. The fact that it's not just on the logs, but also on the leaves of live plants is a bit more concern for the plants' sake. It may be just superficial- living on debris and frog droppings on your plant leaves. Examine them carefully. What kind of plants are they? Other than the red spots, do they appear healthy? Are the red spots on live, fresh leaves or only on the older, decaying ones?
-----
Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus

There are only two single dots, one on the log and one on my terrestrial brom. they are raised and have hardened and really just feel like a dot of paint. Really weird. My plants are healthy as are my frogs. Could it be anything emmited from the frog? Not waste but maybe something else? Thanks for the reply.

I don't know of anything from your frog that would look like this. I wouldn't worry about it if there are just the two dots. You could try scraping them off. Do you know anyone who works in a lab that has a microbiology department, or who can look at it under a microscope for you? Or perhaps the biology department at a nearby university? It doesn't take an expert to see if it's a fungus or a kind of bacteria, perhaps some kind of scale insect or just amorphous debris. They just need to crush it on a slide, add a little normal saline and a cover slip. A fungus will have filaments and/or spores. Bacteria will have typical bacterial forms--rods, cocci, or more rarely be filamentous. It would take some work and expertise to identify the specie further than this, and probably not worth the time and expense.

Before I retired, people were always bringing me stuff like this and I'd look at it on my own time, just for fun. Some labs frown on this, but I always gave the personnel freedom to play around with odd stuff off the record, provided it didn't involve a clinical diagnosis on a human. It wouldn't hurt to ask. Your safest bet might be the university biology department.

If it were a plant disease, I should think it would be all over the place and not just two isolated dots.
-----
Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus

If you ever find out what that is let me know. I have the same thing in my Mantella milotympanum tank. I have always thought it was some excretion from the frogs since they are close to the same color.

Thanks for all the good information. I go to a university but wouldn't know where to begin about asking somebody about analyzing it for me. Maybe I'll try and find out if theres anyone on campus who could help me out. Ridge if I find out I'll give you the heads up. Thanks guys.