Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm away at college so my parents were the ones giving me the news.

My older, female FBT died suddenly I'm told, was found floating in the water. My mom thought she might have gotten thinner, but sometimes she did look thin before a feeding.

As far as they know, they were both eating.

The younger one, the male, he was eating for I think it was two weeks about since her death. Then my mom noticed he looked "mopey", and when she nudged him, he didn't move, but just chirped at her. (He seemed to like her, which was kinda funny...)

Anyway, the next day he was dead.

My mom thinks he just became depressed after he realized his tankmate wasn't coming back. I won't say that isn't the case, but I'd still like to know if anyone has any thoughts.

The female was full grown when I got her (rescued school pet) and I've had her for 4 years. The male I bought from PetSmart maybe two years ago, and he was also full grown. Really they could have been just old, but I'm also sure they didn't receive the "best of the best" care they possibly could have to live for a whole decade.

Tank was filtered, and the only introductions were PetSmart crickets with occasional dusting. No diet variety tho. No visible signs of illness or parasites - I'm told their coloring was normal.

I attached a photo taken about a year ago. The male is bigger and lighter (left).

Did you do frequent water changes? Sometimes the toads toxins can build up in the water if it isn't changed frequently. The toxins will reach a point where it could eventually kill any of the inhabitants.

The filter would not be good enough in filtering out any toxins. The molecules are much smaller than the filter media.

they probably weren't done as often as they should be. (I wasn't home to do it myself, away at college. parents were feeding/cleaning while I was gone.) anyway I wouldn't doubt that as a prime factor (maybe adding that to age).

fire bellied toads can live 20 years so it wouldnt be old age. was there a slime biuld up in the tank? this would be ammonia from stagnant water. also i would think it would be unlikely that it would happen to both like that , but is the gravel really small? sometimes a frog or toad will swallow a piece of gravel and it will get impacted in its digestive tract. what was the water temp in there? also it could have been genetic, but the taods were unrelated and they died so close together.
i really dont know but i guess its too late now anyway