Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I purchased four D. Auratus bronze and green froglets from an expo back on March 1st, and all have been doing fine until last night or this morning. Before I left for work, I took a peek to check in on them and I found two of the four dead. I removed them and put them in a container so I could examine them and bury them once I got home from work. There isn't anything unusual with the corpses, (that I can see) and the remaining two frogs seem to be just fine (and are eating as usual at the moment). I'd like to know why two of my seemingly healthy frogs died, although I do not wish to pay for a necropsy. I'll describe the enclosure, feeding, ect. and hopefully someone more experienced with darts can offer some input.

*The enclosure - I set up a 55 gallon tank for my darts about six months before I purchased them. One end is sectioned off with silicone for a pool area that is about a foot long and eight inches deep (mostly filled with river stone and a large waterfall). I use distilled water to fill the pool and to mist with. The tank has about three inches of drainage and about three inches of coco husk fiber. The plants include some tropical ivy, a fern, and pillow moss / frog moss for ground cover. The cage furniture includes a coco hut, some wet habitat root wood, and some stones. The background is a combination of cork bark and lava rock. The temp stays at about 72-75 degrees F and the humidity is always at about 80% without misting. I mist the tank at least once a day, sometimes more, and siphon the drainage area out about once or twice a month as needed. The light is on about a 13 hour light / 11 hour dark cycle. Everything used (plants, ect.) was cleaned prior to use and the silicone is meant for aquarium use and was allowed to cure for about two days.

*Feeding - I feed my darts once a day ( twice every now and then, though not as much on the second feeding). Right now I feed them D. melanogaster flies, and the occasional extra small phoenix worms. I use a vit. D3 calcium supplement almost every feeding and a multivitamin supplement (no vit. A but has beta carotine) when I don't use the calcium. I feed them enough so that afterwards there are only a few flies left over to be eaten before the next feeding.

Some additional info that may be helpful:
*A few weeks after getting my frogs, one became very thin although it ate at every feeding and I never saw any of the frogs become aggressive. I put the thinning frog in a ten gallon tank ( set up similar the the 55 gallon) to keep an eye on it and to help it gain some weight back. After about two weeks or so it resumed a healthy body weight and was put back in with the other three the day before two of the others passed away.

*About a week before the sudden deaths, I was running low on flies so I had to feed my frogs nothing but phoenix worms for a week. They had trouble getting the worms at first, but all of them caught on quick and had no problem eating them. My newest fly culture hadn't really taken off yet so I went and bought a few vials of D. Hydei flies (the only thing i could find). Although larger, my frogs didn't seem to mind or have trouble eating them.

*Yesterday I did not get home until the light for the tank cut off, so I did not get a chance to observe my frogs for anything unusual. I fed them before I left for work since I knew I would be home late. A little of the calcium powder remained on some of the ivy in the tank because I did not have time to mist it away before leaving for work. It wasn't a lot, but I was wondering if it were possible that the two who died came into contact with the excess powder and that's what caused the deaths.

*I've read that some newly hatched frogs just suddenly die from time to time, but is that still common once they are about 6 months or so of age? All four of my frogs seemed to be in good condition when I got them, and with the exception of one thinning out and then gaining the weight back, have done fine until now. Any input or advice anyone could give me would be greatly appriciated. Thank you.

I can't see anything in your set-up or feeding that should have caused sudden death of two of them. Sometimes without a necropsy and microbiology studies available, we just can't find out the cause. Check out the skin for lesions. You might open them up with nail scissors from the belly and look at the organs, check out the mouth, esophagus, stomach, etc. to see if there are any blockages, or other obvious cause.

Distilled water is often used for misting without a problem, and although it has no electrolytes, generally picks them up from the substrate rapidly when used in water features, so this shouldn't be a problem, either. I'm not much help here, I fear.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

Dendrobates: auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, tinctorius azureus, leucomelas. Phyllobates: vittatus, terribilis, lugubris. Epipedobates: anthonyi tricolor pasaje. Ranitomeya fantastica, imitator, reticulata. Adelphobates castaneoticus, galactonotus. Oophagia pumilio Bastimentos. (updated systematic nomenclature)

Without a clinical necropsy, it is hard to say--could be parasites, stress, Aeromonas, Pseudomonas, myopathy, etc. Keep an eye on the others, and make sure they are eating well, and I recommend weighing them about once a month with a gram scale (preferably one with 1/10 of a gram accuracy)~to reduce stress, you can bait them onto the scale to avoid handling.