Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I Have 2 Albino African Clawed frogs. One male, one female. I came home after being gone for three days and both frogs were very sick. Both frogs are 2 years old. The females right arm is completely tripled in size. The bicept, forearm and all four fingers are very swollen red and slotchy. She looks like there is and open wound on her arm. Her belly is very bumpy like there is smothing protruding from the inside, like rocks. She has another wound on her leg and on her left foot the webbing in between two clawed toes looks like there is a rip then 2 abceses. The males back right thigh is red grey and swollen and also looks like it has rocks in it as well. He has various open wounds one on the thigh that is swollen one on his mouth and one on his nostril. He also has the same wound as the female on the left foot on the webbing in between the two clawed toes. I started them on tetracycline tablets dropped in the water and Melafix to help contain the other open wounds. That has been going on for six days now. They don't seem to be getting any better and the red is now dark grey color in the infected limbs seems worse. Thier behaviors include hang out at the surface a lot. Darting around when you walk by the tank but they are eating frozen blood worms when fed. Before I left I put about 20 rosy minow feeder fish for them to eat. 2 were left when I came home. Do you think the minows bite and injured the frogs thus causing the infections. What else can I do the help these frogs.
Thanks for listening
Jo

the swelling in the limbs and the wounds sound like a bad bacterial infection (probably aermonias). this is caused by :

*too high temperature (dont keep ACF above 75F) what is your temp?
*too dirty of water (when do you clean it? and how?)
*too small of tank/overcrowding (what size tank do u have?)

frogs that are stressed are more likely to subcome to disease. when bacteria such as what you are describing infects them they rarely recover. in the best interest of the frog you might want to consider euthinasia.

ALSO, koizyme should be used in EVERY tank that houses ACF to keep harmful bacterial blooms at bay. i use it in all my tanks. you can order it from www.xenopus.com.

please see my website for more information http://aquaticfrogs.tripod.com

rachel

First of all thank you Rachel for your reply.
The ACFs condition has worsened. The male has now developed noticable red lines around his eyes and is listless. None of the symptoms have improved or diminished.
Can you please tell me the best way to euthenize them without decapitation or any other bodily mutilation. I am having trouble decifering the chemical lexicon (MS-222???) provided by some web sites. Also what is the best ecologically sound method for post-mortem disposal.

Thanks again.
JO

The fact that the frogs are still feeding is very unusual because illness is usually accompanied by a loss of appetite. Before you give up completely I suggest that you forget the medications and chemicals and transfer the frogs to a clean container of fresh water at the same temperature. It doesn't have to be a tank. A black plastic bucket or something similar would be ideal. Use only enough water to enable the frogs to stand up with their nostrils protruding out of the water. Place something over the top, such as a sheet of glass and keep the bucket in a shady, quiet place without disturbing the frogs unnecessarily. Keep them there for a day then check to see if there's any improvement. If there is, change the water again and keep doing so until you know which way things are going. You have nothing to lose by trying this and sometimes, though not always, it does work with some conditions.

My advice for the future is not to feed them fish. Sudden problems of this kind seem to arise with frogs fed on fish.

I hope things work out okay for you.

here's a site for diagnosis of the problem you have with your frog. it appears to be the exactly what you described...
http://xenopuszoo.50megs.com/catalog.html