Death of a xenopus

Although tonight was a fun night with the Allman Brothers, there was also a tragedy. About 3 or 4 months ago, I started feeding my xenopus (african clawed frogs) minnows instead of their boring pellet food. I thought I was doing them a favor by giving them not only a nutritious meal, but something challenging that they seemed to enjoy eating. It was a huge mistake that cost my female frog’s life. I’ve had her almost 10 years. This evening before the concert, I noticed she was not moving around much. Then I noticed she had a grayish cottony fungus on her back and she was bloated-looking. I immediately started researching on the internet and discovered that these frogs can get the same diseases as fish, including dropsy, or bloating disease, caused by a bacterium. I read that I could administer fish medication that kills bacteria and fungus. I already had some on hand, so I quarantined her and treated her water. When I came home, she was dead. After inspecting the other frogs, I found that they also had a few small patches of fungus. The white one was spinning himself around, which was an unusual behavior for him. I added medication to their tank and I am hoping that I can still save them.

~ by kozmicdreams on August 14, 2005.