New Member [African Dwarf Frog Help!!!]

panama117

I have a female African Dwarf Frog. This past Saturday she came down with a case of Heat Related Muscle Spasm Syndrome (from having the overhead light on too long) and her swimming around frantically (which she normally does when she's happy) the heat just caused her to spasm. We thought she was a goner, but she survived.

Since then she's been fine (eyes are clear color is fine) but she keeps having these spells where here legs spasm and I just don't know what to do. We had her in a 1 gallon tank the PH is 7.2 as directed and the temp has been between 76 and 78 degrees. We had to move her out of the tank and into a small container, every time we put her back into the regular tank she swims around for a minute full of excitement and then she spasms again. In the smaller container she is fine (I guess because she can't swim around freely) but thats not a life for her. Does anyone know about this illness? Is there a cure? I don't want her to suffer, this is just so hard to watch. I don't know what to do.

teh13371

do you have any pictures of the frog? and how lon have you had her?

panama117

We've had her for 2 and a half months. I just took the picture of her (sorry for the quality, it's a camera phone pic). She's in the holder container until I figure out what I need to do. When she's in there she's totally fine. As far as vitals go she's her normal self. Hey eyes are clear she responds well to food and to me (she likes to have staring contests lol and stand on her hind legs when I come around), she's not having any problems going to the bathroom or anything.

This pic was taken may 12th (before the spasm) she was in her aquarium (this is also a camera phone pic).

teh13371

when you recieved the frog, how old was it do you know? and also how big is the container that you have it in now? is it the same water as the last tank or did you just run another gallon from the faucett?

1077

Perhaps lighting is too srong? also would wonder about quality of water in original tank or bowl. If frog acts fine in temporary housing then I would try and duplicate that water .

panama117

I have no idea how old she was when we got her. I just know that she did grow once she was in our care so she wasn't fully grown when we got her. The container was like a big plastic cup (that was never treated with soap).

Since the last post I made I was able to put her back in the tank. I asked a Vet on JustAnswer.com and she told me that there was an ammonia spike in the tank that made her spasm (she's in a 1 gallon tank) so I guess the spikes happen more in smaller tanks. I put the filter back in the tank and let it run for about an hour and a half then I put her in and she's been fine ever since. Now she's shedding lol. For the moment she's fine, I just hope she continues to be fine.

Thank you for your help. =]

It'sJames

Did you do a water change before putting her back in? Just running the filter won't help much. You might want to consider moving her to a 2.5 or 5 gallon tank sometime. Like you said, ammonia spikes are much more common in smaller tanks.

okiemavis

Sounds like you'll need to upgrade your tank maintenance schedule. You should probably do more water changes to prevent ammonia from building up in the tank.

Could you tell us your current maintenance schedule? What are your water parameters? Do you have a filter?