ADF death...

[Origami Gourami]

As you may have read, one of my ADfs shed his skin on Friday, bit of a surprise, but quite fascinating to find his little wetsuit floating around.

Friday night the other frog looked paler and fatter and his eyes had clouded slightly in the last hour or so, seemed his skin was loosening to follow suit. He was paddling around and wriggling, so i thought in the morning I'll have another wetsuit floating around and two shiny new frogs!

However, the next morning he was floating dead. I think he may have drowned whilst trying to wriggle free from his old skin. Can this happen? He was definitely about to shed as his tummy had already seperated and I think he must have got stuck in it overnight.

Is this common and is there anything I can do to prevent future loss?

T'other little fella seems to be still looking for his friend...

 

[Pugwinkle]

Gosh, I'm so sorry for your loss. I'll be very interested to hear any replies you get about this. I sure hope he didn't pass away from shedding his skin.

How is your water quality?

 

[Origami Gourami]

Thanks Pugwinkle, bless ya.

Water quality is fine, no ammonia or other nasties and a consistent pH, in fact the tank was on quite a harmonious plateau of peace and happiness - no deaths or nasty surprises for a while now.

The froggles have become quite adept at getting themselves into a small nook in the corner of the tank and the current just brings dinner to them, so they never went/go hungry!

Hopefully some kind soul will have some answers for us!

 

[Origami Gourami]

<nudges his post before it's lost forever in the mists of time!>

 

[Pugwinkle]

Hopefully some kind soul will have some answers for us!

Yes, I hope someone can shed some light on this situation. I saw my one frog shed his skin today and the during the whole process I was just so worried that he wouldn't get the skin off and would drown. I wonder if they frog is stressed while this is happening. I know I sure was.

 

[turnip]

Hey,

The only thing I know about when an ADF sheads is that they are quite vulnerable afterwards until its skin becomes tougher. I know this isnt gonna help you much. Is the substrate you use relatively smooth and are they're any jagged/pointed objects in the tank? I only ask this because if so the little guy may have injured himself somehow whilst his skin was still so soft. Did he actually get out of his skin or was it still attched I cant remember now. Maybe you could email someone from that ADF website thing? Sorry couldn't be of more help. Just thought you needed some more responses!

Good luck with the rest.

 

[mrcrabbs]

I have a bamboo shirmp and I heard this can happen wtih shrimp to. How hard is your water? That could have something to do with it and if there is anythring to hurt the frog in the water then it could do some damage without his skin on

 

[Origami Gourami]

Cheers guys! To answer some of the questions;

His skin was still on, but his tummy had seperated, so it was like bubble on his body, with his legs, arms and face still attached.

The water in my area is moderately hard, but I have a water softener added to my plumbing and always prefer to let the water stand before adding it, rather than a chemical dechlorination; although I do use a balancing solution every once in a while to keep things on an even keel.

I have as fairly fine granulate substrate, which is only 1-3mm pieces max, so it doesn't injure them, but can be dug for finding the elusive scrap!

I feel bad because when I left them in the evening he was wriggling, I assumed just part of getting out of his skin, but I dread to think he was struggling for air at that point.

It could just be one of those things, but I just want to make sure there's nothing fundamental I'm doing wrong.

The frogs have large leaves that float just below the surface to sit on a poke their noses out, and plenty of hideaways.

I'm going to get him a new friend this weekend hopefully.