Possible Red Leg?

[AJCuvelier]

Hello Everyone,

I have inherited an albino African clawed frog recently and he seems to be doing well but I noticed a red patch on the front of his hind leg. I thought maybe he bumped it on something but I have been reading about possible causes and red leg keeps coming up.

I am not overly familiar with these frogs and am hoping someone may have seen this before.

I have had aquariums in the past but never frogs. The tank is only a 5 gallon, too small I know but like I said it was given to me by someone who couldn't take care of it. The tank is around 25c and filtered. I do regular water changes of 20% weekly.

On a side note the tank has sand as substrate, which I have never used before, and after vacuuming the surface yesterday I noticed what I believe to be Detritus worms swimming around today.

I don't know if this could be related. Sorry for the long rambling post, and thank you for any help you might provide!

 

[Colin_T]

Wipe the inside of the glass down.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

See how it goes over the next few days. Hopefully the clean water will let the frog heal itself.

 

[AJCuvelier]

Thank you, I will try this out.

I think I will try switching out the sand for gravel as it seems that the sand just traps too much waste, and is hard to clean without sucking out a bunch of sand too.

Any thoughts on what the issue might be? The small dark spot in the red patch seems slightly protruded.

Hoping to help this little guy out!

 

[Colin_T]

Red patches like that are usually a bacterial infection, but frogs are hard to treat and most medications end up killing the frog. Triple Sulpha is a reasonably safe medication and should be tolerated by frogs but try clean water for a few days. If it gets worse then look for Triple Sulpha (as called Tri Sulfa/ Sulfur).

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Sand is better for frogs and if they swallow it, then it passes through them. If frogs swallow gravel, it doesn't always go through them and can block up their intestine.

You can stop the sand being sucked out by kinking the syphon hose a bit and slowing the water flow in the gravel cleaner. When the sand drops out of the gravel cleaner, release the hose and move on.

Some people stir up the sand with their fingers and wait 30 minutes for everything to settle. Then syphon the gunk off the top of the sand. It's a bit messier but it works.

 

[AJCuvelier]

Great tips, thank you for all the information! I will give it a go.

 

[AJCuvelier]

Hello,

So I can home today to see this protruding from his leg from where the bump was. Could he have gotten stabbed with something? I have no idea what might have happened. He is alone in the tank. Any idea what I might do, or will it push it's self out like a splinter?

Thank you

 

[Colin_T]

Looks like a worm latching onto the frog. See if you can pull it off the frog.