hi guys am a bit concerned about my african dwarf frog who i have had for about 2 weeks that friend of mine had bought for me not realising that i had to cycle my tank before i put him in. anyway since i got him i have been doing daily half water changes with treated tap water and he seemed to be doing ok. however today i noticed he has started to shed his skin and seems disorientated swimming and floating upside down. he is alone in a 21 litre tank.

i have tested my water

ammonia = 1ppm
nitrate = 10ppm
nitrite = 5ppm
ph = 7.4 - 7.6
gh = 179
kh = 107
temp 80

can someone please advise what i can do. i haven't changed his water today as i thought maybe i was doing that too much. any advice would be much appreciated.

i dont want him to die. thank you

Hi Denise,

The problem is likely to be the Ammonia and NitrIte levels in the tank as it's still cycling. Ultimately, though, the tank is too small for an ADF - he really need about 60 litres.

That said, to help him there are two things you can do: firstly keep up with those water changes as they will dilute the toxins, and secondly see if you can get hold of a bottle of Seachem Prime to give him some protection from the toxic effects of the ammonia and nitrite while the cycle completes.

Salt can also be useful in protecting against Nitrite poisoning BUT it can do more harm than good with some species of fish and I don't know how it affects frogs so hold off on that for now and hopefully someone with more experience of ADFs will be along soon. Hope he improves

thanks for replying. i will get my hands on some of that as soon as i can. i was planning a larger tank for him anyway but as i said he was given as a present. i'l change his water again right now and carry on with that. i feel sorry for the poor wee thing. thanks again, denise

i have done a half water change and retested the water. am a bit concerned with the results

ammonia = 0.50
nitrite = 160
nitrate = 5.0

im starting to panic

Hi, i dont know anything about frogs but those readings!!
Have you done another water change? can you retest your nitrIte readings.
It might be an idea to test your tap water too, see if that is showing any signs of nitrIte.

Edit: ops just noticed you've done a water change

Is this the before or after nitrIte reading?

the second lor of readings are after half water change. i tested tap water for nitrate and there is no trace. i will just test for nitrite right now on tap water

there is no nitrite in tap water either

Quote:

Are you sure you have those the right way round?

I'd have thought from the previous reading you posted it would be more likely NitrIte 5.0, NitrAte 160, which while not good, would be less worrying.

Can you retest and post the results?

me again... ive just been having a look at adf's and your profile, do you still have the large tropical tank and if so can you pinch some mature media for the filter in the frog tank!?

thanks for replies. i will retest water just now. i do have the tropical tank and did think about transfering media myslf however that tank has only been set up for about 3 weeks and thaere are no nitrate or nitrate levels in water only ammonia.

i wil go retest water right now and post results. he is not looking very well at all. i feel quite sick about it.