Burns' Night

Happy Burns Night to all my Scottish friends!

We aren't remotely Scottish but decided to partake in haggis, neeps and tatties anyway! Just a shame we don't like whisky as I feel I need it after today :-(


We arrived home last night to find Darnell lifeless, floating at the top of the tank. He's been off his food for the last week but I didn't think anything of it as Joy hasn't been as hungry either.

I got the net to lift him out of the tank and luckily, I gave him a little stroke to say goodbye, to which he blinked! On closer inspection, I could see him breathing and he had a little bit of a wriggle in my hand.
So, I put him back in the tank until I could figure out what to do.

The internet is a great tool (I spent most of the night on there, looking for help) but so much conflicting information.
His belly is swollen and he's really lethargic and also has loss of apetite.
From my research he's either got
1. A bacterial infection
2. He's constipated
3. He's got Dropsy (which I hope not as this is fatal)

This morning, I put him in a 'hospital' tank with some conditioned water and sea salt; if it's a bacterial infection the salt will kill the bacteria.

I visited the local aquatics shop and they were really helpful; saying I've done well to keep him so long and that I've done the right thing with the salt water to kill the bacteria. Even if this isn't the cause, he won't come to any harm with the salt. Frogs are generally quite hardy little things.

They advised me to do a water change in the main tank to prevent Joy from any problems and also to check the PH (which was quite low, so I've tackled that too).

Their advice for Darnell was to keep him segregated for now and just monitor him for a few days. They advised against feeding him as this will only pollute the water if he doesn't eat.
This was my other dilemma as many of the forums I saw said not to feed frogs bloodworms as they have little nutritional value; yet this is what I was told to feed them when I got them!
The guy at the store said it was fine and since they've thrived during the 6 years I've had them, they've not come to any harm.
I don't want to take any chances though so I've bought some proper frog food (which is beef heart, prawn, lettuce & fish) to try and give more nourishment.

I know Darnell's only a frog and as a pet not really comparable to a dog or cat, but I hate to think he's in pain.
I hope I can get him through this :-(