Spartman_1

Ok so we're pretty new to the whole fish thing. Got a 15 Gal, went through the cycle and finally got some fish. We started off with a rubber lip pleco, 3 neons, two guppies, a black snail and an ADF. The petsmart folks say my water conditions are good, each of the 5 times I've been there in the last week returning dead fish. Anyway, I'm down to only the snail, two neons and the ADF. So here's the strangeness, a few days ago I thought the ADF back leg was broke, something happened over night. I read on these forums about getting caught in the filter intake. Seems logical so I fixed that by using a new blue scotch brite sponge and some zip ties. Sorta works as a second filter.

Now then for the last few days everybody's been living, the frog's looks like it getting better, he's adapting. But this morning I turn on the lights to see what I thought was a dead frog (he's not) but his front legs look like they've been eaten back to the elbow?

Is the snail a 100 lbs brute that eats frogs when they sleep or are the two neons perhaps like two girls who you think are sweet and innocent but really they'll sneak up and kick your butt....

For the record I've been feeding the fish the standard tetramin tropical fish food and have been putting Omega freeze dried worms for the ADF.

Lucy

Hi Spartman_1 welcome to Fish Lore

I'm really sorry that your frog is doing so poorly. I love the little guys.
Do you mean both his front flippers and legs are completely gone?
Poor little guy. The neons can be nippy, but as far as actually eating the frog, I don't know that they'd do that.

Freeze dried blood worms can bloat your ADF, they do better on thawed frozen blood worms and tadpole pellets.

What are your actual reading for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates?

It would really be a good idea to put him in quarantine tank so he doesn't get picked on.

Spartman_1

Lucy,

Yes the front flipper on the right is completely gone and the left side looks to have one "finger" hanging on by a little flap of skin. His back left leg is missing the webbing inbetween his toes and is bent sorta funny, that's what made me think he got caught in the filter intake.

I don't recall what my ammonia readings was yesterday, I don't have a test kit for that at home. But when I looked at it in the pet store it was between the lowest to colors.

Both my nitrites and nitrates are are zero this morning, pH is looks a little more red than 7.0 but not quite 7.5. The water is a little hard at KH - 40 and the GH looks about like a 30.

I read your comments in another post about the pellets and thought I'd buy them. It seems he doesn't eat these worms. They just float around the top of the tank. I haven't actually seen him eat, unlike other folks on this forum.

The only other tank I have on hand is a 1 gal goldfish bowl. Do you think he could live in there, I'd need to heat it though, and put something on the top to keep him in there - yes/no ?

Lucy

Unfortunatly, so he couldn't live in a 1g bowl without heat or a top.

I don't know what to advise about his injuries.
I'd suggest visiting this site:
http://flippersnfins.yuku.com/forums...ency-Room.html

They're very helpful and have a great deal of knowledge about ADF's.
Please keep us up to date on the little guy.
Good luck.

Spartman_1

Ok thanks for the lead, I'll check it out.

Lucy

Your welcome.
Be sure to keep the water pristine to help prevent infection.

Good luck, I hope the little frog recovers quickly.

Spartman_1

Ok we'll keep up the water changes.

Tonight I noticed one of the neon's was missing part of it's tail, and then after watching for a bit I saw one take a bite out of the other's tail. Since they're schooling type fish and typically one wants three or more, I'm guessing I should buy another neon or two and then maybe they'd leave each other and the ADF alone.

Perhaps I could buy some mollys as well. They're supposed to be easy/hardy fish. Then the neons won't be the "big" guys on the block. Either way I need to do something. Buy more fish or another chemical for the water - that's always the answer. LOL

BTW, the ADF moves around. He can make it up to the top and around on the bottom. So I think we'll keep him to see if we can nurse him back to health. I don't see any signs of infection.

Lucy

Neons are supposed to do better in schools. Be careful not to overstock your tank.

I'm glad the ADF seems to be doing better.
Thanks for the update.

Spartman_1

I'm trying hard not to use the obvious pun -but our frog cr... died last night. I found him belly up on the bottom. I left him until morning since I heard they often will do a dead man float sort of thing. Either way... it's for the better since he couldn't move the best due to his injuries.

Also the one dominate neon killed the other neon. Even after I bought two more. I suppose since "he" started biting at the other he had to finish the deed. So far I haven't seen any sign of aggression toward its two new tank mates.

I also bought 4 mollies. Now we have 4 mollies 3 neons and the snail. One of the mollies already gave birth to 15 or so krill (is that the right term). Anyway, they've all fell prey to the bigger fish... which is fine with me for now.

At least with all of the carnage we've had, my kids are learning about the cycle of life. Fortunately - they're taking it really good - perhaps too good. LOL

pinkfloydpuffer

Aw, poor froggy. I had one once, they're cute little things.

The term is actually fry Krill are tasty shrimp. lol

What kind of mollies did you get?

Lucy

I'm really sorry you lost your frog. It did sounds like his injuries were pretty severe.

I'm not sure about krill, I've always seen them refered to as fry.