# Tadpole problems?...



## DaFrogMan (Oct 8, 2004)

My imitators have been breeding for about a month now. They have produced several clutches. However, I have had some problems with viability. I used a search to try to identify the problem and I think it may be tadpole bloat. Some of the bloated tads hatch, others die before hatching.

From what I understand tadpole bloat is due to a bacterial infection. I think my tadpole tea is to blame and I'm considering switching over to methylene blue.

Does anybody have any suggestions? Is there any antibacterial treatment that will help to reverse this problem?


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## Roadrunner (Mar 6, 2004)

When something(most likely temps or nutrition of the adults) is causing weaker tads, things like methyl blue is only a temporary fix. If you don`t get to the root of the problem it`ll only get worse. Things such as a standard routine of dusting(over or under) and not providing a diverse diet can lead to weak tads. Parasite loads may detract from the amt of nutrients available from the diet making things harder to breed or get good offspring from. Temperature`s too low or too hi can result in weaker tads. seasonal breezes or fluxes in actual temperatures where the eggs or tads are kept can cause this if you were too close to one extreme already.
I`d use a weak solution of methyl blue such as 1-2 drops per gallon and try to find the cause. It may take weeks after you change it back to right before you see results, making troubleshooting even harder. It could right itself if it was something such as overdusting for a certain week. The problem and good thing about these frogs is that they produce regularly. It`s harder to maintain the correct balance to sustain such a factory but when problems occur sometimes thay just right themselves or you can monitor weekly how your progressing while tweaking different things that may cause problems.


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## DaFrogMan (Oct 8, 2004)

The adults are kept between 73 and 80 during the day with a drop to the mid/upper 60's at night. I dust every time I feed. I only feed ff's, but there is so much other stuff crawling around in their viv. They spend a lot of time hunting knats, mites, and other crawly things in theit viv, so I am pretty sure they are getting a good varied diet.

Hopefully the problems are due to the fact that these are of their first clutches. I know a lot of people experience problems with egg/tadpole viability for a while after the frogs start to breed. I guess only time will tell.


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## Thinair (Aug 27, 2005)

Hi Aaron,

Are you pulling the imi eggs and letting them hatch? You might be more successful if you give them several laying sites (film cans) as well as a bunch of vertical film canisters, etc for tadpole deposition. Let the male carry the tads to water before you pull them... I use plain big-grocery-store-chain spring water with no tad tea or other additives with no problems.

Best of luck!

--Carlos


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## Roadrunner (Mar 6, 2004)

Every vit/min supplement isn`t the same. nekton vits should never be dusted every time(too hi in vit a for darts). Even herptavite and repcal shouldn`t both be used every feeding. vits are fine used only 1/2 the time. I only dust w/ calcium every feeding. How long have you had your vit/min supplements open? hi humidity can spoil some vitamins quick. 
I didn`t realize these were there first clutches so it may pass. I`d be worried getting imitators up in the 80 range during breeding season. Also as I said if the eggs are somewhere(if you pull them from the tank) near a window or outside wall local temps can swing more from summer to winter. most people don`t check there eggs w/ a temp gun in the middle of the night to know what temps are when the lights are off. are you marking temps by ambient temps in the house? you definately need a temp gun as even though my house is set at 77 some of the tanks near the floor never go over 72 and my adults tanks w/ lights over them may reach 81-83.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

My $0.02...
When my imitator started breeding, it was a good month or two before I got a single viable egg, and things just got gradually better from there.


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## Devil frog (Oct 23, 2006)

Hey Aaron,
I currently have a pair of breeding vents and my whole first batch didnt even come out. The second batch I used the methylene blue and only lost 1 egg. Since then I have only lost 1 egg out of 6 if that. I now have 15 tads. I highly suggest the blue. Plus it keeps any bacteria from growing on the other developing eggs. That's my experience with it.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

Devil frog said:


> Hey Aaron,
> I currently have a pair of breeding vents and my whole first batch didnt even come out. The second batch I used the methylene blue and only lost 1 egg. Since then I have only lost 1 egg out of 6 if that. I now have 15 tads. I highly suggest the blue. Plus it keeps any bacteria from growing on the other developing eggs. That's my experience with it.


With any pdf, it is very common that the first clutch is no good...actually a first clutch being good is rare, so the meth may not be the silver bullet you may think.


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## DaFrogMan (Oct 8, 2004)

I tried some methylene blue and it looks like it might be helping (fingers crossed) - but it will probably be about a week before I will know for sure.

Meanwhile I am playing around with the temp. I think the temp may be dropping a bit low at night (maybe around 65) - which might be part of the problem. I am going to start a new thread about it.


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