# What concentration of Blackwater extract do you use?



## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

Hi, on the bottle of Kent Blackwater Expert, it says to use concentrations from .5 ml per gallon, to 1 ml per gallon if you're water is hard.

A popular vendor recomends using 10 ml per gallon for tads...


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## Catfur (Oct 5, 2004)

On my few tads (so far), I have used about 2ml/gal. Works fine for me...


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## PAULSCHUMANN (Apr 20, 2005)

Shoot I don't know...I just squirt it in a bucket of water till I think its enough, sometimes more, sometimes less...oopsie. I use kent blackwater expert and tetra black water extract.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

So, after switching from tetra brand, at 5ml per gallon, to Kent at 2ml per gallon (yields around the same tint of water), I seem to be having a "mouth fungus" problem. The tads get a bit of fuzz on their mouth, and the next morning, the tad is encased in fungus and dead.
Also I started using 9 oz. disposable cups for the tads, I had been using sour cream containers of similar volume, but my frogs have been outpacing my sour cream intake :shock: . 
A thought is that, though the voulume is the same, the new containers are more tall and narrow, giving less water surface area, meaning less gas exchange,etc.
Or do I just need to bump up the tannins?


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## Ed Martin (Mar 25, 2004)

Brian, I do not use blackwater all the time, but when I do it more like Paul in that my measurements are not very precise. For a while I was using about ¼ of the Kent bottle to 
5 gallons of water. So it was waayyy more than recommended. Now I just spray some into my communal rearing containers, but again it is a lot more than recommended. 

How often are you seeing the mouth fungus issue? Is it fairly consistent?

I still raise some tads individually, maybe 10% and if I see any fungus issues (cannot think of any recently) it is right after hatching, and always in the single containers.... but that could be because the other tads eat the ones that die in the community containers.

Ed


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

I lose a couple here and there...
Up until now, usually I had no problems with tads making it to metamorph, if they hatched, they usually thrived.
On one clutch of four imitator, I lost three, after they had been in the water for approx a week.
On a more recent similarly sized clutch, I lost one a few days after hatching.
The two morphs of auratus that I have laying are seeing similar results, though the six point morph seems a little more resistant than the turquoize and bronze.
I'd say on the average I am losing one out of five.
I usually feed Spirulina (from Ed's) until they are big enough to eat frog bites, the auratus wont go near them until they are a few weeks old, then I usually alternate the two.
I usually have java moss in the cups, and wait a few days after they hatch to begin feeding them.


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## EDs Fly Meat (Apr 29, 2004)

I use KENT's Black Water. I don't usually do it by volume but by color. Black water is important, but remember it only changes the pH of the water, there are other water treatments that may apply if you are making tadpole water.
Dave


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

I use R.O. water with R.O. right...
Experimented for a short time with treated tap water...but the water in our town really stinks...seriously :x


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

Having better luck lately...upped the dosage of BW to 5 ml per G, put oak leaves in the cups, and started spraying the top of the water on days I don't change the water (some of the cups were getting a thick layer of something on top) to break the surface tension of the water, and to (hopefully) get a little more oxygen in the water.
I also cut back on the feed a little, as the tadpole bites, if there are any leftover the next day, usually have a coating of "scum" that looks almost the same as the stuff infecting the tads.


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## Guest (Nov 24, 2005)

I am not sure if this is possible but what about using malachite green or something like pimafix- both anti-fungals. The pimafix is a natural herb so I am sure it would be more mellow than malachite green. I am not sure if these products would cause mutations or death in the frogs. Both work well on fish and fish eggs, even sensitive fish.


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## Homer (Feb 15, 2004)

brighteyes said:


> I am not sure if this is possible but what about using malachite green or something like pimafix- both anti-fungals. The pimafix is a natural herb so I am sure it would be more mellow than malachite green. I am not sure if these products would cause mutations or death in the frogs. Both work well on fish and fish eggs, even sensitive fish.


I use Methylene Blue when I add water to the petri dishes for the eggs . . . no mutations or death. We always used this on killifish eggs with no poblems.

I don't use any tannins in the water, and haven't had any mouth fungus problems. However, I use hair algae in each container and don't feed the tads for the first 4-6 days after hatching. Early feeding (before the tads are actually eating) may cause fouling of the water and increased fungus.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

Back in July, I started using Meth blue on the eggs (was having lots of egg death due to fungus, may have been because the breeders had just started) now I have a good egg survival rate, but every now and then, was having tads die. After they hatch, I leave them in the meth blue till they are pretty active, then I transfer them into the cups.
What confuses me is that some of the tads that died were a couple weeks old.
I read on frognet about toxicity of algae in high amounts...could this be the case?
Like I said, I am having better success now, but have changed several things, including feeding more sparingly, so I don't know exactly what was the problem.


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## Guest (Nov 27, 2005)

I just want to clarify when I said malachite green I meant methylene blue- sorry I made a mistake


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