# Tadpole Mouth Fungus



## Josh_Leisenring (Jun 19, 2005)

Greetings, All! It's been a while since I've been on the board, but I've got a bit of a problem. I've been having issues with some of my auratus tadpoles contracting a nasty white fungus on their mouthparts, and have been having a devil of a time treating it. I've been adding erythromycin to their water and changing it daily, but it doesn't seem to help noticeably. I even tried pulling the fungus off with tweezers on one that had it really bad, but all that managed to do was pull off the poor thing's mouthparts with it (yes, the tad is dead now  ). I have one tad left that still has fungus, and I'd like to not lose it if possible. I already did a search but didn't notice anything useful, and was hoping ya'll might have some suggestions. Thanks!

- Josh


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

On what age of tads?
What kind of water?
What do you feed?
How often do you feed?


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## Josh_Leisenring (Jun 19, 2005)

The fungus attacks all ages of tads. I use aged tap water with a bit of declorinator. I feed them fish flakes. (For some reason they don't seem to take to the Tadpole Bites.) I feed them either daily or every other day, depending on how much they eat. The older ones easily eat what I give them each day. Basically I give them as much as they will eat at a time, and monitor it pretty closely, removing any uneaten flakes the next day if they're not due for a water change. As far as water changes go, I had been changing it every other day before the fungus appeared, and still stick to that schedule for the uninfected tads. I've also been switching their containers with each water change, so that they always get a clean container.

- Josh


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

Josh_Leisenring said:


> The fungus attacks all ages of tads. I use aged tap water with a bit of declorinator.
> I've also been switching their containers with each water change, so that they always get a clean container.
> 
> - Josh


Shouldn't have to change containers...have you been doing this all along, or in an attempt to get rid of the fungus?

Try Blackwater extract or a some almond leaf (almond leaf highly recommended).


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## Josh_Leisenring (Jun 19, 2005)

So I just checked the remaining infected tad, and it seems that the fungus just spontaneously fell off! I found the fungus clump, and it had a tiny black spot in it. The tad hatched two days ago, though, so everything is too small to tell if the black spot is a piece of mouthpart or not (I need a new handlense...).
Anyway, I've been changing the containers with each water change all along; I figured since I had the extra containers, it couldn't hurt. I could give the almond leaf a try. Know any good sources for it? Thanks!

- Josh


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

I highly recommend not changing the containers...the bacteria and such provide a balance to the water/environment.
One might thing cleaner is better, but if you think about it, if you provide a "clean" start every time, all the microbes compete for domination (my theory).
Also, do you ever use "air sanitizers" such as oust in you're home?

I had a similar problem a couple years back, and it seemed to correspond to use of that product, not in the room with the tads, but in adjacent areas.

That is just an observation though, and about the same time I banned that product from my apt., I also started using a buffer in my tad water mix, vs just using RO right and blackwater extract.

A couple of the sponsers carry the almond leaves.


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## Josh_Leisenring (Jun 19, 2005)

Hmmm... the container issue is interesting... perhaps I'll try using the same container for some of the newly hatched tads and see if that makes a difference, then go from there depending on which method proves better.
I don't use air sanitizers, so that's not an issue; I can't stand the stuff, personally. 
Thanks again!

- Josh


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## elmoisfive (Dec 31, 2004)

Josh,

Don't be a clean freak with the water to Brian's point. Your tads can handle some pretty nasty water if they are healthy. I've gone from being totally obsessed about clean water to doing no water changes at all...just topping off the water as needed. Plus no removal of tad debris, etc.

I would recommend using blackwater extract and/or almond leaf as well plus giving the tadpole bites another try. For the smallest tads, try crumbling the bites between two fingers prior to addition to decrease the size.

Finally try not feeding the tadpoles for 3-5 days post hatching as premature feeding while they are still absorbing their yolk can increase mouth fungus problems.

Good luck.

Bill


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## Josh_Leisenring (Jun 19, 2005)

I'll give it a try with some of the newer tads. I also don't give any of my tads food for at least 3 days after they've hatched, so that's not an issue at least. Thanks!

- Josh


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Are you using plain water or using tadpole tea? Tadpole tea is often important mostly due to the tannic acids in the water... similar teas are used to treatfungal infections in fish, and fish from tannic waters often seem to develop fungal infections and similar issues unless housed in tannic waters... an issue I've had with some of my asian backwater fish (such as bettas) in which almond leaves are added to the water. These tadpoles are from similar water types, so leaving out the TT can lead to the fungus problems.

Almond leaves - many people just sit them in a bucket of water (size of leaf determines how many gallons) and let it sit for a while, or chop up the leaves and add little pieces to the fishs' tank. Be warned, a little can go a long way!

I was always recomended to boil oak leaves for tadpole tea before almond leaves navigated from the fish hobby over to the frog hobby... boil them until they sink. Resulting water is TT concentrate... dilute until weakly tea colored. Resulting leaf skeletons make awesome frog food that doesn't foul water. I haven't boiled the almond leaves, but probably could do the same thing... just that the almond leaves are not only bigger, but are majorly packed with tannins. 

Or you can be really lazy and skip the leaves and use dehydrated tadpole tea concentrate from Matt Mirabello... one vial makes 10 gallons of tadpole tea! If you don't use it as your main TT recipe, it's handy for when your leaves run out, and its faster to make.


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## Josh_Leisenring (Jun 19, 2005)

Yeah, I've just been using the plain aged water I use for everything, pretty much. Would maybe just letting some oak leaves soak in the water have the same effect as letting almond leaves sit in it?

- Josh


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

only if you do it well before the tadpole goes in there... you want it at the right pH and tannin levels before the tadpoles go in there. I'd recomend taking a handful of oak leaves, boil them in a pot like you would sphaghetti, wait for the leaves to sink (around 20 mins) and then bottle that up as concentrate. Then all you have to do is add some of that to your regular water until it looks like weak tea, and add the tadpole.

I like how you can be more precise with Matt's product (great for if you're nervous about getting it right) in that you can have a bottle of super concentrate, then a larger of ready to go TT... mix it up before you do water changes and just keep the extra until you use it. One vial to a quart of water for the concentrate... then 3 tbsp concentrate into two quarts distilled water for perfect tadpole tea every time no guess work. You know you'll get the same concentration every time.


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