# Whats wrong with my tad?



## VancouverBetta (Sep 25, 2009)

One batch of eggs/tads from my Auratus didn't fair very well. Of the 5 eggs, only 2 developed to tads. 1 of those 2 died after 3 days and the sole survivor looks like this;




























His body is bloated, squarish, and clear. He is eating and growing however. I have successful clutches from this pair before and after this one. 

Any ideas what happened to this one?


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

i have had this with several tads in the past, but it was corrected by feeding the parents more Vit A.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

You need to feed the parents more vitamin A in the form of retinyl palmitate or retinol and not as beta carotene. 

Ed


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## VancouverBetta (Sep 25, 2009)

But why would tads before/after these be fine if it is a deficiency?


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## ktewell (Dec 17, 2009)

As I understand it, deficiencies can come and go as the frogs receive and use nutrients.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

In this case it is due to the maternal provisioning of the eggs. If there is a demand on her that requires her to use more of a nutrient like vitamin A, then less is going to end up in the egg or alternatively egg production is triggered more by fat availability than the other nutrients which means that if the female is being fed heavily or is obese, egg production can exceed the ability of the frog to uptake and store the nutrients needed for the tadpoles. 

Ed


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## VancouverBetta (Sep 25, 2009)

Any recommendations for Vit A supplement products?


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

repashy calcium ICB, Supermin, andi also use super preen and bird vitamin supplement


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## Devanny (Jul 11, 2008)

I have had this happen with 2 banded intermedius and a retic tad, I dropped in a piece of peat chunk and the bubble went away...i'm not saying this is the cure, just stating what worked for me.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

What happens in the tadpoles that are suffering from nutritional derived "bbloating" is that the prekidney does not develop properly in the embryo before hatching. This then carries a risk over into the tadpoles as many tadpoles that survive the hatching are at risk of sls. 

As a total hypothetical idea, the addition of the peat may have changed the osmotic balance sufficiently to let the tadpoles get through to metamorphosis and the interaction of diet and limb development may have been enough to get them through metamorphosis successfully

Ed


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## VancouverBetta (Sep 25, 2009)

Is it best to nurse them back to health or cull them as they would not ever be a healthy frog? Would they have risk of producing unhealthy tads (assuming they make it to that age)?


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## slipperheads (Oct 17, 2007)

x2 on the repashy, mine is on the way from Josh


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## VancouverBetta (Sep 25, 2009)

§lipperhead said:


> x2 on the repashy, mine is on the way from Josh


I just ordered some from Josh's too. It was way cheaper to get from them even though I actually live in Canada. Ordered Calcium Plus & Superpig.


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