# Tadpoles developing with curly tails



## SpaceMan (Aug 25, 2013)

I had a very unusual clutch of tadpoles morph out from one of my R. Uakarii females. They seem to have curly tails and aren't really able to control their movement (for the one that has hatched). All the other clutches have been healthy, but I frankly don't know which female/male combo produced this one, compared to the other ones. 

Has anyone seen this before? These ones were pulled as eggs from film canisters, transplanted onto an open petri dish, and I added drops of diluted methylene blue at a very low concentration occasionally (same concentration I use to raise all my tadpoles in their first 1-2 weeks after hatching). 

I will probably need to euthanize this clutch.


----------



## Chris S (Apr 12, 2016)

Could just be the way they are situated in the egg...I would wait and see.


----------



## tangled (May 13, 2019)

Whatever happened here? did they straighten out? Perish?


----------



## SpaceMan (Aug 25, 2013)

They did not make it. I still don't know what happened here. One theory I gave is that this clutch came from a cannisters pretty high up in the tank. I recently added some spot lights to reach the substrate, and one of them was hitting this canister and could have made it a little warmer than usual, maybe affecting development. I have another clutch coming out right now from the same canister, but I pulled them early, so we will see.


----------



## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

Normal LED spotlights?


----------



## SpaceMan (Aug 25, 2013)

They are these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FSKC1QV/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

LED MR16 replacements (like what you use in track lighting). I'm not running them at full brightness, they peak at about 60% of their max brightness on the daylight cycle I have them on.


----------



## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

I was wondering if they were UVB, which has been proven beyond doubt to cause developmental problems in tads. I can't imagine that ~3w of LED nearby would affect temp much, but it sounds like that might be the only possibility beyond random chance. A weird case, and I hope it doesn't repeat itself.


----------



## tangled (May 13, 2019)

SpaceMan said:


> They did not make it. I still don't know what happened here. One theory I gave is that this clutch came from a cannisters pretty high up in the tank. I recently added some spot lights to reach the substrate, and one of them was hitting this canister and could have made it a little warmer than usual, maybe affecting development. I have another clutch coming out right now from the same canister, but I pulled them early, so we will see.


Thanks for the update. Sorry they didn't 'straighten' themselves out.


----------

