# Methylene Blue Concentration



## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

The bottle of methylene blue says to use at 2 drops per gallon, but the egg care sheet says to use it at 1 drop per 4 ounces (16 times stronger). Also the picture in the care sheet looks way darker than my solution of 2 drops per gallon. So, is there a potential with toxicity at the higher doses, or should it be fine? Also, does it depend on the species (like if the eggs are in the water then use less concentrated)?


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

I'm using around 1 drop per 2 oz.
One way to gauge it, is if you can't see through it, it is probably too strong.


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## sports_doc (Nov 15, 2004)

I agree. I've been using one drop for 2-3oz for years.

S


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## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

I don't use it anymore, but when I did I would use 1-2 drops for 16 oz of water.


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## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

Well I got a little over excited and added about 6 drops in about 4 ounces. I now have a dead blue stained tadpole in an egg. I think the integrity of the egg jelly was compromised though. It no biggie though, becuase since I've increased the amount of supplements I give my frogs I am now getting a bunch of fertilized eggs 
-mark


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## elmoisfive (Dec 31, 2004)

Mark,

Basically you will want to calibrate the amount of methylene blue addition with the degree of molding that you are experiencing. More dilute solutions for milder problems and a bit more concentrated for aggressive molding (the latter can be an issue in some parts of the country in the spring/fall timeframe). 

6 drops in 4 oz. is a bit too much but I have experienced tadpoles that were dyed blue due to methylene blue hatch out and live to become froglets.

Bill


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## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

So the blue tadpole (which was about 8 days old) slipped out of the egg when I was diluting the methylene blue back to a reasonable level with the hopes of saving it. I guess I must have split open the egg when I was sucking off the mold. But it looked like it kept developing and today (3 days later) I saw it moving again. Would you guys keep it or is it sure to have developmental problems (since it hatched 6 days premature)?
-mark


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## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

Mark,

It has been my experience that you can remove tads from the egg sacks at 10 days if you think they are in trouble. A few days earlier (8) can cause issue with some, but not in all cases.

I hope this doesn't sound too controversial - but when I was keeping track of every egg, tad when it popped, tad with popped legs & froglet I also kept track of what I popped early vs not. I didn't notice a trend towards success or failure either way.

At the time I was doing this, I was also using Methylene Blue on my eggs. Like all others, I began getting frustrated at loosing eggs that looked great at 10/11 days & the crap out in the last few. Sometimes the egg case would collapse & suffocate the tad or sometimes 1 or 2 out of a clutch would get a whitish appearance of the eggs sack (almost a shadow) at first & eventually die. 

So, I was getting very frustrated - but soon enough I was getting very tired of loosing clutch after clutch of the same pair's eggs between 10-15 days. So, what did I have to loose - nothing. So, I started to experiment on 1 breeders eggs at first. I noticed I was having issues after the 10th day....usually days 11/12, so that is the date I chose to break them from the egg sack early. I would use/and still use a needle/syringe I got from my vet, and use it to puncture the egg sack and then with a flip of the wrist I would move the needle away from the center/tad to the outside wall of the egg. Most times, this would create enough room for the tad to escape...although sometimes some additional manipulation would be needed. After all the tads were free, I would remove all the egg sacks & sperm (& MB if used) from the petri dish and replenish (I would keep doing this until all the MB was deluted and almost invisible) with water (only) and let them sit for another 5-10 days until the gills were absorbed & most of the yolk was absorbed. Of course, if I waited a bit too long to move them to another container I might loose one to cannibalism - but the rule of thumb was, as soon as I started seeing poo, no lungs or no yolk belly, they would get moved to a 16 oz containers in groups of 2 or 3. In the tad container I would add about an inch of aged tap water with a bit of stress coat to each container & add about 2-3 strands of long fiber sphagnum. 

So, based on my trail and error I came up with a 10 day rule....if something looks in trouble by 10 days or you continue to loose the same breeder's eggs again and again - try breaking them out early.

Now, before some of you go....that is so unnatural, let's think for a moment what happens when the parents guard and take care of the eggs in the tank. 
- The male urinates on them.
- when they get ready to hatch they will come over and stop on them to aid in the process of them getting out of the sack.

So, with that in mind - it is possible that by manually removing eggs and rearing them, we are disturbing the cycle and my need to intervene in some cases? After some long discussions with friends, I decided no - it wasn't bad.

Point is, I no longer use Methylene Blue with my eggs. If they can't make it to 10 days, there is an issue with the tads....I didn't notice a difference in egg/tad survival with using it or not. The one exception to this rule is if I reuse petri dishes. If I reuse my petri dishes - MB is helpful. But, I stopped doing that after repeatedly staining my skin, the floor my clothes, etc with MB & us new. 

I don't know if anyone will find this helpful - and part of this tread is a highjack - but the point is, if they are healthy - 8 days should be ok. I would delute the MB though since they are out of the egg - IMO.






markbudde said:


> So the blue tadpole (which was about 8 days old) slipped out of the egg when I was diluting the methylene blue back to a reasonable level with the hopes of saving it. I guess I must have split open the egg when I was sucking off the mold. But it looked like it kept developing and today (3 days later) I saw it moving again. Would you guys keep it or is it sure to have developmental problems (since it hatched 6 days premature)?
> -mark


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## jubjub47 (Sep 9, 2008)

I don't see any problems with manually breaking the eggs. to release the tads. If someone is going to complain about this being unnatural then they should also have a problem with the initial removal of the eggs.

That's pretty interesting to hear that when you see issues with the eggs you prematurely hatch them. It is very likely that as you said, you are making up for something that may have been needed from parental care to begin with for the eggs.


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