# Otherwise healthy R. Uakarii suddenly died



## SpaceMan (Aug 25, 2013)

Today, after not seeing my very bold, active, and ... reproductive male for 2 days, I did a deep search of the tank and found what I believe to be his remains (see photo below).

This one has surprised me because he was healthy, and actively producing clutches with the 2 other females in the tank. In fact, he had just dropped off tadpoles the last day I saw him. He also was only 1.5 years old, and showed no other signs of health issues.

Another odd thing is that I found his remains on a brom axil near the top of the tank. I have lost R. Uakarii in this tank before, but in those cases I assumed it was due to female-female aggression, especially because I had found the individuals in the water at a center of a brom.

I use Repashy Calcium+ every feeding, and just started adding Repashy Vitamin A once a month for my breeding animals.

I checked my temperature logs for the tank for the last 4 days, and there are no spikes in either direction that are out of the ordinary. 

I did notice that one of the film canisters I had for tadpole depositing had fallen and was upside down. I wonder if he was exploring it when it fell, and somehow sustained trauma. 

The only other unusual thing that happened this week was that we had an exterminator check our mattresses for bed bugs (they found nothing), but I wasn't home when he was here, and I don't know if he was poking around places he shouldn't have been...

Remains:









Temperature in the tank for the last 4 days (F).


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## Chris S (Apr 12, 2016)

Hard to tell, maybe there is something else going on in your tank instead of aggression. Do you have a recent full tank slot? What is your feeding regimen? How often do you mist?


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## SpaceMan (Aug 25, 2013)

Maybe. If that's the case, I definitely want to figure that out before I lose any more individuals. I'm just surprised by the step-change from a perfectly healthy frog carrying around tadpoles and actively breeding, to a dead frog high up in the tank on a brom axil.

I can't upload photos from work, but there are some good recent photos in this thread:








Plant suggestions and feedback?


Looking for some plant suggestions and feedback on my vivariums -- especially for the bare walls on the two vert coversions. Left: Right: Center: The center one is a 39 gallon, and the two vertical conversions are each 20 gallons. The 39 is almost a year-in, and the other two are about...




www.dendroboard.com





I feed 3-4 times a week. I recently switched from flightless fruitflies to wingless fruitflies, but I'm sure that has nothing to do with anything. If anything my frogs are a little fat, so I can probably cut back on feeding quantity. I also add springtails from my springtail cultures once every 1-2 weeks.

The misting schedule is something like this:
7:15AM - 8s
9:00AM - 8s
12:00PM - 15s
3:00PM - 8s
5:30PM - 5s

There are 4 nozzles and it's a 37 gallon tank. There's a false bottom that has not filled up since the tank has been established (I've only had to drain it once, early on). 

I also have 2x 40mm CPU fans that force air in the front of the lid, that then exits towards the back of the lid through passive holes all along the edge. These fans are running 40% of daylight hours (7AM to 7PM), but I just increased it to 50%.


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

SpaceMan said:


> I also have 2x 40mm CPU fans that force air in the front of the lid, that then exits towards the back of the lid through passive holes all along the edge. These fans are running 40% of daylight hours (7AM to 7PM), but I just increased it to 50%.


This is shooting in the dark (literally, as you'll see in a sec), but keep in mind that at night, every living thing in that viv is using O2 and releasing CO2 (possible exceptions for the orchids, some of which I understand use crassulacean acid metabolism). Possible CO2 issue? It happens in planted aquariums a lot (well, in mine anyway, where I've lost fish in the past) for the same reason.

It would be interesting to troubleshoot this with a pH probe in a small dish of water, and see what the overnight pH drop is. If the drop were measurable, I'd rethink the ventilation. 

Again, this is a quite speculative suggestion.


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## SpaceMan (Aug 25, 2013)

That's an interesting thought. With the quantity of healthy plant life in there I'd be pretty surprised if there were CO2 issues (though I don't know how much CO2 they convert, if any, when they're not phtoosyhesizing), but there could also be a large amount of decay occuring in the substrate or in the wood. 

Maybe to be safe I'll start running my fans at night too. It won't hurt.


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

SpaceMan said:


> though I don't know how much CO2 they convert, if any, when they're not phtoosyhesizing


 A quick web search suggests they give off half the CO2 they absorbed during photosynthesis:

"At night, when photosynthesis is not happening, they give off much more CO2 than they absorb. While they're alive, overall, about half of the CO2 that plants absorb is given off as waste."



UCSB Science Line


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## SpaceMan (Aug 25, 2013)

Really disappointed that I overlooked this fact of basic biology. Not sure that this is/was a factor, but I definitely will be running my fans at night at maybe 50% of their daytime levels from now on.


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

SpaceMan said:


> Really disappointed that I overlooked this fact of basic biology. Not sure that this is/was a factor, but I definitely will be running my fans at night at maybe 50% of their daytime levels from now on.


I don't really think anyone who keeps vivs would consider this, exactly. It was just the 'no air exchange all night' thing that made me think, coupled with the same situation in another animal care situation. And my own confirmation bias regarding active ventilation. 

This might not the issue, anyway -- people kept frogs in sealed boxes for years without this happening all the time.


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