Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) bloating/gas in abdomen

[Bill B]

Hi all --


I've seen this before online and seen a few tadpoles that I have this do this before. I have Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) tadpoles that I got incidentally while picking up leaves and other plant material in a pond (most leaves from the terrestrial habitat around were oaks) while trying to find other things. When tadpoles appeared, I realized from the time of year and the way frogs are around here, they must be Peepers.


The tadpoles end up swiming upside down for a while, with and you can see an air pocket or bubble inside the abdomen... and not long after, they die.


I've looked online to find an answer about this. Some pages say it is inappropriate diet. Mine get Aquatic Frog and Tadpole Food by Zoo Med, along with natural plants (mostly algae) from the pond. Other pages suggest the water is not hard enough -- makes some sense, since calcium in water affects gases in the water. I'm a chemist or tadpole physiologist, so I am not able to put this into detail.


Any one have any ideas?


Bill

 

[schmiggle]

I don't know anything about this, but gases in the abdomen don't usually come directly from the water--it means there's something in that part of the tadpole that's eating something and releasing gas as part of it, but the gas is unable to escape. If it's a diet problem, it might be because the tadpole doesn't digest the food and it rots; if it's a water chemistry problem, the tadpole is presumably weakened and then becomes sick as it is eaten from the inside.

I don't know if this is helpful, but figured it was worth clearing up.

 

[Bill B]

I know it comes from inside the tadpole. I brought up water hardness (related to calcium in water) will probably affect the chemistry of fluids inside the animal.

 

[David339]

Bad water quality or over feeding were what I've read about it. Their solutions were: water changes, Try scooping it out of the water on a plastic spoon with a little water to keep it moist, but not submerge, it for 10 mins then put it back. Try a 100% water change daily, with no feeding until it corrects itself.

I had one tadpole with an air bubble in him, not sure how good those methods are. I fed it to one of my painted turtles.

 

[Bill B]

Bad water quality or over feeding were what I've read about it. Their solutions were: water changes, Try scooping it out of the water on a plastic spoon with a little water to keep it moist, but not submerge, it for 10 mins then put it back. Try a 100% water change daily, with no feeding until it corrects itself.

I had one tadpole with an air bubble in him, not sure how good those methods are. I fed it to one of my painted turtles.

I kept doing water changes, and the problem kept happening anyway.

 

[David339]

I still have tadpoles, something like 96 more and 9 baby frogs. I'm releasing the baby frogs where i found the eggs. 30 baby frogs released this last weekend. I cut back on feeding and haven't seen another with an air bubble. I haven't been doing more water changes.