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Title: Please Help
Description: African Dwarf frogs and Snails


Kara - December 2, 2005 09:55 PM (GMT)
You seem to be very knowledgeble on aquatic snails and frogs. I have a 1.5 gallon tank ( I dont fill it up all the way) with no filter and a snail (I think nirite) and an african dwarf frog. The snail seems to have little white dots on his antennas (I dont know if he's always had these, his shell has a little white line that is rigid and looks like it is eroding and not very deep, and I saw this little white wormy looking thing that popped out from under his shell and then popped back in! Do you know what any of this is or what I could do? I know his shell is probably eroding, but why now after I have had him so long? I think the white thing may be a parasite, but is there anything I should do to rid of it or should I just leave it? I LOVE my snail and I just want him to be ok. other than that I think he is moving fine. What could I do to help withough harming him or my african dwarf frog??? Will his shell keep eroding if I just leave it? If I put something in to increase the water hardness or calcium will it harm the frog?? Will the parasite (if it is) effect the frog? Please reply!
Kara

Tommy - December 2, 2005 10:21 PM (GMT)
i noticed you posted 3 topics about this so this one will be replied to. i dont know much about snailos but i can tell you that adfs need a hetaer, a filter is really good to have and the tank is probably to small for an adf to be comfortable.

Robyn - December 4, 2005 01:48 AM (GMT)
The "parasites" may be snail parasites or perhaps just planaria that happened to be driving across the snails. Snails do have parasites, often ones that are specific to snails. In fact, probably a majority of snails have some sort of parasite, often intestinal worms. In most cases, they can live with those worms. Sometimes they may overwhelm the snail and kill it. The problem with medications is that most parasite-killing medicines also kill snails! So, there's a risk in using them. If you can find one that says it kills worms and specifically says it does not harm snails, then you could try that with no guarantees. If what you saw is a snail parasite, it most likely is not one that would also feed on the frog. They are usually species-specific.

The shell degradation may be due to having water that's low in pH or hardness. Have you tested the pH and hardness? You can add chemicals to the water to increase the pH and hardness or add in natural calcium sources such as cuttlebone or oyster shells in a mesh bag. My page on snails at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/snail.htm has more on shell degradation. If the increase in pH and/or hardness is not significant, it shouldn't bother the frog.

A tiny 1.5 gallon tank is not really good for the African dwarf frog long term. They also like to have others of their kind. As Tommy said, they also need warm water (75 to 80 degrees F is good) so if it goes below 70 degrees F or so, the little guy may not do well.




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