Expert: Nicole - 1/15/2009

Question
I have an african dwarf frog with red spots on her head and who seems sick. I need help. Here my background info:

2 weeks ago I bought her. I have her in a 1 gallon tank with an airstone filtration (i think?) it was just one of those beginner aquariums at the store. I feed her pellets. Her water PH is 7.8-8.0. I know that is way too high, but she has been in this type of water for almost 2 weeks. im afraid to change anything in case it will hurt her. I did not buy a heater with the tank and she was fine but one night (WITH the light on) for some reason the temp dropped to 64 degrees, so I went out and bought a heater. Is has been in the tank for 24 hours now, and the temp is a steady 76. However, I notice she has red areas on her head and back. Cant tell if they are on her legs. She was not like this yesterday before i changed her tank. Please help. I want her to live very much. I have already lost 2 dwarf frogs.

Another question: This is horrible, but Ive read these frogs can float in a "zen" position for a very long time, causing owners to believe they are dead. But dead frogs sink, dont they? i had another frog with this one and found him floating at the top of the tank for hours. I poked him and he wouldnt move so I figured he was dead and flushed him. Did I kill it? I mean... he did NOT move when i touched him and he had no bloat or anything.

Answer
First things first...as for the water, your best bet is to just get a bottle of distilled water from the local supermarket and use that. That way you won't have to worry about chemicals and usually the pH is pretty close to perfect. The heater is good, and I would keep it on. Red marks can sometimes be a sign of a lot of different problems so it's hard to say what exactly it is.

When these frogs die, the usually sink...but I have also seen them floating or stuck to filter intake valves. As long as you have checked and seen that it was not moving at all it is probably safe to assume that it was dead.