The African Dwarf Frog is one of the most popular amphibians kept as pets and they have been seeing a slight increase in their popularity recently due to their small, cute size and being easy to care for making them beginner-friendly.
That said though, just like all other amphibians, they do have a chance of suffering from bloat with it being one of the only real potential issues that you have to watch up for with a African Dwarf Frog.
Due to this, it is very easy to see why so many people reaching out about their African Dwarf Frog being bloated asking for help and how they are able to treat the bloat.
With the bloat potentially being life-threatening as well as there being so many people reaching out about the issue, we have decided to publish this dedicated article going over bloating in African Dwarf Frogs.
Our goal is to try and help as many of our readers as possible who have African Dwarf Frogs but depending on the exact cause of the bloating, you may have to book a video call with a veterinarian to have them give your frog the once over.
In most cases, the bloat is at least manageable but in some less common cases, it can be fully cured if you catch the bloat early enough and have the correct tools from your local vet available.
Why Is My African Dwarf Frog Bloated?
The majority of the bloating that African Dwarf Frogs suffer from is due to dropsy (also known as edema, hydropsy, ascites, bloat).
Dropsy is a symptom of a number of potential issues ranging from the easier to treat causes such as bacterial infections, parasitic infections, and malnutrition to the more serious issues such as liver dysfunction, congestive heart failure, liver failure, and kidney failure.
Thankfully, the more common causes of bloating in your African Dwarf Frog are bacterial infections, parasitic infections, and malnutrition making the condition much easier to treat in many cases.
If your African Dwarf Frog is bloating due to liver dysfunction, congestive heart failure, liver failure, and kidney failure then the situation does become considerably more difficult to treat.
If your African Dwarf Frog is bloating due to any of the more serious causes then there is a high chance that the underlying reason for your African Dwarf Frog bloating is not going to be able to be cured and the best option available to you will be to drain the fluid build up in the frog on a regular basis.
This is to relieve the additional pressure put onto your frog’s essential organs due to the liquid building up within it at a rapid pace with there often being a large chance of death if the liquid is not drained.
How To Treat A Bloated African Dwarf Frog!
If your African Dwarf Frog is bloated due to malnutrition then putting your frog on a suitable frog food is often enough to fix the issue.
If the bloating is due to bacterial infections or parasitic infections then medication from the vet is often able to treat the cause of the bloating quickly.
If the bloat is due to liver dysfunction, congestive heart failure, liver failure, or kidney failure than there is a high chance that the issue is not able to be treated.
If your African Dwarf Frog is bloating due to one of the more serious issues that are not usually able to be cured then it does not mean that your frog will end up dying soon.
The majority of veterinarians will be able to drain the fluid build up in the frog on a regular basis to relieve the internal pressure on the organs with the frog often being able to live for many years even with dropsy.
We would never recommend that you try to drain the bloat from your pet African Dwarf Frog yourself though as the procedure does require a high level of skill.
Even a slight mistake can end up in you accidentally damaging one of your frog’s organs or causing internal bleeding so it is always better to get your local vet to do the procedure for you.
How Long Can An African Dwarf Frog Live With Dropsy?
In the wild, an African Dwarf Frog suffering from dropsy will usually die quickly due to its speed and movement being drastically hindered.
In captivity, a African Dwarf Frog suffering from dropsy can still die quickly if the root cause of the dropsy is not cured or the fluid build-up is not drained. If these are done correctly then your African Dwarf Frog can still live for many years.
It is also very important that you catch the bloating or dropsy in your African Dwarf Frog as quickly as possible too. This is why booking a video call with a vet to check your frog over is always a good idea as soon as you notice that it is starting to bloat up.
Due to modern technology, video calls with a vet can end up working out much cheaper than a trip to your local vets while also being able to book the call in quicker than a trip to your local vet surgery too.
It is human nature to always think the worst but as we touched on earlier in the article, the three most common causes of dropsy in African Dwarf Frogs are thankfully the three most common ones to treat too.
Having a vet check over your African Dwarf Frog that is starting to bloat will often being able to diagnose the issue and potentially fix it to allow your African Dwarf Frog to live for as long as it would have anyway.
Can A Bloated African Dwarf Frog Treat Itself?
It is very unlikely that a bloated African Dwarf Frog will be able to treat the cause of the dropsy itself without human intervention.
Once the infections take hold they usually require antibiotics to treat them and the more serious causes of dropsy can be troublesome to treat even if you do have assistance from a veterinarian.
In the wild, the majority of frogs that end up with dropsy usually end up as a meal for a predator within days due to being much slower than they otherwise would be.
This usually means that wild African Dwarf Frogs rarely have the option to try and treat any issues with malnutrition that may be causing the dropsy themselves.
You have to keep in mind that some of the underlying conditions that can cause the bloating in African Dwarf Frog are potentially lethal anyway.
Depending on the stage of these underlying conditions, the African Dwarf Frog may have died within days anyway even if they did not start to bloat up.
Is The Bloat Contageous?
If your African Dwarf Frog is bloating due to a bacterial infection or parasitic infection then they are contagious to other animals in their tank.
Ideally, any African Dwarf Frog that is starting to show signs of bloat will be moved to its own tank as quickly as possible until the cause of the bloat has been confirmed or the condition has subsided.
The majority of the bacterial and parasitic infections that can cause African Dwarf Frog bloating can be treat within a week or two with the correct medication from your local vets.
Once the condition has been treat and the bloating has faded then you are able to add your African Dwarf Frog back to its regular tank.
If your African Dwarf Frog is bloating due to malnutrition, liver dysfunction, congestive heart failure, liver failure, or kidney failure then it is rare for the condition to be contagious.
Some people will still choose to quarantine their African Dwarf Frog though due to the condition being difficult to diagnose so even if you think it is due to a non-contagious issue, there is still a chance that it may be due to one of the infections and the frog may be contagious.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over why your African dwarf frog is bloated to an end. We hope that we have been able to help you better understand the more common causes of bloat in African Dwarf Frogs as well as how you are able to treat some of these causes. Even the causes of bloat that are not able to be treat can usually still be managed by drinking the fluid build up in the frog on a regular basis to allow it to live for many years to come.
