Newbie with Sick spotted marsh :-(

[Spottyfrog84]

Hello, I'm hoping someone can help. I'm brand new here so I wasn't sure where to post this.
i currently have 6 spotted marsh 3 adults and 3 new froglets. One of my adult marsh frogs has a weird twitch happening in its legs
and today I thought he was having a seizure ( i googled seizures in frogs!) his whole body went stiff and he nearly drowned. It lasted maybe a whole 30 seconds. His mouth was opening all the way like he was gulping water.
They have a diet of crickets and mini mealworms and the tank is currently gravel and rocks. No live plants as I've just cleaned the tank thinking that could be what it was :-(
sorry rambling, just hope he's ok.
thanks in advance.

 

[PythonLegs]

Any updates on this? I'm not really a frog guru, but I do love me some marshes. Can you give details of your setup and cleaning routine? My only tip at this stage would be to ditch the mealworms, I never feed them if I can possibly help it as if they get away they tend to dissapear underground and they seem far too chitinous, dusted crickets are best by far, with woodies not far behind.

 

[Snapped]

Hello, I'm hoping someone can help. I'm brand new here so I wasn't sure where to post this.
i currently have 6 spotted marsh 3 adults and 3 new froglets. One of my adult marsh frogs has a weird twitch happening in its legs
and today I thought he was having a seizure ( i googled seizures in frogs!) his whole body went stiff and he nearly drowned. It lasted maybe a whole 30 seconds. His mouth was opening all the way like he was gulping water.
They have a diet of crickets and mini mealworms and the tank is currently gravel and rocks. No live plants as I've just cleaned the tank thinking that could be what it was :-(
sorry rambling, just hope he's ok.
thanks in advance.

What is the set up like, do you have UV? Do you dust their food with calcium powder? Twitching sounds like calcium deficiency, and I'd ditch the meal worms, and provide more variety of insects.

This is from Gerry's marsh frog care sheet:

Feeding
In nature most frogs are almost totally insectivorous. The most common dietary problems seen in frogs are
related to lack of calcium or too much protein in the diet. Some species utilise U.V. light to help
metabolise calcium; but as marsh frogs are unlikely to be exposed to U.V. it is likely that they require a
diet high in calcium. As a consequence it is recommended that all feed insects be dusted with
calcium/multivitamin powder. Calcium powders are available at many pet stores and should be mixed in
equal quantities with a multivitamin powder then dusted on food before feeding. Place your insects in a
plastic bag with a pinch of calcium/multivitamin powder and shake it till the food is well coated. By doing
this each time you feed your frogs, calcium deficiency should be avoided. Do not mix large quantities of
this mixture at a time. It does not store well after mixing as the calcium can denature the vitamins
(refrigeration will slow this process). Most frogs have not evolved to cope with a diet high in protein and
the tendency to feed them strips of meat on tweezers often puts extra strain on the frogs' organs,
particularly the kidneys. If these foods are used regularly they can lead to gout, irreversible kidney damage
and ultimately death in some frog species. Marsh frogs that have been raised at the ARC on a variety of
insects and invertebrates all dusted with calcium have not displayed any signs of calcium deficiency.
Juveniles will happily eat fruit flies, grass fly and hatchling crickets and house flies and should have food
available to them AT ALL TIMES. If young frogs are kept warm and offered plentiful food they will reach
breeding size in about 3-4 months for Spotted Marsh Frogs and 4-5 months for Striped Marsh Frogs.
Adults will eat almost anything that moves and fits in their mouth: house flies, blowflies, crickets,
cockroaches and anything else of a similar size. They should be offered about 10-20% of their own body
size in food over 2-3 feeds each week. Remove drowned insects so as not to foul the water, or feed your
frogs individually by holding the insects on tweezers.

Hope that might help