My fire bellied toad died :o(

Question
Hi,
My toad has died and i'm very sad! I'm a bit worried that she may have been ill, please could I have your opinion?
She was the newest addition to our tank and for weeks has managed to earn a permenant place in our most anti-social toads water bowel with him.
This week she has not been in there at all, and over the space of a few days she had swollen up like a balloon and I assumed she was pregnant.
Last night when I got in she had died, and was incredibly tiny and skinny so I looked around the tank for some eggs but found none. Now i'm worried that there was something else wrong and it could affect my other toads - any ideas?

Many thanks,
Anna

Answer
Hi Anna, I'm sorry about your little toad. Fire bellieds are one of my favourite species, so much personality is  such little packages!
I wish I could tell you something more specific but the edema you describe is not particular to any singular pathology. It usually indicates some end-stage organ failure like the kidneys shutting down but this could be caused by an almost endless number of things from infection (fungal, bacterial or viral) to old age.
There are often pre-disposing factors involved that compromise a frog's immune system which may have occurred well before you acquired her. Your other toads are not necessarily in danger but try to keep the water hygiene levels high and the stress levels low for the next little while and observe them closely.  The sad truth is that the small, inexpensive species like fire bellieds are often subjected to crowded unhygienic, conditions during their journey through the wholesale, retail trade before they reach the customer. They can already be on a downward health spiral that even the best husbandry cannot reverse.