african dwarf frog help please

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
Lauren,

Was the tank cycled before the frog was entered?  It's highly likely if the tank wasn't cycled first the frog is suffering from ammonia poisoning and will die.  It might be too far gone to correct at this point.  You really do need to test your water asap for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.  I really need to know what these are to be able to advise you how to correct them.  Frogs seem to be more sensitive to water conditions than other aquaria.

Secondly, a 1 gallon tank really isn't sufficient to support the bioload of any living aquaria.  I never recommend anything less than a 5 gallon tank, filtered, heated tank.  Even little frogs produce a bioload (waste) and when there isn't enough water in the tank, no matter how good your maintenance is, the filtration simply cannot keep up and the aquaria suffers and dies in it's own waste.  Just because water looks clear doesn't mean that it won't test fatally toxic.  You ammonia and nitrites should always be flat 0 and anything else will cause death.  Nitrates should always be 5-20 ppm.

An airstone and a filter is not the same.  Is it an underground filter?  These are awful and this isn't actually filtering your tank.  You need something that has a biowheel filtration or an in tank filter in it.  You can get a 5 gallon hex at Walmart with a built in biowheel filter for about $29 which is probably close to what you paid for the 1 gallon and doesn't take up that much more space.  In a 1 gallon fish and frogs will continually get sick and die, it's just not enough.

Heaters are very important.  It's all about consistency of temp, as you have found out.  The light alone should not be used as a source of heat because the tank temp plummets at night and the light can take several hours to heat it up.  All tropicals need a stable temp.  Any swing in temp by 4 or more degrees in a 24 hour period will cause shock and illness so I'm glad that you now have the heater.

Frogs can float on the surface but if they have been there for hours with no movement they are dead.  It's not normal for them to continuously stay at the surface.  This would be an indication that they are sick or dying.  Again, it's the tank that is not sufficient (and I'm guessing not cycled) that's killing them.  Never flush a dead frog or fish.  You never know what you may be introdicing to our environment.  Best to wrap and trash them.  I really need to know your water parameter test results before I can better advise you.

In the meantime, test your water first, then do a 50% water change and double dose a product called Seachem's Prime.  Add a little Melafix to the water (as directed) for now.  And I would junk that 1 gallon and upgrade to a 5 gallon as soon as possible.  Once we determine if we save the frog you could have a max of 2 in a 5 gallon tank.

Good luck : ) April M.