The dreaded "C" word has come up in a few forums in the last day or so.
Here are a few facts:
Coccidia is not curable in Darts.
Coccidia is ( at the very least ) the equivalent to herpes, it never goes away.
You do not want herpes, or coccidia.
You can produce healthy, coccidia free froglets from coccidia infected parents.
Coccidia can take down a "healthy" frog in less than 30 days.
Frogs can live a "normal" life with coccidia.
Coccidia can be "turned off".
I am sure there are more facts about coccidia, if you do not know what it is ...ask.
Rich
Rich,
Is this caused by a herpes virus? If so it seems that it could be passed on to young. I have never heard of this before, thanks for the info.
Mike
Mike,
Coccidia are protozoal parasites. I should have said they are equal to the herpes virus in humans in that it is uncurable in Darts.
Chlamydia is also ( can be) carried by Darts.
Two good reasons for quarantine.
Rich
Would something like Ivamectin not be helpful with this disease?
Mike,
There are a couple drugs used in treatment.
It is un-curable though.
Ivermectin is not a drug used, to my knowledge.
Rich
Rich,
I used Ivermectin in my Red-eyes when they had prolapse from what I believed was a parasite. After watching two of my frogs die of the same thing all in the same tank I took a chance and treated a third. He survived and did well. He was bad off by the time I treated him also.
Mike
Mike,
There are thousands of types of parasites that can/will/do infect Darts.
Coccidia are protozoa.
Rich
Rich, Wait.. is this the save as Avian Coccidia ? Is Coccidia related to, avian Pachecos in any why? Any test?
You know, I was always afraid of the big 'C' word in my field...Chlamydia...oohh! I learned how to deal with that. Maybe Coccidia and Circovirus are simular.Maybe in time the frog could fight it off.
Now ya got me really interested.
And here I am worried about little things like wingless fruit flies being like fungas gnats in my greenhouse.
Last thing is your brother Dave?Barb
Hey Barb,
I know nothing about avian meds.
My brother is David.
One of my fears of meadow plankton is the fact that parasites can come in with the field sweepings.
Rich
Well, the answer for that one is not always make your own food and not get any wild foods. That is just as bad as adding a sick frog or buggy plant to the environment. I always grew my own crickets and wax worms when I had my own frogs. I think I will do that again.
I just don't know anything about these little bugs and I am so afraid of them propagating in my greenhouse where they would become undesirable.
When I do get my little darts, I will speak with you about a few tests before they go into my little world I am building.
Back to any of these diseases with darts. Are any airborn? I think that is the first thing one needs to know. Barb
I am not aware of any airborne parasites that effect Darts.
That is not to say there are none, I am not sure.
Rich
Rich, have you ever had frogs survive with coccidia for long periods of time without the help of treatment? If left untreated is it a certainty that the frog will be dead within a month, or could it take longer?
Many coccidia infected frogs will live long relatively normal lives. The problem with coccidia is that 1) some strains of coccidia will be deadly (in and of themselves.) 2) coccidia infected frogs definitely fare worse than non-affected frogs during other illnesses and bouts of stress, and 3) coccidia can be suppressed but never cured in darts.
Hope this helps.
David M. Frye, DVM
PICKLE - damn fine eating
coccidia what does it look like on the dart frogs?
Hi Winona,
Coccidia are protozoa, you need a microscope to view them.
Rich