dead tadpoles - followup

[Mike Patterson]

Got this today:

<QUOTE>
Mr Patterson,

Your email about dead tadpoles in a garden pond was forewarded to me.
I have worked extensively on amphibian deformities, die-offs and
declines for the past 5-6 yrs at the Dept of Interior's National
Wildlife Health Center.

The die-off of tadpoles that you describe almost certainly is NOT due
to chytrid fungus infection. The disease-causing chytrid fungus kills
frogs and toads only AFTER metamorphosis is complete. Chytrid
infection of tadpoles is a mild, self-limited infection of just the
oral disc; chytrid infection has never been proven to cause death of
tadpoles.

Chytrid infection of amphibians has been detected in Georgia from one
or more sites along the Savanna River and from bullfrog tadpoles
within the boundaries of Ft Stewart.

Because you do not report the species of tadpole that was dying and
the signs ("symptoms") in dying tadpoles, it is not possible to guess
what was killing your amphibians.

The National Wildlife Health Center performs diagnostic examinations
at no charge on free-living wildlife involved in disease outbreaks and
die-offs.

However, we cannot accept pets, zoo animals and other captive wildlife
for diagnostic examinations; normally, such captive animals are
referred to the state's veterinary college or the animal (or fish)
diagnostic lab within each state's department of agriculture.

D E Green, DVM
USGS, National Wildlife Health Ctr
Madison Wisc
<END QUOTE>
Mike Patterson
Please remove the spamtrap to email me.

[Ka30P]

Thanks for sharing the letter!
Have any more tadpoles died in your
pond lately?


kathy :-)
<A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/">Once upon a pond</A>

[Mike Patterson]

On 15 May 2004 23:48:19 GMT, (Ka30P) wrote:

>
>Thanks for sharing the letter!
>Have any more tadpoles died in your
>pond lately?
>
>
>kathy :-)
><A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/">Once upon a pond</A>

Found one this morning that probably died overnight.

It was interesting to note that according to the O-fficial Government
Expert the disease I suspected only affects frogs after metamorphosis,
whereas I gathered from reading a several different websites that it
strikes -during- metamorphosis. No one pays -me- to know frog
afflictions, so I guess I'll take his word for it...

On a related topic, I sat out by the pond last night and the din from
the frogs was literally painful. Using a flashlight and counting eyes
divided by two, saw about 15 close to the pond, plus more out
wandering around the yard.

I identified about 6 different frog calls, plus discovered there's an
owl in the neighborhood.

This morning the bog pond (only about 36 inches diamter) was a solid
mat of frog eggs, and the main pond had plenty of 'em too.

My wife wants me to scoop them out so we have a smaller crop of frogs
later. SiIlly woman wants to sit by the pond without needing earplugs.


Mike Patterson
Please remove the spamtrap to email me.

[~ Windsong ~]

"Mike Patterson" > wrote in message
Found one this morning that probably died overnight.
====================================
What about their natural food? Do they have enough to eat? There are so
many tadpoles in one of my 150 gallon kiddy pools that I am feeding them
some egg yolk and flake foods. There simply isn't enough natural food for
that many tadpoles. Could yours be starving?
--
Carol....
"Nostalgia isn't what it used to be."
http://www.heartoftn.net/users/windsong/index.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[jammer]

Boil some lettuce for them, they love it. The tads in the house are
5-6 times bigger than the ones outside. It's really something.







On Sat, 15 May 2004 20:05:29 -0500, "~ Windsong ~"
> wrote:

>
>"Mike Patterson" > wrote in
message
> Found one this morning that probably died overnight.
>====================================
>What about their natural food? Do they have enough to eat? There
are so
>many tadpoles in one of my 150 gallon kiddy pools that I am feeding
them
>some egg yolk and flake foods. There simply isn't enough natural
food for
>that many tadpoles. Could yours be starving?

[Mike Patterson]

On Sat, 15 May 2004 20:05:29 -0500, "~ Windsong ~"
> wrote:

>
>"Mike Patterson" > wrote in message
> Found one this morning that probably died overnight.
>====================================
>What about their natural food? Do they have enough to eat? There are so
>many tadpoles in one of my 150 gallon kiddy pools that I am feeding them
>some egg yolk and flake foods. There simply isn't enough natural food for
>that many tadpoles. Could yours be starving?


They look chubby enough...but then I'm not all that well versed on
tadpole fashion trends.

What would they prefer to eat?

There are 15-20 water hyacinths in the pond, plus I feed the fish
twice a day and there are always a few pellets left floating around
that eventually sink.

I didn't even know I had tadpoles in the main pond until they started
dying.

However, there are now several bazillion eggs floating around, so I
know I'll have some soon.


Mike Patterson
Please remove the spamtrap to email me.

[jammer]

>What would they prefer to eat?

Algea, boiled lettuce, boiled egg yolk, flake fish food.