How/can you get the air bubbles out of a tadpole?

[mattolsen]

So I feed my tads quite heavily on fruit flies and pellets right before they come out of the water. I noticed that one tad had been only eating the flies at the top of the water. I just checked on him today and noticed a few air bubbles in his stomach area. I've heard of this happening when tads eat too much food from the top of the container and essentially suck up too much air while eating.

Either way, he is buoyant and having a hard time getting down to the bottom. I'm worried this is going to end in a bad way and was wondering if anyone has had any success/experience with this problem? If so, I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions.

[purplezephead]

I've researched this problem on here and the consensus has been water change and stop feeding for a couple days, to let the air bubble dissipate.



Tadpole with air bubble

[Pumilo]

Probably overfeeding/water quality, Matt. Try a 100% water change daily, with no feeding until it corrects itself. This method has worked for me and others.
Safest tadpole food? (In terms of air pocket likelyhood)
Tadpole with air bubble
Tadpole with air bubble
tadpole with an air bubble

Good luck Matt!

[mattolsen]

Thanks for the advice. Out of 3+ years of breeding frogs I've never had this happen. I have only lost maybe 4-5 tads ever and I hate to see one have problems this far along.

I do roughly 50% water change at least 1x a week but I'll make sure to do more and lay off the feeding. I just feel bad watching the little guy keep floating to the top.

Worse comes to worse I wonder if there's something small enough in diameter to pop the bubbles. That's obviously a last resort but keep your fingers crossed for him.

[Reef_Haven]

Hmmm,
sounds like a fun science project.
Create a recompression chamber with a 2 liter bottle and a valve stem from an old bicycle inner tube. The bottle can withstand over 100 psi, 45 psi is 3 atms and will reduce the bubbles to 1/4 their original size and should be able to pass much easier.
I wonder if tads can get narcosis or decompression sickness?

[ZookeeperDoug]

Do a large partial water change and don't feed for a couple days, then feed LIGHTLY. I had a tad with the same issue and this worked great for me.

Doug

[Reef_Haven]

Matt,
How is your tad doing, any update?

[frogparty]

I have moved to using 24 oz deli containers for tadpole rearing. I make a "tea" from R/O water and DRIED live oak leaves and let it sit in the sun for a few days until there are a lot of tannins in the water. I fill the containers 2/3 full with this tea, ensuring there are about a dozen leaves in the container. I rear tads with the filtered lids on and feed rather sparingly, allowing the tads to feast on the biofilm that grows on the leaves along with my tad food of choice. Once their back legs pop, I do a 50% h2o change, adding pure R/O H2O. No more bubbles in my tadpoles since I switched to this method, and I used to get bubbles with my leuc tads fairly often in the smaller containers using high protein food

[rgwheels]

Originally Posted by mattolsen

Worse comes to worse I wonder if there's something small enough in diameter to pop the bubbles. That's obviously a last resort but keep your fingers crossed for him.

I had a leucomelas tad with a huge! air bubble--couldn't tell where the tad began and the bubble ended. I used a sterilized needle and let the air out. The tad seems better able to regulate buoyancy and has been (what seems like) back to normal for two weeks now.

[mordoria]

I had a floater. Changed the water out completely 3-4x over a week and he sunk. He has since morphed out and is doing fine.