Raising Tadpoles (Day 51) - Another Feeding Schedule
Day 51
The most advanced tadpole (from this point on abbreviated as MAT) is now stage at NF stage 61 and will likely reach stage 62 well before tomorrow afternoon ends, While the MAT continues to use its tail to casually drift along, if at any point it decides it would like to swim quickly, the legs are now used the same way as adults and are the primary means of locomotion. When actually attempting to move, the MAT is significantly faster than any of the other tadpoles. Tail absorption and subsequent housing in the 5 gallon is imminent within the next few days.
The ammonia water tests today showed a stable result from yesterday, 0.5 - 1 ppm. Why a stable result is good, taking into consideration that yesterday the tank had a 50% water change in addition to the doubling of the zeolite, I'm less than impressed. Perhaps I may end up having to purchase more zeolite to replace the current batch, I'm not sure yet and will have to see what the test tomorrow says. I've added in one final bag of zeolite. Hopefully this will have the desired effect of lowering the ammonia level and allowing me to maintain the tank with the recommended 30% water changes as opposed to 50%..
Now that many of the tadpoles have advanced well into growing legs, it seems that the overall food consumption in the tank has declined somewhat. I may try out a new double 10 ml feeding schedule as opposed to the double 15 ml I've employed for the last few weeks. Soon, once their limbs are grown, they're begin to absorb their tails and wont eat period. After around 3 days or so, they will have completed the transition into froglets and be ready for some froglet food (which is really just bite-sized adult frog food).
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Sorry this one's being released 7 hours after it was ready to post, DTube wasn't letting me upload it for some reason but it seems to have buffed itself out now.
At least feeding less should help reduce ammonia loads. Perhaps you need fresh Zeolite
I agree, looks like the zeolite has somehow 'gone bad' during the last five months.
It would also be good if you could put your tubes in the parents tank for a bit, because these will become full of nitrifying bacteria, which get lost with water changes because he tadpoles will be less nitrate-sensitive than they are ammonia-sensitive. Or if there is wood or other furniture in the parent tanks, these could be transferred over to help reduce the ammonia load
I've moved over 8 of the large moss balls for now, hopefully it will help while I wait for the zeolite to arrive on Tuesday, I feel confident that I'll be able to limit the ammonia to 1.0 ppm for the time being. If enough of the tadpoles become froglets, then I can hook up my spare filter to the current tadpole tank, along with some media from my current filter, and switch the remaining tadpoles to the 5 gallon.