This e-mail was sent to me from a horned frog owner. The author presents a new method to treating red leg and it seems to work well and effectively. Although this is exciting news, it is to be used at your own caution and discretion if you do decide to use this method of treating your frog. Below is the e-mail I received.

Hi,

I've lost three Tree Frogs since July to Redleg, which I've determined must have been in the soil that I bought from the store that had chemicals in it. I also bought the stuff from the pet store that's supposed to be amphibian friendly -- it wasn't either. None have ever been in either a dirty cage or unclean water. Cages and bowls have always been cleaned every day and the water was filtered, then sterilized also after the first death. They were treated by a vet with Baytril, and then on the third Tetracycline which the bacteria are apparently immune to.

My point here is: I lost my third last week, and the only surviving frog was showing pink also. I did some research on the bacteria; I found this enzyme, Lymnozyme used by the US on fish in the US Fisheries and Agriculture for human consumption to control the same bacteria as in Redleg, and both gram negative and gram positive bacteria. This guy sent me a bottle on Monday, put one drop in the water bowl that night and the pink was completely gone from the frog the next day!!!

This stuff REALLY works!!! But, there are no guidelines to use it right now! My frog after three days looks dry after soaking, so I'm going to take him off of it for awhile. I'm contacting the guy who sent it to me so he and the Doctor who initially did the tests on it for Koi can branch out and come up with something for frogs too!

I also sent an e-mail to the USDA about it as an alternative to overuse of antibiotics. They should know about already, since it's been used on fish raised for our grocery stores.

Sincerely,

Catherine Gorter

Following this e-mail, I received another from her, offering her own tips about this new treatment and her take on preventing redleg from occuring. Read it below.

Hi Tim,

I just wanted to let you know that when you put it on your website that you mention that it cannot repair internal damage already sustained by the disease. There will most definitely still be deaths from Redleg and other diseases regardless of using the Lymnozyme if you've waited too long too treat it.

It is best used as a preventative treatment for diseases caused by gram negative and gram positive bacteria. A drop in the water bowl daily for three days, then like every few days. My Pac Man can handle a drop pretty much everyday without even drying out and getting wrinkles from it. The Debride also works quite well on the tummies and legs, but is also very drying.

I found that an extremely clean unnatural environment was the best way to combat this problem. The terrarium with even amphibian approved dirt caused Redleg to rear it's ugly head in my frogs. I clean everything every night with hydrogen peroxide now, rinse afterwards. Filtered, and now I even boil their water! Fake silk plants with fake plastic reptile sticks on a base of plain white paper towels with toilet paper on top for easy fast cleanups. All cleaned and replaced nightly!

If people can't find the time to clean up after their pets then they should not have them -- they're better off left in the wild if people can't be responsible pet owners. The pet stores will stop buying them if they are not being sold. And illegal importing will stop, as well as pet suppliers who breed them in dirty environments and ship them already harboring these bacteria to pop out later with the unwary new owner.

Sorry about the unloading on you... I'm just sick of reading about how sick some of these poor little froggies are getting because of the way some of these pet owners are taking care of their frogs!

Sincerely, Catherine Gorter