Tadpole epidemic! Please help!

[elizabeth]

I have a small, separate container to house newly hatched C.O. tadpoles, so the bigger ones in the main tank wont eat them. There were four of them. When I came to check on them today, I was horrified to discover ALL FOUR of them died in a sickening way.

Basically they all looked like they exploded from the inside. Their bodies turned light grey, swelled up to about twice their size, and well...exploded I guess. Surrounding them is light grey patches of skin or insides, I dont know what. Some body parts, like legs and tail had either dissolved by something, or exploded away. If it is a virus, thankfully they were in a separate tank, so it wont spread to my main one.

Please help identify what is is? Sorry I can't take a picture, once my mom found out she made me flush them. =(

 

[iced01]

Wow, I've only been on these boards for about a month but I've never heard anything like this. Very interesting, I have no idea what it is. Were the larvae exhibiting any strange behavior prior to the incident? That might help with the diagnosis. And what were you feeding them?

 

[elizabeth]

I was feeding them small, chopped up frozen bloodworms. And they were just fine before they died. Could it be a type of fungus maybe?

 

[jennifer]

Given how fast they all died, I would suspect some kind of infection. Whether it was a bacteria, a virus, or a fungus, we'll never know. When keeping young larvae in a small container, I move the larvae to a completely clean container + water every 2-3 days. I can't say if this would have helped, but it stops the build-up of nasty stuff on the inside of the container.