# Frogs & Toads > Dart Frogs (Dendrobatidae) > Breeding, Eggs, Tadpoles, etc >  Moldy tadpole tea?

## Beckey2054

HI everyone. 
I am preparing for the arrival of some Adelphobates galactonotus  tadpoles and part of that is getting the tadpole tea going and all  containers set up. I mixed 1 gallon of distilled water with 1 tsp of  Tetra blackwater extract per instructions from a dart frog breeding  page. I then poured this into the containers I will be using. To that I  added pieces of Indian almond leaves. They are sitting in a "waterbath"  with a temperature of 79 degrees. I did not cover the individual  containers, nor have I covered the bigger water bath container.  Everything has been together for about 5 days. Today when I look to see  that the temps are still stable, I notice what looks to be like white  mold growing in the water  :Mad:   I thought that the blackwater extract and almond leaves would stop mold  or help prevent it? I do not want to have water that is going to kill  these tadpoles. What am I possibly doing wrong? I have about a week or  maybe 10 days until the tads arrive so can start over, but want this  going before they arrive so there are no issues. I have photos, one is  without the flash to show the coloring of the water. The other is with  flash and you can see the white mold? on the water.  I actually started  cleaning it out with the turkey baster before I thought to take a photo.  There was more in there. Lastly is a photo showing the water bath setup  with heater in the water to keep temp stable. The water comes about 1/3  the way up the tadpole containers. Any help would be appreciated.   Thank you!

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## limnologist

Just scoop off the mold, the tads should be fine. The mold is growing because the leaf juice is serving as nourishment and because the water is warm and acidic. There isnt anything that you can do that I can think of but the mold shouldnt effect the tads.

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## Beckey2054

Thank you for your reply! 
  So once the tads are in the water, will they eat the mold if I don't see it or get it out first? It seems to have grown very fast. I was thinking about just dumping out everything, sterilize and start over just in case I didn't get them clean enough. Tadpoles were delayed so it will be another week or so before they are sent. This will be my first experience with dart frog tadpoles, but I have raised other types of tadpoles and have dart frogs- just have not ever been successful in breeding. Never used blackwater or the leaves before either so really just want to do this right.

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## limnologist

There is a possibility that they will eat the mold if for some reason it sinks. You could dump everything if it makes you feel better but it won't do much, the mold is air born, its not from the containers being dirty, no matter what, there will be mold because its everywhere. Good luck!  :Smile:

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## Lynn

I would do a water change. 50%
Dilute the water with additional distilled water ( same temp) 
Take most ( not all ) of the indian almond leaves out. 
Keep them in their individual containers.
You don't want to  'clean' the inside of the containers.

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## Happy Frog

First, let me say that everyone raises dart frog tadpoles differently.  That being said...

I think the mold is there because the tadpole tea stayed in contact with fresh air too long.  I've raised dozens of D. Leucomelas and Tinctorius tadpoles and now several FG Vent tadpoles in this way ---

I take a one gallon bottle of Crystal Geyser spring water and pour a little bit out and into another container.  I then take half of and Indian Almond leaf and cut it up a couple of times and stick it in there. I ocassionally shake the bottle.  After a day the water starts turning light brown.  I start using the tea at this point.

Now here is where some people might disagree with me.  Whatever container I use for the tadpole the lid doesn't have any holes.  In the tadpole tea I put a small piece of Indian Almond leave and some Java Moss.  Every couple of days I will put a tadpole bite laced with Sera Micron.  I also put in a couple flakes of OSI Spirulina Flakes.  Two days later I change the water and I start again.  I have never lost a tadpole.

If I had a Pumilio or an expensive or delicate thumbnail tadpole I might do things differently.  Maybe.

I live in California and sometimes I forget that people live in other states that get really cold when I'm having 70 degree weather.  I have never done the heated water bath thing but I do put the containers inside a larger Rubbermaid or Sterilite container with water on the bottom instead.  This is just to bring up the heat and humidity a little.

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## Beckey2054

Thank you everyone for the advise!  I really do appreciate it.   I am picking up some more water today, and will probably do a partial water change. I left it alone all these days just to see how much mold would grow and it does not seem to be much worse. Maybe only a little more mold on them. There are a couple that do not have any at all.  I maybe putting them in a slightly different set up, something so I can put a lid over everything as in the few days I left it alone the water has rapidly evaporated. Probably as it is being kept at a steady temperature. I did lower the temp to 76 degrees though. Right now we are fairly warm, hitting high 70's every day now, and sometimes even 80's, but at night still gets pretty chilly so as my house is not insulated well the heated water bath will hopefully keep the temps at least steady. The room I have them in does not get too hot in the summer, but it does get cool at night and in winter. Probably as it is the basement so is 90% underground. I hope this first attempt at raising dart frog tadpoles goes as easy as the other tadpoles I have done, even if a bit more involved. I have wanted the Galacts for a long, long time. I really want red, but orange was a close second so went that way as they were available. Right now I have some Cobalt tincts and some bumblebee spotted leuc's, but have never been successful in breeding. My males call, but the females never seem interested. I have tried all kinds of things and nothing has seemed to work. I purchased them from someone getting out of the trade, and he wasn't sure exactly of their age so maybe they are much older or something. And possibly I just have not gotten down whatever they want to get into egg laying mode. So getting these tadpoles is a win win for me as I get tadpoles, and also get galacts.  :Big Grin:  Once these guys have grown up enough to have a large house, I have a good set up ready for them. They will live in the largest of the set ups I have. It is a 100 gallon long aquarium that I have turned into a frog paradise. It is fully planted and thriving already. It was going to be for the other frogs, but I was having trouble with the plants at first and so they stayed in the other vivs and then I just never moved them in. it has been going now for almost a year and is doing great. It just took a little while to start thriving. Now its doing better than any of the other ones. The other vivs are also planted, but they are not so extravagant and also not so large. Now I just have to wait for the tadpoles to arrive.. Trying to stay patient but its sooo hard...  :Wink:

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