Parasitic Infection in Common Lowland Frog (Hoplobatrachus rugulosus Wiegmann) and Disease Treatment

Parasitic infection in common lowland frog (Hoplobatrachus rugulosus Wiegmann) in Maha Sarakham and Roi-et Provinces was studied. The samples of the present study were collected from 3 stages of frog (Tadpole, young and adult frog), totally 833 frogs. The results revealed that all stages were affected by parasites throughout the year, in which 91.72% evidently. Both ectoparasite and endoparasite were found to affect the frogs at 9.89 and 90.11%, respectively. The 2 genera of ectoparasite, belonging to ciliate protozoa including Epistylis and Acineta, while endoparasite especially intestinal parasite found 2 genera of ciliate protozoa including Opalina and Balantidium and 4 genera of parasitic rotifer including Monostyla, Lecane, Philodina and Bracheonus. The finding shows that Opalina and Balantidium were the highest prevalence and abundance in each stage. Sodium chloride, potassium permanganate and formalin were used as chemicals to treat ectoparasite and applied to control the parasites in tadpole and young frog. The results showed that 0.5-1% of sodium chloride could reduce number of parasites, showing 3-4% of tadpole and young frog died within 1 hour. Potassium permanganate and formalin could be effective to control the parasite at 10 ppm and 50-60 ppm, while the concentration at 30-40 ppm showed high survival rate after treament. For endoparasite treatment, 3 internal anti-parasite drugs including Albendazole, Metronidazole and Piperazine were used to treat Opalina sp. and Balantidium in tadpole and young frog via oral administration. This study found that Metronidazole showed high effectiveness to treat the parasites whereas another drugs were not effective to treat parasite.