[thedudeabides]

Very cool project but I am sorry to see it didn't turn out the way you had hoped. While I have no experience with ADF tads I might be able to provide a couple pointers from raising killi fry and PDF tads.

1. While BBS are a great source of nutrition you really need to keep up with water changes. If ADF tads are particularly sensitive to water quality it could be uneaten BBS that fouled the water and caused the infection. An alternate food source could be monia or daphnia which will not only provide food, but also eat bacteria in the water column. Also a good idea to keep snails in rearing tanks to eat anything you miss when siphoning.

2. Always use Indian Almond Leaf. It has anti microbial and fungal qualities and provides aufwuchs as a food source for tads in their early developing stages. Many tads naturally have high mortality rates and there are many studies where mortality rates increase significantly (like very significantly) if a certain food source isn't present, usually a type of algae.

3. You mentioned that you probably wont try again if you get eggs because of the work involved. Depending on your set up you could always have 2 tanks going and when you notice eggs remove adults to another tank and seed the other with daphnia and other types of microscopic organisms. It might also be beneficial to add green water. Could be worth a try and a low maintenance approach.

4. You also talked about limited info on tad care for these guys. Did you read up on African clawed frogs tadpole care? I know many people raise them successfully and they are similar in origin so it might provide a little insight.

 

[thedudeabides]

Sounds to me like it could be just the casualties of overbreeding in the hobby. Give it another shot though and see what happens.

Problem with that is most are wild caught.