A coqui frog is shown being captured by hand in this photo taken in April. Coqui frogs were captured at Home Depot’s nursery earlier this week. Maui Invasive Species Committee photo

State Department of Agriculture officials Thursday were working to determine where three coqui frogs, caught in the Home Depot nursery in Kahului, came from.

The area was treated with citric acid Wednesday night by Agriculture Department officials, and no plants were being sold from the area of the nursery, said department spokeswoman Janelle Saneishi on Thursday. No coqui frog singing could be heard.

The coqui frog alarm went out Tuesday night in a Facebook video, which showed frogs calling from plants outside the large nursery, said a Maui Invasive Species Committee blog post Wednesday. MISC’s Facebook page was flooded with messages, shared video and tagging, and many people filled out the Coqui Report form.

That night at about 10:30, longtime MISC staffer Darrell Aquino went out on his own to investigate after his daughter, a former MISC Coqui Crew member, alerted her dad to the Facebook posts.

By listening and whistling back to the frogs, he was able to track down and hand capture a single frog in plants for sale outside the nursery, the blog post said.

Aquino, who has been a MISC coqui field supervisor since 2005, also learned from a security guard that the store manager had captured a second frog, the blog post said.

Lissa Fox Strohecker, public relations and education specialist for MISC, said that a third frog was captured Thursday during inspection of plants by nursery managers.

The Agriculture Department is working with nursery officials to stem the infestation, she said.

The source of the infestation is still unknown, Strohecker said. Saneishi said Agriculture Department inspectors are working to find the source, adding that it can be hard to pinpoint and determine which plants the frogs came in on and whether they hopped from other plants.

MISC and the Agriculture Department will continue to monitor the nursery to ensure no coqui frogs remain, the MISC blog said. Saneishi said that Department of Agriculture officials make the rounds of nurseries monthly to listen for coqui frogs and to talk to staff.

To prevent the spread of invasive species on Maui, MISC advises:

• Purchasing locally-grown plants whenever possible. Pest species hitchhike on cargo moving long distances.

• Inspecting all new plants and landscaping materials brought on to property.

• Isolating new plants and landscaping materials for a few days and inspecting them again.

• Doing a self-test to inspect for little fire ants. This video shows how, www.youtube .com/watch?v=z_dRp7oqTQM.

• Report target invasive species to MISC.

“Mahalo to the Maui community for taking action and drawing attention to this incipient invasive species threat,” the MISC blog said. “Unfortunately, other invasive species are not as vocal. We all need to be vigilant to limit the spread of all invasive species.”

* Lee Imada can be reached at leeimada@mauinews.com.