Other Turtle Discussion :: Buying a dbt

[Tampa Bay Turtle Fan]

hahaha...........Diamondbacks4Life, that is to comical posting a youtube link for homefront ! I rolled with laughter. It was a honest mistake with good intentions . Though Like it was pointed out that it has nothing to do with turtles, Now you have me wanting to watch it. Bad influence you are lololol. Love your post though.

[Tampa Bay Turtle Fan]

Have a serious question about a dbt I've had him for over a month now and I had him in a 10 gallon tank with my other baby turtle . Well I moved them to my 55 and I think something made him sick . Possibly ammonia from my fish I'm not sure but I don't have money to take him to the vet . Here's the deal waters at about 80 I have UVB and heat on them about 12 hours a day . And lately I noticed he's been sleeping a lot . He eats wardley turtle sticks . I am about to change what they eat but he's just been sleeping a lot . But my Mississippi Map (same size) is perfectly healthy . Also I noticed his skin maybe shedding ? I'm not sure it looks brownish but it's all over him and it looks like he might be shedding but of course I'm not sure so I'm here asking questions ! I'll attach a pic so you can see what I mean !

IT IS SO ADORABLE !!!!!!!!!

[the-turtle-Girl]

Thank you ^.^ I think he's sick tho :c

[Tampa Bay Turtle Fan]

Thank you ^.^ I think he's sick tho :c

Your posting on him possibly being sick based on visual observation and activities. Like you, though I do not know what type of fish you have in your tank, I keep fish as well in mine though I am very picky on the fish I chose for the tank. My albinos will not touch them at all. My hybino will chase them around time and time again however. I am thinking on transferring the fish or a majority of them to my new outdoor set up with my new adult hypo red ear slider coming in tomorrow evening.

I fully understand financially it is costly for veterinarian services and I am not a vet at all. I have four years experience as a former exotic veterinarian assistant specializing in reptiles but mainly snakes and lizards. Very little in turtles except general husbandry skills. Most cases in turtles were surrounding URI (Upper respiratory infections) and shell rot issues).

From what you reported, there is for sure something wrong but I can not pin point it at all. Your husbandry knowledge is good. The only thing at the moment that I can recommend is to set up a isolation tank with the turtles needs . I know people have mixed feelings on water, but I like to use bottle spring water. Look for signs of bubbles from the nose and mouth and mucus. This can be signs that can tell you what to do. Do not have any other turtles or fish in with it within the isolation tank. I would go on and clean and treat the other tank as you said in the mean time for the fish ammonia that you possibly think it is to prevent the possibility of it spreading.

I do not know what your feeling is on frozen / thawed blood worms for this little guy/ girl, but the freezing process of the blood worms kills and parasitic or viruses that they may have in them so there for it would be a healthy choice and one in which many small turtles can not resist to get the feeding a bit better. Keep us posted on the symptoms of small bubbles in a group while it is basking or out of the water and or mucus ,if so what color and thickness if you can tell. If it is a minor URI then there is ways to slow it down or eliminate it. If it is major or mucus, yes a veterinarian needs to be involved. I always recommend a vet regardless but I also understand the cost factors and money unfortunately does not grow on trees to harvest.

[the-turtle-Girl]

Well as said he eats wardley turtle pellets I'm about to order Mazuri turtle pellets or zoo med hatchling for him and I have a separate 10 gallon I'm gunna end up moving him to . And I had some Convict Cichlids in with them . But I also have a bluegill sunfish who has been with my other turtles for as long as I've had them , along with my 6 inch pleco and never had any problems until I got the cichlids . So I took them out .. I think there's like 4 babies that I couldn't catch . I did an almost complete water change . My siphon sucks so I have to carry My tank outside to completely empty it and I'm normally alone when I do that and I can't carry a 55 gallon tank by myself xD . But other than that I haven't had any problems really .. I had 6 small turtles in there 2 Mississippi Maps 2 res a dbt and an Eastern Spiny softshell. Well one of my res is currently acting funny too and I already lost my softie :c my first turtle he's a res he's fine acting normal swimming normal basking eating everything normal . Same with my male Mississippi Map and my hatchling Mississippi Map . But my one res and my dbt are just acting strange and I have no clue why

[Tampa Bay Turtle Fan]

Yes if two turtles are acting strange, you for sure have something going on. Your husbandry skills are very good too. I have hand picked chosen fancy tail guppies and two red tail sharks for mine to clear out waste that gathers on the bottom. Your pleco sounded like a great choice for this and algae. People laughed at me for spending 4 to 6 dollars each for each original fancy tail guppy that I started with just for my turtles to snack on if they wanted. But my outlook was, many pet stores but not all and fish breeders tend like anything else, the more valuble the fish, the better care they take to prevent illnesses and health issues that can wipe out all their stock for sales. I got them knowing that the care for them was there, my hybino only will chase the baby guppies only, not any with size. Guppies are known in general to produce babies steadily for this. They are known for bottom cleaning and if outside in a custom pond, they will feed on mosquito larva I am not in favor of wild fish nor feeder fish however. Where I became laughed at though was that the nice pet store I go to, that the staff stated, several people weekly come in complaining that their turtles ate their fish yet I go in and complain that the turtles won't eat the fish yet I pay larger dollar amounts for them. But the good news is with all the babies I produce now, the pet store has me on a credit system in which I take them back to the store and get all my turtle supplies for my set ups for free now. So it really balanced out for me in wanting healthy fish that serve as the turtles echo system and more.

My edit lol, I seen that some of your turtles having fighters names, lol kimbo and creed hahaha. Did you name them for their fighting personalities ?

[steve]

Try Omega One and you can find that in most stores. Have you fed him anything else?

[the-turtle-Girl]

Creed is my dbt . He used to be feisty and now he's now 0.o and yea I got my pleco when I got my first turtle lol so he's about a year . Actually I joined this forum when I got my first turtle xD so in may I've had my red eared slider I call Smalls and my pleco who's name is Tyga for almost a year they all have rapper names or fighter names . I had a female eastern painted her name was biggy so I had biggy and Smalls (Rapper) then I have wiz for wiz Khalifa lol then I have Ink my first Mississippi Map , after Kid Ink another rapper then Kimbo was my softie (r.i.p) after Kimbo Slice and then Creed after the new rocky movie xD
But yea . I haven't had anything besides the sunfish and the pleco . I had a catfish in there for a while but he died unexpectedly about 3 months ago and up until about a month ago I only had the bluegill and the pleco . I think K the ammonia level killed my softie and had made 2 of my other turtles sick . But Idk how to make them feel better :\ my res and my dbt when from being active to just wanting to sleep and bask all day ..

[the-turtle-Girl]

Try Omega One and you can find that in most stores. Have you fed him anything else?

was feeding reptomim I think the food I have now is no good for them cause right when I started feeding them what I have now they started getting sick .. so I think it might be the food too 0.o

[Tampa Bay Turtle Fan]

Try Omega One and you can find that in most stores. Have you fed him anything else?

Omega One is a outstanding nutritional food for them. I tend to use it as well. The turtles love Omega for sure.

[the-turtle-Girl]

Yea I think the wardley made them sick :l possibly .. either that or the ammonia in my water .. which means no more fish besides the ones I already had in there .. that and I wanna get a cfs 500 here soon .. my water gets dirty fast cause the person I got the tank from cut the input for the filter hose way too short and my turtle crap builds up so fast on the bottom of the tank .. The fish help some but not enough . What fish would you recommend to help keep the bottom clean ?

[steve]

Have you bumped up his temperatures? I don't think the food is the main culprit and maybe you should consider him having see a herp vet.

[the-turtle-Girl]

I don't have a herp vet around here :/ and u out I
him in some warm water and he perked up but once I put him back in the tank he went back to sleeping

[the-turtle-Girl]

So Ok an update . I think he has some sort of fungus growing on his skin .. Cause part of that brown stuff fell off and there's like a sore under neath it's red . Kinda looks like it's bleeding . Looks like how we would if we had a chapped lip .. is it possible for a fungus to do that and if so what can I do to fix it ?

[the-turtle-Girl]