Hi there!
Happy to be a part of this group, I'm not sure if this post qualifies as an introductory post or if it should go into the care thread, please let me know if I should remove it and post it elsewhere I don't want to break any rules or start off on the wrong foot.
I just adopted a 9 year old RES (his names jc) + his "home" and equipment and I have concerns about his health and set up. They had a really amazing set up for him (120 gal, proper egg crate basking spot, great filter, two heaters, two basking lamps of different wattage, proper uv, etc. etc) however they did mention how in recent times they've been struggling to keep up with his care. He has three large spots of shell rot that I've been treating daily with Betadine. He's not an overly aggressive turtle at all, he's more timid and retreats into his shell quite often during treatment but constantly begs for food in his tank. Quite a few of his scutes are peeling and he has excessive shedding around his neck as well as a thick green algae around the edge of his shell thats been slowly coming off with the daily scrub. They were feeding him mostly a pellet/dried mealworm/shrimp combo with occasional lettuce, because they were told that diet for an adult slider should be 75% protein, 25% veg which from what I've read seems to be the opposite.. I haven't been able to get him to do anything with lettuce other than snap a piece off and spit it out. I've read that the solution to this might just be a bit of tough love since I've already offered him 4 different kinds of greens and get the same reaction every time but if theres anything else that has worked for someone in the past I'm open to any and all suggestions.
He has one RI in his history so I am concerned about underlying issues there. What should I look for?
When I set up his tank I positioned everything exactly how it was in his old house (filter, heater, lights, decorations) and had everything running how his old family did, I use a probe thermometer whereas they had two adhesive strips one for water temp and one for basking temp. Water temp read at 78(f) and never changes despite the fact that my probe has never picked up a temp over 76(f). Is that an okay temp for an adult res or should I go buy a new heater? Any brand recommendations if so? Think mine is Fluval. They gave me two, one is 200w but doesn't seem to be working since its set to 27 degrees (c) and the temp is yet to raise and the other one is far too small to heat the whole tank on its own. Now the basking spot... they let me know that they kept both basking lamps on during the day as well as the UV. Is it possible that these two lamps are providing different kind of light that I'm unaware of? The temperature on the basking platform with both lights on reaches 115 degrees (f) which I know is far too high so for now I've been keeping the larger of the two on which has it at about 86(f). Could the high basking temps have discouraged him from basking leading to the shell rot? They also had a strip of putting green on the egg crate that had a bit of mold on the underside and felt damp so I dont think it allowed him to dry out very well. I looked at both lamps and cant find any stand out differences other than wattage, brand and that one glows in the dark but I dont want to be depriving him of any specific light that lamp may provide.
Sorry for the long post, I'm trying to learn as much as I can about RES turtles so I can give him the best possible life and ensure that his living environments are exactly what he needs, thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to read all this and offer me any advice!