Urgent Care :: Inability to dive & refusal to eat

[ypp]

I read the symptoms of RI article, but inability to dive doesn't appear to be one of the symptoms. Also he doesn't eat. It's not swimming lopsided or in circles.

The turtles current water temperature is about 79 F, it has proper lighting and basking area at about 87F. The water depth is about 5 inches, and the carapace length is about 1.5".

When the turtle swims it swims basically at the top of the water level. In previous days (up until now) when I came in the room it use to dive down and hide next to the water heater.

Currently I am trying to feed the turtle Reptomin Baby. In the past it has had Nutrafin Basix, but refused to eat it after I started feeding Reptomin baby. It periodically gets lettuce as greens.

Any help is appreciated.

[jenaero]

Being unable to submerge is also a sign of illness. I suggest bumping the water temp up to 80-82 and calling a vet. Good luck!

[Safdar]

Boost up his immume system by raising the temp to 80-82
Not eating is bad
Call vet

[megcornell]

How long has it been like this? Maybe your turtle is impacted or has gas bubbles, preventing him from submerging. Have you noticed any other symptoms such as lethargy or open mouthed breathing? The not eating could be due to a lot of things, stress, impaction, RI, etc... so I'd call a vet and have your turtle examined if I were you.

[ypp]

Aside from the inability to submerge, nothing. And its not a complete inability. It's almost like he doesn't want to. When he does, he can without a problem.

It's just his behavior altered within the last 24 hrs, although he hasn't eaten all that much for 3 days now. I didn't think much of the not eating thing, he eats when I'm not looking I guess. The pellets are either eaten or disintegrate in an environment without a filter. I did a minor test with just some Reptomin in a bucket of water and it didn't break up for an entire day; they did sink though.

I'm not sure what you mean by impacted. Is this something like dropped? Or knocked around? If so, not to the best of my knowledge.

[marisa]

Impacted means he's eaten something and it has become lodged/stuck inside him. If that were so, he wouldn't poop and as he grew more ill, he would stop eating. He would also become lethargic (very inactive).

If, as you say, he can submerge when he wants to without a problem, I'm not sure there is a problem there.

The not eating is another story, if he continues not to do so. Have to tried something like a little tuna to see if he eats that?