Urgent Care :: tail fell off!!

[roz]

Hi, I'm new to the forum, but have been using this site since getting my baby RES. He seems pretty happy/healthy, swims, basks, and eats regularly. The problems I've been having have been with the water looking a little oily, algae growing on one of the rocks (how bad is this for turtles?), a dark spot on his shell (like a black dot on part of the scute), and today I woke up to find that half his tail fell off!!!
The tail had looked like it was dividing (cinching in), but I thought that was normal as they grew. It was a bit white where it was cinching in, and it just broke off this morning! there's no blood or anything, and my turtle has the tank to himself, so I doubt it was an injury. Does anyone know why this might have happened? Is this a serious deformation?

[Vtolds]

If I had to guess I would say your turt was injured before you got it.

[marisa]

Welcome. It sounds like somehow the tail had been injured and circulation to some of the tissue stopped and the tissue died. Does it look infected at all? How much of it is gone? What does the remaining portion look like? Does the turtle still have a cloaca so he can poop?

Try to keep the water super clean (Do you have a good filter? Do you clean the tank and change the water regularly?). It would be good to clean the area with some diluted Betadine and put some ointment like Neosporin on it.