Urgent Care :: Turtle not Well, Eyes Swollen...Recommend a Vet in NYC?

[Lovegasoline]

I have a RES that over the past 2 days has swollen eyes...now very swollen he keeps them shut and it looks painful for him to open them. He stays out of the water and even is sleeping on his basking log. Tank/Water quality is good, did an ammonia levels test and it is safe. Always use Reptisafe.

No habitat changes except I replaced a burned out compact fluro ZooMed UVB (10.0) lamp a few days ago. I did notice this new lamp had a somewhat more 'purplish' tone than the previous one and was funkier on my eyes; I’ve just read somewhere folks have reported issues with some of the ZooMed compact fluro lamps? The previous lamp was in the exact same position for 8 months. Anyway, yesterday I unscrewed the UVB lamp. No diet changes. Could be deficient in vitamin A (?). I usually feed him every other day a few Reptimin sticks, a little carrot, and a big leaf of Romaine lettuce (occasionally he gets a rosy red, mealworm, or cricket). On the non-feeding days he gets some Romaine lettuce in the tank. I bought Reptivite vitamins yesterday. He eats, but has some trouble and he left some lettuce in his tank yesterday at the end of the day which he NEVER does…not sure if it is appetite and/or he has finding/seeing/smelling it. He eats and wants to eat, but just not with the wild ravenous fury he usually has.

I was planning to try to find ZooMed Eyedrops today and apply them to Mr. T's eyes. I already fed him some food this morning with powdered Reptivite Vitamins on it. I was thinking that if he doesn’t improve, I’d take him to the vet on Monday, unless you think he needs to go today and there is a vet with Sunday hours.
Either way, I’d like to get a recommendation for a local Vet if I need to go that route.
I live in NYC, in Brooklyn, Clinton Hill (near Fort Green & Downtown Brooklyn). I’m also very close to downtown Manhattan.


How big is your turtle?
His name is Mr. T and he is 4” long, 6.5 oz in weight.

How long have you had it?
Since July 2006. I adopted it from a roommate who estimates she had it one year. I guess it is roughly 2 years old.

What is the water temperature?
82 degrees.

Are you using a water heater?
Yes.

How much water is in there?
He is in a 37-gallon tank with roughly 29 gallons of water.

Are you using a water conditioner?
Yes, Reptisafe.

Are you using any filtration?
Yes, RENA XP3 with coarse/fine foam filters and ceramic rings. A full water change was done about a month ago. I do a 20-25% partial change every 1.5-2 weeks.

What is the basking temperature?
Around a hundred. He likes it hot.

Is there a basking light?
Yes, ZooMed porcelain.

Is there a basking platform that is easy to climb on?
Yes.

What kind is it or what is it made out of?
The ZooMed floating log.

Is there a UVB light?
ZooMed Fluro Compact 10.0. It is brand new.

What have you been trying to feed it?
Regular diet. Reptimin sticks, Romaine lettuce, carrot. I put powdered Reptivite vitamins on them this morning.

When was the last time your turtle ate?
This morning. He eats but he has difficulty getting the food. He snaps but misses…I have to really make an effort to put it right against his mouth, but he still has trouble ‘finding’ it. It tales a while, but he gets it and eats it. I feed him every other day, with just lettuce on the off days. He was fed yesterday, however, I just fed him a couple Reptimin, some carrot, and a dried krill treat all dusted with Reptivite for Vitamin A. I put some Romaine lettuce in for him and he is eating that too.


How big is the tank/pond/enclosure?
37-gallon tank with about 29 gallons of water.

Is the tank near a window?
Yes, on a window sill inside. I have a blackout curtain for his sleeping hours so the room's light will not keep him awake.

Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity?
Moderate-high activity. I have a blackout curtain that cuts off the light and view of the room for nightime (if he needs it I can use it during the day while he is sick).

Have you read the Basic Care section?
Yes.

Have you searched the forums for similar situations?
Yes.

Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms?
I’ve been observing his swimming for signs of repertory infection. Everything he does is clumsy and a little disoriented. He can sink to the bottom, float to the top, dive, etc. But he does not have the grace, agility, and speed he usually has. He often keeps his eyes closed when in the water, or just one eye cracked open, but also sometimes both swollen eyes open. I can see his eyes are really bothering him.
He spends most of his time on top of his basking log now. Last two nights he slept on top of the log. Last night, I kept the basking heater on all night for him, but at a lower setting (it is always off at night).
I first noticed his eyes Friday 4/27 when he was sleeping on top of the log, which I thought was unusual (I thought he was sleeping but he may have just had his eyes closed…he never sleeps totally out of the water). When I saw him go in the water and swim with his eyes closed, I thought he was sleep-swimming…a new trick. Saturday morning his eyes were very swollen and that is when I first realized something was wrong. I tried to look for ZooMed eye drops but Petco did not have them and other pet stores were closed.

Thanks a bunch for any help.
-Lovegasoline

This pic was taken Yesterday (Saturday) afternoon:

[liberation nyc]

I just walked past this vet yesterday:

http://local.yahoo.com/details?id=11047743

Their web site is down, but it has their digits.

[octpusgirl8]

I'm so sorry to hear that your turtle isn't feeling well. I think it sounds pretty typical of the problems caused by these high-UVB bulbs. It couldn't hurt to take him to the vet just to have things checked out, of course. I had the same problem with my turtle right after i got a reptisun 10.0, so have a lot of other folks on the forum. My little guy had swollen eyes like i see in your picture, he was sleeping on his dock, not eating much, and he seemed generally miserable. Take the bulb out right away, maybe put the old one back in if you still have it. If the light is the problem you should start to see some improvement in a few days. Hope Mr. T has a speedy recovery!

[Lovegasoline]

Thanks for the ideas and references, pleaase keep them coming.

Regarding the Reptisun 10.0, I had one before this replacement but it produced a slightly different color temperature light...the tone of the older one resembled a standard household fluro bulb and was not harsh on my eyes ... I had no need to shade in from my eyes. The new one DEFINATELY is harsher and I put a shade in front to shield it from my eyes (it also is designed slightly different, the base has 'vent' slots around the perimeter). Both the older one and it's replacement were purchased on Ebay, but from different sellers, both new in the box. If it is the cause of Mr. T's eye problems, I'll be relieved it isn't anything more serious.

[diyabolo]

We have seen swollen (and slightly brownish painful-looking) eyes on RES twice: once when our water heater busted and the water temperature went down below 60 for a day; it took about 3 days in proper temps for them to come back to normal. And once when we were traveling and put our RES in tap water different than what they were used to. In both cases, 2 RES were in the same conditions, but only one got swollen eyes. Plain "natural tears" style eye drops meant for humans helped both times. We dropped them on while he was basking, and after each application he was able to keep them open for a while. (There aren't any harmful side effects; I think you could turn up several references online to using human eyedrops on turtles.)

[steve]

If you are using a 10.0 UVB, don't use it with a ceramic heat emitter. I would definitely stop using it and see what happens.

Grey Goose has a good one near NYC... I can't remember who:
http://www.redearslider.com/forum/searc ... grey+goose

[Lovegasoline]

Yesterday morning I turned the Reptisun 10.0 off (I DO have a ceramic heater). There’s a reason I turned it off. It wasn't because of other folks' negative experiences with the bulb: in fact I had never read anything negative about it, only positive things.

When I installed the new Reptisun 10.0 (the old one burned out) two roommates were in the room with me. When I turned it on, everyone was like “Wooo!” It was purplish in tone and gave off an uncomfortable looking quality of light…it made one instinctively want to turn away from looking at it. I warned them that it isn’t healthy to look into it (and I decided I would need to shade it from our eyes). The old Reptisun 10.0 was much mellower…was more neutral in ‘color’ and in NO way bothered one when one looked at it. A roommate picked up the box and mentioned the written warning not to look into the lamp. I was annoyed at the light being given off by the replacement Reptisun 10.0. I also distinctly recall thinking about Mr. T. and reasoning that if the lamp is labeled unhealthy for human eyes to look into (and it is uncomfortable for us to look into it) then it must ALSO be uncomfortable for Mr. T to look into it as well. That thought had remained in my head which is why, without having read anything about other people’s experiences with this UVB lamp, I turned it off when I first noticed Mr. T’s eye problem.

FYI, the new Reptisun was in a box labeled ‘desert’ something or other. It also has vents around the socket base…the older one mentioned nothing about ‘desert’ light on the packaging and did not have the vents. I assumed that they just marketed the same bulb for various markets by changing the packaging. I wish I still had the old one I would post the differences in the base for folks to compare.

BTW, the bulb’s end is positioned about 6” above and to the side of Mr. T. There is no reflector on the bulb. I arrived at this placement after studying the web site that did UVB testing which measured the UVB emitted by this bulb in various directions.



…Update:

Now as of 3:00 PM Mr. T’s condition looks to be improving. The swelling around the eyes has diminished a little bit and it looks like he is able to open his eyes more frequently. He is also more energetic: I gave him a little food and he was swimming around his tank with his eyes open and with a greater agility control then he had this morning…he even scavenged the tank bottom looking for food scraps.

I am hoping in the next day or two Mr. T's condition will continue to improve.
Thanks for all the help folks!

[Tenodera]

Great to hear your turtle's getting better!

[DavidY]

I would keep the UV bulb off for a while even after your turtle is back to normal. Give the eyes enough time to fully heal (like a week or more). Then you may want to get some kind of lampshade (for you and your friends), raise the bulb a lot higher (12 to 18") and put some kind of mesh screen or one of those plastic light diffusers (egg crate) with the square grids between the bulb and the basking area. Then when you do turn it on again, watch your turtles eyes very carefully for the first couple of days.

These bulbs are being marketed as desert bulbs and should really only be used for desert dwelling animals. I think the 5.0 bulbs should be just fine for RES.

Also, did you mention that you keep your water temp at 82 degrees? An adult RES should be kept in the mid 70's and babies no more than 78 degrees. You may want to gradually start reducing the water temperature downwards.

[Hoooneylynn]

woah! 100 degrees? WAY YOO HOT! It should be 10 degrees higher than the water temp, and the water temp should be 78 degress. So only 88 degrees. Your turt can die under those conditions, I am very surprised it would even bask with it being so hot... he can cook!

[Lovegasoline]

I usually keep water temps at 78 degrees.
When he got sick, I raised it after reading posts that it is a good idea to raise the temp to low 80's if a turtle is sick.

I had read many theories about correct basking temps when I first set up his basking area.
Right now the basking temp is at exactly 103.
I usually keep it between the high 90s and 105. I may turn it down a notch now that the seasons have changed. However, the heater is directly over one end of his basking log (the log is at least a foot long) and the other end of the log is out of the heat. Mr. T has a wide choice of temperatures on this log. However, I notice that 95% of the time, Mr. T. parks himself directly in the HOTTEST spot, so he is plumb directly under the basking lamp. He LOVES it there! My reasoning is that if he were thermally uncomfortable, being cold blooded he would have the sense to thermo-regulate by moving to the cooler end of the log.
I guess his style of basking is more like being in the sauna than being around the pool?
As I write this he is basking there.

Thanks again for all the ideas.

[grey goose]

Turn that 10.0 off and see if it helps (it may take a few days to a week). If it doesn't clear up (I suspect that it will) here's a vet I found in Staten Island:
http://www.nahnyc.com/vets.htm
Ask for Dr. Salemi.

If his eye swelling goes away after turning off that lamp, switch to a 5.0....

[DavidY]

That's the key thing is providing the turtle with the range in temperature so he can thermoregulate. But make sure he can also still get exposure to the UV rays from the middle of the log (where the temp is closer to the 90's).