Urgent Care :: Shell problem possibly! Please Help

[focus12221]

I am worried about my turtles shell, he has white spots on the bask of his shell, they almost sorta look like paint, they are hard, they are not soft or fuzzy, and I dont see any holes or anything but I keep hearing about white spots and shell rot so it worries me someone please take a look

There are three red circles in the picture, anything else is where the light is reflecting, or where he is shedding.







and other pics of his setup

[SpotsMama]

Those little bright white spots look like small spots of fungus to me. It's not serious at this time. If you'll go ahead and treat them your turtle should be fine.

The most effective treatment I know of for shell fungus is silver sulfadiazine (Silvadyne or SSD Cream). It's prescription only - you'll have to get it from your vet. Wash the spots gently with some hibiclense diluted to half strength (hibiclense is a hand wash for people you can get from places like Walgreen's) and rinse well. Then let your turtle dry off thoroughly for 30 or 45 minutes. Then rub a little of the SSD cream on the spots and let your turtle spend the night in a safe, warm, dry place like a box or rubbermaid tub with a towel on the bottom. The next day put him back in his tank as usual. Repeat every day until you can't see the spots any more.

You have to ask why this situation has developed. This happens most typically when a turtle isn't basking enough so that he dries out completely - top and bottom - or he isn't basking under a good UVB bulb. Water that isn't kept clean can also contribute. Another factor can be ph. Very high water ph (over is beneficial to fungus, so if yours is much over 8 you might want to lower it back to 7.

[focus12221]

Thank you very much, I really don't want to go to a vet but I guess I have to. The water is very clear and clean I have a filter 3x bigger than needed and do water changes once a week and he doesnt feed in that tank, the turtle actually bask about 1 or more a day so I dont believe that is the problem either. The ph level I believe could definitely be above 7 but how do i lower it?

[focus12221]

There is also a reptiglo 5.0 bulb in the top as well

[megcornell]

You can buy solutions at the pet store to increase or decrease the pH. But if it's not drastically higher than 7 I wouldn't worry about it.

[SpotsMama]

Your water looks nice and sparkly clean. Is your UVB bulb a tube fluorescent? If so, next time you replace it you might upgrade to a Reptisun 10.0. It's stronger and is a very good reliable bulb.

However, if you're using a compact fluorescent, a 10.0 strength would be too much. You could use a repti glo 5.0 26 watt bulb if you're using a compact fluorescent. If you use this bulb, be sure and get the 26 watt bulb and not the 13 watt one as the 13 watt one is too weak.

Whatever kind of UVB bulb you use, be sure it's positioned over the turtle's basking area so that it shins on the turtle when he's basking.

[mikee]

S Mama -- I think you are on to something with the fluorescent tube. Most folks don't realize that the uvb slowly disapates over about 6 months. A little sulfa dip and getting the uvb back will make a difference. I have another question and that is, what is the temp of the water and the basking area. ???

[focus12221]

I use a Brand new (1 month old), reptiglo 5.0 tube which is about 6" away, that should be Plenty of uvb light, the temp of the water is 73-75f depending on time of day and the basking spot is about 93f, and he seems to love it, he seems to be up there for awhile during the day.


I also have a website people can look at about uvb lamps, its different testing on different sizes manufactures sizes, lots of stuff.
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/fluorescenttuberesults.htm

Kinda cool...

Anyone have any other ideas? I'm lost on those spots, other than the fact it could be a fungus, but I have no idea what would cause it, other than hard water, ill have it checked tomorrow,


When I first got him i brought in a sample of the water and they said it was fine, though the guy didnt seem very smart, he does not know much about turtles, than when I confronted him on it, his reply was he owned two healthy 8-10in RES, THAT ARE IN A 55G tank, wow is that wayyy too small, I even know I need more swimming room but that is being fixed over the holiday, ill bring it somewhere else to be tested.

[focus12221]

By the way the water in the picture is about 8 days old ( I did a 50% change later that day, but thats how clean it is after a week with the filter and the feedings in a different tank.

[steve]

The white spots look like bits of a bone layer. Has your turtle shed around those areas recently?

[focus12221]

Its definitely not bone layer, the shell is shedding but you can see there are still lots of layers to the shell. If you look close it almost looks like as if there are dots of paint on it. If it were bone, there would be pain as well, no pain. I tried washing her with a soft tooth brush, and she'd squirm if that was bone, no squirming.

[focus12221]

Right? ..............thanks for all the help everyone by the way

[steve]

The layer does not have to be thick or painful for it to be one. There are varying levels of this situation. If the white spot is coarse, then that is what I suspect it would be.

[focus12221]

That is one of the things I checked for last night when I had her out and dry. It's as smooth as the rest of the shell. If it was a bone layer how bad of a problem would that be?

[marisa]

Has your turtle developed these spots recently or has he had them a while? I don't think it's bone, and from the pic, the rest of the shell doesn't look that bad to me.

One of my turtles had a few spots similar to that and they went away when the scutes shed.

BTW, you already have a thread on your question in another forum. I'm locking the original thread.