Urgent Care :: Shell trouble! Is it rot? TOTAL NOVICE!

[digislayer]

Hello all,
This is my first post here, and I've just registered here. I've owned 2 RES turtles for about 3 weeks now, and the case is about one of them. I'm a total novice, and still learning about turtles as well as fishes. I now understand my turtles are not living in a great habitat, and I'm in the process of correcting it, so please be gentle and help me in how I can take care of them in the mean while. I'm going to be totally honest about their living conditions cos I want to learn as much as I can to take better care of them, rather than cover up and loose them. I totally love my turtles!

So, the problem:
One of the turtles has black patches on his shell ever since I got him. Initially I thought that was a part of his pattern, but ever since I started reading about RES's and shell rot, I've started to worry. Also, to my worry, I've begun to notice some white blistering kind of thing around the edges of his shell(noticing since a week). Today I tried to clean the shell thinking it could be hard water traces, but noticed its not. The other turtle's shell edges are developing similar areas around its shell edges, but blackish, instead of white, and not as noticeable as this one.
None of the turtles smell/stink. Shell has hardness similar to a human finger-nail.

Notice the white stuff peeling off at edges

Notice the black patches at the middle two scutes

Notice the surface over black patches at the middle two scutes

Living conditions:
15 gallon tank, along with 6 gold fish and 2 plecos, each about 1.5 inches.(The tank is going to be changed soon to a much bigger one)
One filter with foam and activated carbon + aerator, always on.
No gravel or substrate or plants.
One 150w heater set at 25 degrees celsius.
No basking platform yet, I'm making one myself and will be done in 2 days. To offset this temporarily, I keep my turtles outside water for 3-4hrs a day.
No UV light yet. I keep my turtles in morning sunlight under a mesh to compensate for this temporarily, until I can source one. I'm willing to spend, but unfortunately it's not easy to find at India.These most probably didn't have UV exposure at the store either.
30-50% water change everyday or atleast every other day.
I clean out any feces that's left at the tank's bottom(not picked by filter) using a siphon every morning. Tank is new and still in the process of becoming cycled.
No chlorine in water, water is from bore-well, stored in a huge sump for house-use.

Food:
Taiyo turtle pellets 1 or 2 for each, fed once per day at night since a week.(Initially used to feed a lot of pellets, for 2 weeks)
Cabbage & lettuce pieces once in a day or two.
Food is fed by hand, and my turtles just love it.

Observations:
Turtles are active, swim around the tank, and co-exist peacefully with the fishes for now. They eat well too. But they spend most of the time sitting stacked on top of the filter, about 1.5 inches from the water surface.

PLEASE GUIDE ME!!!

[Into_the_Mystic]

I would suggest putting them in their own tank. Goldfish are pretty nasty and maybe causing high levels of ammonia in the water. Get a basking platform A.S.A.P and a basking light and some type of heat light. Your water changes are a bit too often and maybe cut back to just once a week with only a 20% water change when you get them a new tank. Stop giving them cabbage.. that's a "No, no" .

They need to bask and with sun or a light.

[digislayer]

I would suggest putting them in their own tank. Goldfish are pretty nasty and maybe causing high levels of ammonia in the water. Get a basking platform A.S.A.P and a basking light and some type of heat light. Your water changes are a bit too often and maybe cut back to just once a week with only a 20% water change when you get them a new tank. Stop giving them cabbage.. that's a "No, no" .

They need to bask and with sun or a light.

Thanks a lot for responding.
I'm changing the water so often to battle the ammonia problem, because the tank is still not completely cycled. Okay, no cabbage from today...is it because it might cause iodine deficiency? The basking platform will be ready within the next 24hrs.

Any ideas about those black patches and white peeling spots?

[Into_the_Mystic]

I would think its some type of fungus. Hopefully someone else reads this and can give you a better answer. I am sure basking is going to help them tremendously.

[steve]

The areas do look infected. If it's spreading or becoming worse (soft, smell, discharge, etc) then you should head over to the vet. I would also give it a gentle cleaning and dry dock him.

[digislayer]

The areas do look infected. If it's spreading or becoming worse (soft, smell, discharge, etc) then you should head over to the vet. I would also give it a gentle cleaning and dry dock him.

Thanks for the replies, Steve & Into_the_Mystic.

@Steve:
Which areas are you talking about? The black ones? Or the white blisters? Or, could I be wrong in thinking they're both different?
In the past 3 weeks that I've owned them, there hasn't been any discharge or smell. The areas are as flexible as human finger nails. Anything I could try to see if it helps?

Sorry, but I have absolutely no idea about how long I need to dry dock a turtle this small, it would be of great help to me if you can tell me the same, and also point me towards some direction in what I should use to clean...

Thanks much in advance!

[steve]

The black areas. The white is probably just from the peeling. Dry dock for as long as it takes for the medication to work. I'd probably try some diluted Hibiclens, but you might want silver sulfadiazine from a vet.