Urgent Care :: trouble swimming

[jezzell]

isabelle's scaring me now...she seems to be having trouble swimming. she's swimming flat, but she appears to be heavy? she swims across the bottom of the cage, attempts to swim up a few times then goes to the wall of the aquarium and climbs/swims up the side of it then grabs on to one of her platforms. she's still cohabitating with the fish, but she tries to eat the food i put in there for them all lol. anyway, i hope she is just tired=\

[lydia_lady_fla]

read the post on sudden illness RSI remember it takes awhile for some systoms to show up, like mucus or bubbles gasping for air etc. she may have infected ears, my understanding is a vet can give life saving shots and most the time are not as expensive as you might think. please read the post and be sure she does not have an infection. keep us informed o.k.

[marisa]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "heavy." If there are no symptoms of RI (open-mouth breathing, frequent yawning, bubbles from the nose or mouth, especially when out of the water, puffy, closed eyes, etc.), I'd keep an eye on her and get her to the vet immediately if you see any.

What's the temp of the water? If the water level is deep and she's small, you could float some plastic plants for her to grab on to for resting.

[jezzell]

i think she was just tired because she's been swimming fine today. could i have her water too full? it's a 10 g tank 3/4 full, and she's 1 1/4 inches long. she appears to be swimming straight and has no serious symptoms-nose is fine, eyes are green as ever, legs kick at a speed of a mile a minute and she still gives me mock kisses. she's totally ignoring the fish, is that a bad sign? thanks for all your help=)

[lydia_lady_fla]

I have mine in a 40 gal. tank pretty much to the top shes about 1.5 inches and loves it! I hear never to much water so?chk the water temp. and basking area and maybe float the plants for resting and hiding from the fish and see what happens. the first time I intro. fish to the tank mine ignored em for about a week then all of a sudden they were all gone with in 2 days 6 fish. the next time fish were put in I got 12 thats 3 or 4 weeks ago she has caught 4 at last count, it gives her gr8 exercise and hunting skills but she doesn't eat fish every day and thats a good thing,I have lots of plants scattered around ,both turt and fish use them as nature intended. if your turtle ever gets hungry enuff she will catch one. some have suggested to injure a fish so it is slower and easier to be caught for the inexperienced turtles? 10 gal. tanks are not big enough for very long for a turtle you will need to upgrade soon, rule of thumb 10 inch water for every inch of turtle shell from front to back excluding the curve. then fish need space also.

[jezzell]

she ate one fish-wuwu! i was about to name them lol. i'm about to build an outdoor pen for emmy and then isabelle is going to have her very own 25 galon tank hehe=). she's acting normal now, but i'm getting them both a checkup anyway. they both need one and she's still so small-maybe they'll give her a good vitamin or growth hormones lol=)(j/k)