Urgent Care :: my Turtle's skin is shedding...hard...

[Francis]

Hi I'm wondering if someone can help me with my red eared slider...his skin is starting to turn white, and some have holes in it already...it first started with his neck skin, and i asked someone on another site and he said that his skin was just shedding, and that it'll be okay. The next day, i went to the store (chinese store) where i bought my turtle and they said my turtle is going to die soon....and...no offense but im not sure if the chinese guy is saying it on purpose so i would buy another one (No Offense, but i am Chinese too)....so now his WHOLE body is shedding skin, and its all turning white and puffy...and the white skin on the turtle's tail has a hole....can anyone help me? this happened first to the guy but now, the girl is starting to have its syndromes...any help would be greatly appreciated.

[iac637]

Can you post a pic?

[Francis]

i will try...

[DavidY]

What are your water temperature and ammonia levels. How long have you had them and what are you keeping them in?

[SpotsMama]

That doesn't sound at all like normal shedding. Post the pic as soon as you can and maybe someone on here will know what to do but if I were you I'd make an appointment with a vet sooner rather than later.....

[Francis]

i've had them for around 1 and a half months...i've been keeping them in an aquarium (made for pet fishes i assume) and the water...is just nomal room temperature

[Francis]

alright i got the pics!
and...since i can't upload a pic here...i'll put it on my space...here it is

http://out-0f-my-m1nd.spaces.live.com/[/img]

[ellman605]

That definitely does not look good, looks like some sort of infection or something..either way, get it to the vet ASAP.

[DavidY]

Do you have a water filter for your fish tank? Also, baby turtles need warmer temps closer to 78 degrees with a basking spot of 88 to 90 degrees. Does your turtle have basking area with a light for heat and another light for UVB? You should take a look at the info in the "Basic RES Care" link at the top of the window. There's a lot of very useful information there on how to propertly take care of your turtle. A lot of people first come to this site with their new turtles not realizing that there is quite a bit of special care that turtles require. Take some time to read the guides, I'm sure you will learn a lot and hopefully be able to nurse your turtle back to good health. But you should definitely take them both to a good vet that has experience with reptiles. They don't look good.

[Francis]

oooooh...okay =( my girlfriend bought them for me...and i don't want them to die...i told my mom that i wanna take them to the vet, but my mom won't let me..she said they're JUST turtles...sigh....parents won't understand how important some things are to us....=[ anyways i would like to thank everyone for their help, i hope my turtle gets better soon.

[DavidY]

Yea, several other people on here have had similar problems with their parents. One guy was able to get some free advice from his vet over the phone, and the vet even said if the turtle didn't get any better he would take a look at him for free. Maybe you could try calling around your area and see if any of them are willing to work out a deal for you? Baby turtles are much more susceptible to diseases, and because of their small size, are not always able to fight them off on their own. Raising the water temperature using an aquarium heater to 88 to 90 degrees will help to boost the turtle's immune system. Also, if what your seeing is fungus, taking the turtle out of the water for a while so he can dry off may help. Let him sit on a towel under a warm desklight for a while (keep an eye on him since they can scurry off pretty quickly). But make sure not to cook him.

I hope he gets better soon too! Make sure to read the guides on this site.

[megcornell]

It looks like a fungal infection to me. I can't see the whole set up in the pictures, but it doesn't look like there's much water in there. You should look at some of the other set ups on the site for how you want your tank set up. It looks like you have one of those small plastic containers... no?
You'll need an aquarium (at least 10-20 gallons, but ideally much larger, your turtles are small and to be honest I think any improvement would be a good start).
A water filter.
A basking platform and two lights- a UVA (house bulb for heat) and a UVB. UVB bulbs can be expensive so if you have to hold off on that for now that would be ok, I think the more important issue is giving the turtles more and cleaner water.
A water heater- once you have more water in there, you'll want to regulate the temp at around 78F. The 88-90 recommended by David is too warm, it will harm more than help.
It's going to be important to keep the water very clean esp if this is a fungal infection, I'm not sure the best way to treat it without a vet but improving your setup is a very necessary first step.
Good luck.

[DavidY]

Oops! Thanks for catching that, Meg! : The 88 to 90 degrees was supposed to be for the basking temperature. I wanted to say 78 to 80 degrees for water temp. Sorry about that! I'm glad you caught my mistake.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

That does look bad, Honestly If you dont take care of that with a vet it is just going to turn into septicemia (blood poisoning) and will slowly die..

There is, however home treatment for fungus. It does require alot of patience though. And if it doesnt get better in a few weeks, then a vet will realy have to check it out, no excuse.

Anyways, Do you have all the basics down? UVB/UVA light, filter, water heater, proper sized enclosure, etc? If no, get everything you need ASAP. Turtles are not begginer pets and require alot of money and commitment. Just keep that in mind..

Anyway, here is the treatment for fungus: www.austinsturtlepage.com go to the medical section, and click on "shell and skin problems" from there, find "fungus" and it will tell you what to do. Again, if this doesnt work..then a vet will be its only chance at life.

Good luck.

[marisa]

Looks like a skin fungus to me as well. Where they were purchased no doubt kept them in awful conditions. One turtle caught it from the other. Will any of the white lift off if you gently run a q-tip over it (don't try to take it off)?

Cleaning the areas and dry tanking (keeping your turtles out of the water except to hydrate and feed them) to get some air on them is necessary. Look at the link above for specifics on what to do. I've had success with skin fungus using aquarium salt, but the condition I treated wasn't nearly as bad as what your turtles seem to have.

If you do the treatment above and don't start to see improvement in a week, I'd really try to find a vet and get them treated.