General Care Discussion :: Fading part of shell

[sagoy]

I have two baby red ear sliders. And one of them has something weird going on with his shell, it looks like it's fading a little. The other one has a flesh spot that looks like it was chipped off or something. The only thing I could think of that could possibly do that for the second turtle's shell would probably be the filter, since they love to squeeze in between the filter and the side of the tank and rub their shell against the filter's side. Pics below, please tell me what you think of their shells... the darker one is Luffy, the smaller, lighter green one is Ninja.

oh by the way, the flash on my camera makes things a little whiter than they really are.




Ninja's white spot


Luffy's fading shell


Please tell me if you know what's going on with my turtles' shells. I've taken several measures to give them a better life. 50 gallon tank for 2 baby RES. Basking in daylight about 5 hours a week, more or less. No need for a heater since the climate here is normally warm/hot. A good heat lamp, a little hotter than the water temp. I feed them pellets everyday, and lettuce sometimes. I also do partial water changes every Mondays and Fridays.

[steve]

I'm not sure what you mean by the white spot... is it the yellow line down the vertebral scutes? That would be normal. The patterns on the shell do fade a bit when the shell gets darker, they both look normal from the pictures.

[marisa]

In the first pic, the hatchling that's lower (closer) looks like the shell is whiter---is this the one you're talking about?

[sagoy]

@steve, yes, not really a spot, but it's just the spine part of the shell having some changes in color.

@marisa Yes, the light green one has changes in the color of the line at the back of his shell, the darker one has like a fading area on the middle part of the shell.

These are normal?

[marisa]

The middle part of the shell means down the middle where the spine is? If so, that's not all that unusual. It's possible that the shell was rubbed up against something.

In the pics, the darker one looks like the scutes are actually getting white. If so, can you get a closer pic of the shell dry?

[sagoy]

I tried the best I could to get a decent light without it being too bright or too dark. Here's a closeup of Luffy's shell, although on the second pic, the white part is exaggerated by the flash.

[sagoy]

Any thought guys? Is this going to turn into shell rot or maybe a fungus infection? Or is this just normal, maybe when they're growing up or shedding.

[steve]

I'm not sure what it is, but it almost looks like shedding in the second pic - but they're awfully young to be doing so.

[sagoy]

If you click on the 3rd pic it will take you to a photobucket page, click the pic one more time to zoom in a little bit more. I think that's the best my camera can do.

[KatieSmeltzer]

filbert went from that awesome bright green to the darker green as s/he got older.

[Ranger The Red Ear Slider]

I see what you are talking about. It might be shedding which Steve said they are to young to be doing so. Or some kind of fungus, does it come off when you scrub it with a toothbrush?

[sagoy]

No it doesn't. It really looks like a color change. It doesn't feel like any exterior growth.