Urgent Care :: Shell Rot...

[hotness]

Hey everyone! I'm new to this forum and to turtle tending in general. I purchased two baby red ear sliders online and I've had them for almost 2 weeks. Much to my consternation, I realized that one of my baby turtles has a slight case of shell rot, if that is even such a thing. I'm not sure what to do or how the shell got rotten! Is this caused by too much water exposure or the wrong diet (I've only been feeding it turtle food I bought from the local pet store). Thanks!!

[Turtle addict]

Shell rot is either a fungus or bacteria that gets into the tiny cracks on the shell of the turtle and grows, it then eats into the shell.

You can get rid of it on your own, Go to the pharmacy and buy some hibiclense, soak the turtle in enough to cover the shell...mix it 50/50 with water...every night for a week. After soaking rinse in warm water very well, then place in a dry dark safe container over night. In the morning put it back into the tank and feed as normal.

Drying them out will help kill the germs that are there. The hibiclense is the same thing the vet gave me for my first time with shell rot without the vet visit fee, or the perscription price. And leaving them out at night when it's dark and quiet is less stress on them,they sleep well out of water, and they miss no uv light time. Alot of turtles from petstores have shell rot, they are not kept clean, and alot are shoved into the same tank, they can catch it from another one. It's nothing you did. I always soak any new ones I get in hibiclense no matter where I get them from, better safe then sorry.

Good Luck!

[Starchick]

Unrelated to the shell rot concern, if you've only been giving them store bought turtle food, check out the feeding section of this forum for a list of other things your turtle can have, especially veggies! Good luck treating your turtle!

[da sAUCE!]

are you sure its shell rot?? how do you know for sure? here answer these questions:

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2142

[marisa]

A pic of the area(s) you're concerned about when the shell is dry would be helpful.

[Turtle addict]

I soak all new ones, a preventative measure. I also once a month scrub them up with the hibiclense when I measure them to see the growth,and that way I can check for anything wrong with them while I scrub.

[Starchick]

Turtle addict, can you please describe how you go about scrubbing them with the hibiclense? All I can find is directions on how to soak them, and I'm not sure that's necessary in Napoleon's case, so I'm curious about your technique.

[marisa]

I wouldn't soak the turtle in it, just treat the areas that you're concerned about (I think I told you in another post that I did this for a painted that had a shell condition like the one you posted about before.) All I did is follow the directions on the bottle---I wet the shell, put a few drops of Hibiclense on it, then gently scrubbed the shell with a soft brush, left it on the shell for a few minutes and rinsed it off. You could dilute the Hibiclense if you were going to clean a large area (it's 4% chlorohexidine as opposed to Nolvasan, which is 2%; if you buy concentrated Nolvasan, it's recommended that it be diluted to a 2% solution for treating conditions).

[Starchick]

Thank you marisa! I bought the hibiclense tonight.

[bubblestheturtle]

is useing hibiclense just as effective as useing turtle "sulfa dip" by zoo med?

[Starchick]

I wondered about that too, I bought the zoo med stuff then never used it because I couldn't figure out what it was really for.

[SpotsMama]

The experienced people on here seem to be using hibiclense. The literature on the zoo med sulfa dip says it treats external bacterial infections and "secondary" (???) fungal infections, which sounds similar to hibiclense. I go with hibiclense since that's what the experienced people use.

I wouldn't literally soak my turtle in a hibiclense solution. I did that once with Spot and he freaked. Subsequently, I just gently rubbed the solution on his shell and dipped him in the solution just enough to get those areas wet that I wasn't reaching, then I let him sit for a few minutes and then rinsed him off real well. He didn't seem stressed with this approach. I was careful not to get any around his face or eyes.

[slapjack413]

Hi my turtle shell is getting a little rotten too, I want to buy hibiclense but I am confused....how long are they supposed to soak in it for before you rinse it off. And keep him in a dry safe container overnight....ahhh how sad! What do you mean by a safe container?

[marisa]

The contain different chemicals, but I think the Hibiclens is stronger than the Zoo-Med dip and would be more effective, since it's an anti-microbial cleanser. I think it also has to be used with more caution---follow the directions. I wouldn't expose more than the affected area to it.

[bubblestheturtle]

you wouldnt expose alot of which?...the sulfa dip or the hibiclens?

is hibiclens like...just a liquid in a bottle or what? made for turtles?