Urgent Care

Hello again! A couple weeks ago I noticed there was green stuff in the crevices of Captain Spauldings' shell. I took a tooth brush and cleaned it away. I noticed he has not been basking as much. I'm not sure if it's because he doesn't want to or because Morla hogs the basking dock. He's not as big on pellets as Morla is. He eats mostly the greens I put in the tank, cuttle bone, and every once in awhile I give him strawberry tops. We are going to make an above tank basking area today, in case it's a matter of him feeling like there isn't room. When I bought him was stacked on top of other turtles, and I've seen him stack ontop of Morla before, but it just seems for the past couple of weeks he hasn't been up there. (Granted I'm away from home sometimes or just not paying attention to them. I've read through and am guessing this is a fungal infection. It first started out as a discoloration, there were brighter orange spots on his scutes. Now he has these white patches all over his shell. I've been bringing him outside more because I was concerned he was getting too fat. It seemed that the meat around the hind legs was pudging out, but now that I watch them it only seems like that some of the time. I added rocks into the tank yesterday. This morning I noticed he was using one to scratch his shell. I took a tooth brush and tried to brush the white off but it didn't really do anything. Do I need to disinfect him then dry dock him for 24 hours?

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By xoxkharizma at 2012-09-09

How big is your turtle? 4inches
How long have you had it?2 months

What is the water temperature?75-78 degrees
Did you use a thermometer? yes
Are you using a water heater? depending on water temp
How much water is in there? 17 gals
Are you using a water conditioner? yes
Are you using any filtration?yes

What is the basking temperature? 90 degrees
Is there a basking light? yes
Is there a basking platform that is easy to climb on?yes
What kind is it or what is it made out of? a ZooMeds turtle dock, i think Styrofoam
Is there a UVB light? yes

What have you been trying to feed it? carrot peels, dandelion tops, strawberry tops, collard greens, red lettuce, fluker's buffet pellets
When was the last time your turtle ate? this morning I saw him chomp on some red lettuce

How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? 38gal
Is the tank near a window?no
Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity? sort of, the tv is on and we move around, but we're usually just sitting at our computers (when I'm not dancing for them)

Have you read the Basic Care section? Yes
Have you searched the forums for similar situations?Yes

Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms? his skin is peeling but he seems fine

I'm not sure I see any orange. If there is a golden appearance, it's usually air forming between the scutes in preparation for a shed.

Should I make sure it's a fungal infection before I treat him for one? The guy at Tails and Scales said to try using Iodine, but extremely diluted. I feel very sad about having to dry dock Captain Spaulding because I feel like he'll think he's in trouble or something and he's usually a very happy little guy when he's swimming. He won't be able to swim for a full day. =( I'm also very nervous about the Iodine. I picked up a small bottle from Walgreens just now and it says it's poison on the bottle. I went to Pets Mart before Scales and Tails and they had nothing for fungus on turtle shells. I did get a the number to a vet but I'm pretty sure I can't afford the vet. The gentleman at Scales and Tails suggested I pick up some Repti-Shell for treatment after the 24 hour dry dock time. It says to rub it on their shell once a week and I followed his advice.

Here's his shell dry.

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It looks like hard water deposits, I don't see any fungus though it could be a small infection now. He does have some retained scutes, so I would concentrate on helping him shed.

In regards to the hard water deposits, I am going to get their water tested. Being that I've only had him for a couple of months, it's hard to tell (other than testing the water) if he got this from PetCo (they have a really crappy set up for their turtles and don't really know much about them from what their staff demonstrated) or if it's something I'm doing wrong. The other turtle,Morla, we purchased from Pets Mart and she does not seem to have hard water spots. I don't really like Pets Mart setup either because it's just this shallow preformed pond that they put like african side-neck turtles in with them. It's misleading to beginners, making them think that the don't need that much water.

It seems they both are trying to shed their scutes. Morla has the golden spots right over her vertebrae scutes just at the tip of the scute. Captain Spaulding (the turtle pictured above) is my good little turtle when it comes to what he eats. He wants the greens and makes use of the cuttle bone. I prepared jello shots for the them yesterday and they loved them. I noticed that Cptn Spaulding wasn't basking for a little while. I figured out it was because of where I was setting their lettuce. At first it was right on top of the turtle dock (in the past they had just pulled it off so I initially didn't think much of it.) then I bought a veggie clip because I was tired of lettuce clogging the filters. I had the veggie clip right in front of the ramp going up to the turtle tank. When I noticed him not basking and moved it away from the turtle dock and now he's basking like he used to. =)

When I thought it was a fungal infection, the gentleman at Scales and Tails recommended I buy some VitaShell. I bought some. Should I still use it or will it make it harder for them to shed?

Well I just Googled it and I answered my own question. I'm upset that employee at Scale and Tails recommended the product after what I read. "It hasn't been proven that applying VitaShell benefits a turtle in any way. It does have the cosmetic effect of making the shell look shiny, which is of less concern to the turtle than to its owner. It's been said by some people that VitaShell may trap bacteria in the scutes and interfere with proper shedding." Is this accurate information?

Swab a small area with white vinegar and see if it changes. Vita Shell isn't really good for anything and I would agree that it should be avoided.

Ok. I tried it and the spots are still there.

Can your swap it with diluted betadine? Have you added anything new to his tank? Plants? This is starting to remind of an infection that will only affect the top scute layer and goes away once shed -- unlike fungus which is extremely persistent.

Is the betadine something you buy at Walgreens or the pet store? I can do it once I purchase it. =)

As you suggested, I took white vinegar in a little dish with a couple of cotton swabs and went all over his shell. What I am looking at, can be seen when he's wet, not so much when he's dry. That did not go away. I did not notice it right away, but now that I can compare pictures I see the improvement in the general all over shell appearance. =)

Yes. They got new decorations with the feeder tank. I'm not sure if it was like that before we added the plants. We used to have rocks on the bottom of the tank. I took those out because I thought they were the reason their water was getting cloudy, it took too long to change that water in the their tank.. and I was afraid of it scratching the bottom of the glass. I've since realized that the reason their water was getting so darn cloudy was because Fluker's buffet brand pellets has A TON of fish oil in it. I live close to the mountains, I brought a bunch of flat rock home and made them a little rock garden in the tank. I definitely know that his shell was that way before I added the rocks. I tried having a live water plant in the tank (post noticing the weird stuff on his shell).. they both demolished the plant and while I was watching them, I noticed Captain Spaulding was what look liked scratching his shell with the rock. I've been giving them jello shots for a week now. When I returned the Vitashell, I showed the guy that sold it to me (he seems excited about turtles too) the picture on here and they all agreed it wasn't fungus and that he had retained scutes. I have not tried any sort of disinfecting besides the white vinegar with a cotton swab. Like I said, I feel nervous exposing them to something that's poison and would feel really bad about dry docking him.

Morla (his tank mate) does not seem to have any signs of this condition. She just looks like she's shedding scutes. Although there's starting be more stripes in the pattern of her shell. =)

Here is a picture of him all dried off that I took this morning. I think he looks a little better, however I have noticed bumpy scutes, where parts of them are more raised than other.

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You can kind of see what I'm talking about with raised areas in this pic

Betadine can be found in most drug stores. If you get live plants, make sure they are washed very throughly.

If there is fungus, it's too early to tell. You might be seeing some irregular shedding, though it's hard to tell from the pictures.

He is shedding a lot and it's coming off in this big layers. I thought it was because he rarely ever dries off.

Basking should help promote shedding.

Urgent Care :: White spots on shell, possible fungal infection?

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