General Care Discussion :: black on shell

[nancyd]

We have recently moved and now have two turtles. One is quite healthy, the other (who has been isolated) has black on his shell (around the edges), and the area seems to be increasing.

He doesn't eat much, used to have white around eyes and mouth (sucessfully treated) and is half the size of the other turtle we bought at the same time.

We don't have alot of access to medicine, but read some about salt water, dry docking etc. and would love some advice. Our space is also somewhat limited, but would like to do whatever we can to help the turtle.

Thanks!

[megcornell]

Hello! Can you post a picture?
It sounds like your little turtle has had a myriad of issues, the poor guy.
Does the black area smell at all? It may be shell rot. Depending on what the issue is sometimes sulfa dips can help shell problems.
For sore eyes, vitamin A is usually the issue. That can be resolved with cod liver oil or special turtle eye drops.
Can you describe your set up? It may just be that a few changes need to be made to help improve the turtle's health and prevent future problems from happening.

[nancyd]

I have a picture, but couldn't figure out how to post it. I could e-mail it directly. The eyes seem fine now. We have a big tank (that holds the heathy turtle) with some areas for them to climb and bask, a fiter, etc.

For the sick guy, we are changing his water nearly daily (as the fiter is in the other tank) and he is in a glass open container, but still under the UV light at least 5 hours a day. At the store, when we brought him back (but its over 2 hours round trip to get there) they suggested leaving him in just a bit of water. Now that we have given him a sniff, he does smell different from the healthy turtle, a bit sulpuric? hard to describe. I think he had all this wrong with him when we got him, but regardless we want to help him.

[SpotsMama]

Sounds like it could be shell rot. Does he have a place where he can bask and completely dry off every day - top and bottom? That's an important part of good shell health - making sure it gets to thoroughly dry off regularly.

[nancyd]

Yes, he can dry off completely on his rock(s). Any suggestions for treatment?

[SpotsMama]

I'll pm you with my email address so you can email a picture to me then I'll try to post it on here. Did you see this info on posting a picture? Maybe it will help if you'd like to try to post it on your own.

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1811

If your guy has a minor shell infection there are several different ways you could treat it at home. However, if it's very extensive then you'd better get him to a vet.

[SpotsMama]

Here are pics of the little guy:





It looks like something's going on around the margins, I agree. Let me ask - are the blackened areas soft or more flexible than the rest of the shell? Are they slimy or wet?

[penelope]

I'll leave it to the more experienced owners to offer health suggestions.

May I politely suggest a visit to the vet. I think you mentioned that this was a new turtle. With my first turtle I searched the Web for hours and was convinced he had every ailment known to turtles (a slight exaggeration), I went crazy wondering if I was providing the proper cure. I just felt to ignorant. Finally, I made an appointment with a vet for a general physical.

I walked in armed with my list of many, many questions from illness to general care (just like when we get our annual physicals). When I left I felt much more confident in my abilty to be a turtle mom - found out what was wrong with him, got the medicine and instructions to cure him and stopped worrying. It was a good barometer for the future.

Now I just take a new turtle to the vet for a check up as part of the overall habitat set-up.

Put in persepctive, $60 really doesn't seem like a large amount to pay in light of how much it costs to set up a habitat (I live in a high-cost area of California - it may less where you live). In case of illness - creams, shots, eye drops, etc. range from $6 to $40. Still not too terribly bad.

Again, just a suggestion,
I hope your little guy gets healthy real soon.

[nancyd]

Neither slimy nor wet. Not soft (but I didn't press too hard) It doesn't seem different from the rest in terms of hardness.

[SpotsMama]

It's good that it's not noticably soft or slimy, though something is going on. I think penelope makes some very good points. If it were me, I'd take him to the vet. Make sure, though, that the vet you see knows about turtles. Vets that just treat dogs and cats will not know what to do with a turtle. Sometimes these vets advertise themselves as "herp" vets or say they specialize in exotics.

Here's a caution: If the vet offers to give a vitamin A shot, first make sure the vet is positive your turtle really needs vitamin A and then discuss other alternatives to shots with the vet like eye drops with vitamin A, cod liver oil or food supplements. Several turtles have recently had very bad reactions to vitamin A shots and I think it's best that if vitamin A is needed (and often it's not) the safer methods be used instead.

The most effective treatment for shell problems in my opinion is silver sulfadiazine cream (or Silvadyne). This product is only available with a prescription. This cream is typically applied to the infected areas after a wash or soak with diluted Nolvasan or betadine. The turtle is kept out of the water (dry docked) most of the time for a number of days up to a couple of weeks with only short periods (an hour or two) in the water daily for eating and drinking.

[nancyd]

the additional challenge now is finding an appropriate vet in Hong Kong!

[SpotsMama]

Here's some references for vets worldwide. In the link that says "world" there are some listings in Hong Kong:

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=370

Since it doesn't sound like whatever it is that's causing the shell to turn black has eaten into the shell or breached the shell, try washing it with a good antiseptic wash. Betadine is a good one that's widely available in the US. Other good ones contain chlorhexidine (brand name Nolvasan is used by veterinarians, brand name Hibiclense is a hand wash for people). Perhaps something like this is available where you are. Be sure and follow directions for whatever you use. Don't let any get in the turtle's face or eyes. After the shell has dried thoroughly, rub on some silver sulfadiazine if you can get it or else some other antibiotic cream like Neosporin. Keep the turtle dry for about an hour after you've put the cream on before returning him to the water. This process would probably have to be repeated for several days or more.

I'd be interested in knowing what the vet prescribes or, if you try the treatment above, how it turns out.

Good luck. Your little guy has been through a lot already. I hope things get better now.