General Care Discussion :: Spots on shell getting worst......hmmm

[RunninWideOpen]

Thanks SM!

they do get cuttlebone, not as often as I'd like because i just forget to give it to them. i've got a 5lb bag of it. they probably go through a whole large cuttlebone a month between the 3 of them. i'll work on remembering to give it to them more often.

Will let you all know what i find out in a couple days.

[RunninWideOpen]

Well, we went to the vet yesterday. He confirmed that my setup was good and shouldn't be the problem at all.

He thinks that Donny's history is the primary reason for all of this because Spike has the exact same thing going on. Spike is now more of our God-turtle. We gave him to another family we know and are helping them take care of him. They're doing a really good job, but he's got the same shell problems goin on. The vet said that this could be a regular thing we have to fight with both Donny and Spike. Donny and Spike were both kept in extremely poor conditions for the first 2+ years of their life. I got them from a family who kept them both in a 5 gallon tank with 1/2" of water on the bottom. obviously not heated. i could tell they were pretty sick with an RI the evening I got them, so I took them to the vet the next day and got some antibiotics. A couple weeks later they both recovered, but eventually came down with this shell issue.

The vet feels it is a combination of MBD and bacterial infection of the shell. Poor shell health has allowed fungus to grow much easier than it should. He showed me that the fungus is very superficial, and easy to peel off.

So, he told me to pick off as much of the fungus as I can that is has not gone deeper into the bone. He gave me ChlorHexiDerm to cleanse the shell and scrub with a hard-bristled toothbrush. He also gave me some more SSD cream and instructed me to apply it twice a day and dry dock for 20 minutes afterwords. (Instead of applying it every night and dry docking all night, like I did last time). I'm also to do it for 3 weeks this time, not just 2.

He also prescribed antibiotics, Baytril to give once a day for the next 3 weeks to hopefully conquer the bacterial infection.

So, that's what I'm doing. I just applied everything for the first time. I really hope this treatment will cure the problem for good. I really don't want to have to deal with this for the rest of his life.

[steve]

After I treated my RES, most of the fungus was gone. When it started to come back, the SSD cream no longer seemed to be very effective -- leaving me to believe that the quicker-spreading fungus was not tolerant to the cream. What fungus was left no longer had to compete with the other fungus, leaving a more resistant version free. Another theory is that what fungus was there has become resistant, though either scenario is disappointing.

I can tell that the fungus I currently see does not spread as quickly though it will spread but it is not penetrating beneath the scutes are the previous fungus did.

[RunninWideOpen]

thanks for your input steve. you're right that it doesn't seem to be penetrating the scutes. i'm gently scraping a little off every time i treat him, as the vet suggested, and it's not very deep at all.

[RunninWideOpen]

well it's been another few months and i've treated this off an on since the last post. donny is still getting worst, not better. he started to get better, started to shed, but didn't do nearly a complete shed.

steve, you said when the fungus came back, the SSD cream no longer worked for you. what did you do at that point? i'm getting a bit more concerned about this.

[steve]

Hey Tom,

I haven't been able to do anything. This particular fungus spreads quicker, but doesn't seem to penetrate as deep as the other infection. That also lead to a very problematic retained scute situation. At this point, I'm just hopeful that regular shedding will help keep it at bay.

[RunninWideOpen]

Ah ok. I am trying one more hard wave of SSD cream and night time dry docking for a few weeks. If that doesn't work I guess I will be in the same situation, waiting and hoping for a full shed.

Thanks.

[mat012]

Does he get natural sun light? Spotsmama has said that natural sun light has helped her turtle shed more than the UVB. Maybe 30 minutes or so outside each day might help him shed and then help with the penetration issue??