General Care Discussion :: White growth on bottom of shell?

[Mooneygh]

There seems to be some type of white growth on the bottom of Franks shell. He is about 4 inches now and in a 75 gal tank with over 200 gal of filtration power including a basking dock with proper lighting. So I'm pretty sure the habitat is not the problem.

Theres a picture below.

Can this be fixed with an otc med like repti turtle sulfa dip?

Also wondering what this is, it seems to have spread a little bit.

[robind]

I've never seen this before. Have you tried wiping/scrubbing his plastron? Maybe it's just a white build up of some kind.

[Daniel3507]

im not real sure what that is. i dont think that the repti sulfa dip would take care of it though. it almost looks like the shell rubbed up on something rough? and i think your he might be a she.

[Arisu]

hmmm... its not just a metallic tint? can you see it when your turt is dry?

[steve]

Looks like fungus. Might be easily treatable depending on the severity of the infection. How is the basking area/times like?

Also, if your cuttlebone has a hard backing, it should be removed.

[Mooneygh]

The basking area is a large zoo med basking dock I believe.

Have a standard basking heat lamp as well as a reptisun 2.0 UVA/B (something like that).

The lights are on for 12 hours a day (on a timer).

The problem may lay on foot traffic as strange as that sounds.

He/She is very private when it comes to basking and the second he/she notices someone in the room he/she flies off the dock.

So do you recommend I take frank straight to the herp or maybe try out the sulfa dip first?

Thanks again!

[steve]

I don't think a sulfa dip will help. I would prepare an area to dry-dock your turtle and make sure your turtle can bask as much as he can. It's much harder to deal with fungus if the infection worsens or returns. You'll probably want to get a prescription for silver sulfadiazine from your vet.

[joeybsmooth]

I don't think sliding off the dock would do that . That is what they are know for. To me it looks like some type of shell Rot .

Also you need to get at least a 5.0 light .

[Mooneygh]

I'm calling in the morning to schedule an appointment with the vet.

I wasn't saying that it was from him scratching on the dock, I was saying that he may not be basking enough.

Should I change the water and put him in the 29 gallon spare tank I have for now?

[joeybsmooth]

Sorry I misunderstood what you where saying .

About the vet, Make sure before you go that your vet know what he or she is doing when it comes to turtles. Many of us have been to vets that did not have clue about turtles.

I would hold off on changing him at this time, until you take him to the vet... however if you choose to change him it would not hurt .

[Mooneygh]

No problem.

My vet for our dog actually gave me the number of a vet she knows that deals with "exotic" animals which she said falls under aquatic turtles.

I just hope to get this issue resolved as I thought I was taking such good care of them!

[steve]

I'd search the forum for SpotsMama and fungus. She has very clear details about a situation she had to deal with, it should give you a good idea of what may be involved.

[SpotsMama]

Here's the thread on my turtle's experience with a shell problem.

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... ll&start=0

One thing I've learned since that experience with Spot's shell is that a somewhat different condition - what's commonly called shell rot - often looks similar (though not exactly the same) to what Spot had, which was fungus. However, in the photo your turtle's case looks exactly like Spot's so I expect the same treatment would work.