General Care Discussion :: What went wrong? =(

[Luis02]

Long post, please bear with me.

Here's the basic info, more details and the story below

How big is your turtle? 5" aprox
How long have you had it? He came here 4 years ago, I've been taking care of him for a year and a half now

What is the water temperature? 75-78°F
Did you use a thermometer? yes
Are you using a water heater? yes
How much water is in there? a bit more than half tank
Are you using a water conditioner? yes
Are you using any filtration? yes (although I removed it two days ago)

What is the basking temperature? Don't know
Is there a basking light? yes
Is there a basking platform that is easy to climb on? yes, a big rock.
What kind is it or what is it made out of?
Is there a UVB light? yes

What have you been trying to feed it? pellets/lettuce
When was the last time your turtle ate? 3 days ago.

How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? 10 gal tank
Is the tank near a window? yes
Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity? yeah, sort of

Have you read the Basic Care section? yes
Have you searched the forums for similar situations? sort of

----

OK, Tony (male)is 4 years old, he used to fight a lot with Nelly (same age, female) so a year and a half ago I bought him his own tank. Before that, my little sister used to take care of both, quite badly since we had no idea how to take care of our (now mine) turtles. Since I started reading this forum, I've tried hard to make their lives better.

Tony is a bit shy and scared of humans but as long as he's in his tank, he's happy. The routine for the last year and so has been: he wakes me up at 7-ish am by making noises with the stones/filter/heater so I can feed him. I give him 4-5 pellets and then he calms down. Around 11am, as soon as the sun touches his basking spot, he goes there and spend a few hours before going back to the water.

Around 4pm I feed him with chunks of lettuce which he devours not caring about the size of the chunks. Every now and then I give him a little piece of cuttlebone and once a week a bit of carrot.

I haven't been able to buy a decent filter so I used one that was in some other tank, which is a tiny one. Therefore, water gets dirty quite often. This time due my laziness, I let the water stay dirty for a few days.

Last Sunday, I noticed Tony didn't wake me up, which felt weird. I gave him 4 pellets and went outside. When I came back, I left some lettuce and then went outside again, until midnight. When I came home, I noticed he didn't eat a single thing, which worried me a lot.

On Monday morning I noticed there were less lettuce but still a lot. I finally cleaned his tank quite well. While he was walking around the flat, I didn't notice anything wrong with him. I came to read about filters and decided a canister filter is the one I need, although I don't know if I'll be able to afford it this week. I decided to get rid of the little filter and leave his tank without one for a couple of days.

Today, he hasn't eaten anything, even though I tried to feed him with pellets and fresh lettuce.

Was this caused by the mistake of not cleaning his tank earlier on? I feel quite gutted right now.

If it helps, he ate a couple of gravel/tiny stones like 5 months ago, I never knew if he pooped 'em or not.

Should I run to the vet?

Some pix outside his tank, let me know if you see something in his shell please.

ps-I know it's a small tank considering he's 5°, but he seems OK, I live in a tiny flat and I don't have enough space at the moment, I will in like 6 months though.

[steve]

It's hard to tell what's going on.. as a precaution, I would raise the water temp to 80F and see if he responds to his treats.

Exactly how "dirty" is dirty? How long was it in there?

[Luis02]

It's hard to tell what's going on.. as a precaution, I would raise the water temp to 80F and see if he responds to his treats.

Exactly how "dirty" is dirty? How long was it in there?

Steve, thanks for replying.

I'm already working on the raising of the temperature.

Dirty... He poops and everything goes under the stones, and since he swims from here to there and he's always looking for food I guess, the water was full of poop, plus bits of old lettuce. I know, it was wrong and I won't let this happen again.

By the way, is there anything wrong with his shell? could it be something related with fungus or something like that?

[SINI5T3R]

Tank Cleanliness should have nothing to do with him eating if its only been two or three days dirty. As for poop on the bottom, if he eats it its okay it wont hurt him. My turtles eat there own crap alllllll the time. as for the pebbles, im sure they have passed if it was five months or more ago. Those scoots on his shell seem like they just need a good summing. if you have a pool or something then just throw him in that and that will clear it up quick within a week or less. I got these huge RES that someone had in a tank with no uvb bulbs and i put them in my pond and there shells shed soooo much within the first week. I filled up a little zip lock bag with full pieces of scoots that came off them. The green stuff i see in the first picture i think it was just looks like some algae? if you get a tooth brush and some semi warm water and scrub the shell soft it should clean it real good. make sure not to rip off the scoots sticking up as that can hurt the turtle and cause it pain.

[KnTucker]

Your turtle looks like he just needs to shed. I'm sure once he's done he'll look a lot healthier. The shape of his shell looks wonderful though.

I have a few ideas about your problem.
1) Your turtle only eats 4-5 pellets daily? When turtles get older it's probably a good idea to feed them once every 2-3 days. I feed mine as many pellets as the size of her head (**edit: not the neck**). That's a lot more than 4-5.
2) You seem like you've been really good to your turtle with the consistency of feeding him. Maybe you should try giving him a treat? I give my turtle feeder fish once or twice a month. She goes absolutely nuts with excitement! She also gets lots of exercise chasing them around...
3) He doesn't seem like he's basking enough to shed. Does your rock allow her to get completely dry?

I'm a lot like you in that I've been reading this forum for quite a while and have learned a lot and learned to treat my turtle a lot better than the previous owner. It's amazing how I think I know so much and then I just learn more and more from this site.

[Luis02]

Tank Cleanliness should have nothing to do with him eating if its only been two or three days dirty. As for poop on the bottom, if he eats it its okay it wont hurt him. My turtles eat there own crap alllllll the time. as for the pebbles, im sure they have passed if it was five months or more ago. Those scoots on his shell seem like they just need a good summing. if you have a pool or something then just throw him in that and that will clear it up quick within a week or less. I got these huge RES that someone had in a tank with no uvb bulbs and i put them in my pond and there shells shed soooo much within the first week. I filled up a little zip lock bag with full pieces of scoots that came off them. The green stuff i see in the first picture i think it was just looks like some algae? if you get a tooth brush and some semi warm water and scrub the shell soft it should clean it real good. make sure not to rip off the scoots sticking up as that can hurt the turtle and cause it pain.

I haven't seen him eat his own poop, but I've read it lots of times so I guess it's ok. In this case, poop was all over the place, I mean he was breathing poop literally I guess, that's my concern.

About the scoots, yup, I won't rip them off and I'll brush his shell tomorrow morning. He gets so mad when I do that though.

Your turtle looks like he just needs to shed. I'm sure once he's done he'll look a lot healthier. The shape of his shell looks wonderful though.

I have a few ideas about your problem.
1) Your turtle only eats 4-5 pellets daily? When turtles get older it's probably a good idea to feed them once every 2-3 days. I feed mine as many pellets as the size of her head and neck. That's a lot more than 4-5.
2) You seem like you've been really good to your turtle with the consistency of feeding him. Maybe you should try giving him a treat? I give my turtle feeder fish once or twice a month. She goes absolutely nuts with excitement! She also gets lots of exercise chasing them around...
3) He doesn't seem like he's basking enough to shed. Does your rock allow her to get completely dry?

I'm a lot like you in that I've been reading this forum for quite a while and have learned a lot and learned to treat my turtle a lot better than the previous owner. It's amazing how I think I know so much and then I just learn more and more from this site.

Thanks for the input

I was worried about his shell, thanks for saying it's alright.

1) So... should I feed him with, let's say, 8-10 pellets once every 2-3 days? Should I do the same with Nelly, my other turtle? she's the same age. Lettuce is OK every day?
2) Some mango or papaya would be considered as a treat?
3) That's the main thing I guess, he's not basking enough, I'm getting him a lamp tomorrow morning since he doesn't have one, and today when I woke up, he was already on his basking spot.

-------------

So, it's Wednesday and he hasn't eaten a thing since Sunday. What else can I do in the meantime?

He slept a bit more than the usual today. He stays in one corner for a while, then swims for a bit and then goes back to that corner to stand still.

One more thing: I went to check out some prices today (a more powerful heater and a new filter):

About the heater: loads of weird brands, should I order online a VisiTherm, Ebo Jager or Tronic, like the website suggest? or anything will do?

About the filter: I live in Mexico City so, again, lots of chinese and taiwanese brands. I did find Fluval filters but those are HUGE and around 200/300 dollars. I found these ones on the mexican ebay:

http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.mx/MLM ... cuento-_JM

what dyou think? Given the fact that I can't aford one of those 200 usd right now, would the Fluval Plus 2-3 do the job?

Again, I'm choosing a canister filter since that's the one recommended on the readearslider.com website.

Thanks again for all your comments and advice

[theartbook35]

I rare occasions, I used to get lazy and not clean Hurricane and Typhoon's tank on schedule. If it got a little murky they'd start swimming slower and refuse food. Then I cleaned the tank, and they stopped it.

Once a turtle hits five inches they start pooping like crazy. I have to clean both my turtle tanks once a week because of this. It's annoying and gross.

[KnTucker]

You're very welcome =D

About not eating. Don't worry, turtles have the slowest metabolisms ever. They can survive a long time without eating. I'm sure that once you keep the water clean and give him what he needs he'll start begging for food again like turtles love to do. It looks like you've got the right idea about what to give your turtles to eat. Remember, it can change. Variety is good.

Keeping the water clean: feed them outside of their tanks. Buy a bigger habitat for them when you can. There are cheaper options than glass tanks. Fluval plus filters are awesome. Buy the number 3 fluval. I think it says its for 28 gallons. That way when you get a chance to upgrade your tank/tub to something above 50 gallons you can just buy a second filter.

Basking: Yup a lamp is great!

His swimming/activity: sounds normal to me. Sometimes my turtle just stays in the corner for a long time. Sometimes she's just bored and likes watching me. She gets more excited when there are fish in the tank. I'd buy him some small feeder fish. They are SO CHEAP.

Heater: not sure about the heater. Maybe someone else can help with that. I have a submersible heater that won't burn the fish or turtle. It's great because I can just set it to the right temperature and it will stay that way.

Keep us updated =D

[Luis02]

You're very welcome =D

About not eating. Don't worry, turtles have the slowest metabolisms ever. They can survive a long time without eating. I'm sure that once you keep the water clean and give him what he needs he'll start begging for food again like turtles love to do. It looks like you've got the right idea about what to give your turtles to eat. Remember, it can change. Variety is good.

Well, he ended up eating a few days ago. All he needed was a dry basking spot and the UV bulb with a decent lamp. He has been basking every single day at 7am so that's great, I'm quite happy.

Keeping the water clean: feed them outside of their tanks. Buy a bigger habitat for them when you can. There are cheaper options than glass tanks. Fluval plus filters are awesome. Buy the number 3 fluval. I think it says its for 28 gallons. That way when you get a chance to upgrade your tank/tub to something above 50 gallons you can just buy a second filter.

Yup, I'll get it next week probably. His water isn't dirty yet but I'll change it in a few days as well to avoid a mess.

Heater: not sure about the heater. Maybe someone else can help with that. I have a submersible heater that won't burn the fish or turtle. It's great because I can just set it to the right temperature and it will stay that way.

Keep us updated =D

What brand is your submersible heater? The only decent I could brand at local pet stores is a Fluval Elite that is $25usd (it's a bit expensive but considering the mexican peso-us dollar ratio and that the item is imported, it's not that bad I guess.

Right now I'm thinking about a new basking spot for both turts. They have the typical little island but it's way too small now. I've seen lots of pics of spots made out of milk crate but I have no idea where to get it where I live. I thought a simple piece of glass would do the trick, what do you think? Where dyou usually get the milk crate?

Thanks again for everything