General Care Discussion :: what happened to the shell of my RES?

[JosephX]

the whiteish substance on his shell make it not as beautiful his peers! Any advice?

[steve]

Hard to say what it is, what's the diet and habitat like?

[JosephX]

Pellets of NutrafinMax, weeds, shrimp, chicken
i keep him in a glass tank with water 6 inches deep, basking area provided

[steve]

Stick to pellets for now. Does he bask often? Is there a UVA/UVB light? Water filtration?

[JosephX]

Yes he loves to bask. It's not a UVB light tho. And I change the water every day

[steve]

I would work on getting him a UVB light and maybe adding a little extra calcium in his diet - either dusting his pellets or with some cuttlebone. I would also try a light shell scrub with diluted Hibiclens (chlorhexidine) in case this is a type of infection.

[axebass26]

is this normal? i just got my RES last Thursday, size is around 2 inches and my current setup is, 10 gallon tank (for now, i have a 20 galon tank and a 75 galon tank free if i need them) my lighting is a 25 watt incandecent bulb for basking and a compact fluorescent bulb for the uv light. i'm from the philippines BTW and uva and uvb bulbs are kinda hard to find.

anyway, here is the picture of the shell of one of my turtles, her name is Biik /Bee-ik/ (Filipino for Piglet), my girlfriend named it... is this normal?

[Rishabh]

Looks Healthy.... I Have Two Of The Same Size Too... And Ten Gallons Seems Too Small..Go For The Biggest Tank You Can Afford... (75 Gallon Tank For Free?? How?? )
I See You Are Using Gravel As A Bedding(Substrate).... Not A Good Choice...I Used It For Two Days When I Bought My RES And After Reading Some Posts Here...I Switched To Sand...It keeps The Tank Clean And You Can Siphon Out Some Waste Left By The Filter....Be Sure To Clean The Sand Thoroughly before using...Refer To The SAND FAQ On The Indoor Habitat Forums....
Goo Luck !!!

[axebass26]

Looks Healthy.... I Have Two Of The Same Size Too... And Ten Gallons Seems Too Small..Go For The Biggest Tank You Can Afford... (75 Gallon Tank For Free?? How?? )
I See You Are Using Gravel As A Bedding(Substrate).... Not A Good Choice...I Used It For Two Days When I Bought My RES And After Reading Some Posts Here...I Switched To Sand...It keeps The Tank Clean And You Can Siphon Out Some Waste Left By The Filter....Be Sure To Clean The Sand Thoroughly before using...Refer To The SAND FAQ On The Indoor Habitat Forums....
Goo Luck !!!

it's an old tank i have lying around... i still need to clean it out... my fish died when my niece dropped a whole can of fish food into the tank and that was while i was away at work.

anyway... i plan to change my substrate but i think i'm going to go the other way around, bigger rocks and not sand. while i'm looking for new substrate i might just take out the gravel when i get home today...

anyway, about Biik's shell?

[steve]

It looks ok, was there something specific that concerned you?

[richieboy]

I would check the 'net for an online order for UVB, it's important for them. Turtle looks cute and healthy to me. Lighting, heating, filtering will help him stay that way! Also I would set the big tank up. It's fun to watch them when they have nice swimming room. The way their hind feet expand and web out is cool!