General Care Discussion :: heat damage?

[acf]

hello all!

i have posted a few times on here with questions about my RES sam's shell. and i was lead to believe it was a fungal issue that i was dealing with. i have read and read and read and tried all sorts of diffrent remedies that are at my disposal and nothing is even making a hint of a diffrence. today out of desperation i took sam with me to our local reptile specialty store and seeked advice with sam to model his condition for me. they told me that by the looks of things he is pyramiding, and is reataining his scutes (which you experts have already told me thanks!) they also told me that while it looks like there is a fungal issue possibly going on they dont see any signs of shell rot or any other conditon they could name. they told me he looked healthy and his eyes are bright and he has good strength when he pushes back on you so they believe he is a healthy RES with the exception of his shell. i told them about my tank set up and that its a 55 gallon, water temp 80, proper uvb, and basking with heat. he swims as much as he basks and has a healthy diet. the kicker is i didnt have a themometer to gauge his basking temp.

i bought a thermometer for his basking today and the results were off the chart with the temp it was that hot. i was advised to have it around 90 and it was way way past that, there was no number for it.. oops!

now for my question, could this be the reason behind his shell damage? could i be burning the shell without realizing it? he basks alot and never showed signs of distress? if so is it fixable or is the damage permanent? i am working on finding the right spot right now to have the temp at 90 where it belongs.

any advice or suggestion would be great. i dont have any pictures on my new laptop right now, however my older posts have shots of him if your curious.

thanks all! your advice has always been great!

-Amy

[vear]

Wow, yeah, the basking temp. should be about 10F higher than the water temp. I'm surprised your turtle actually went up there if it was too hot for him. I don't know that his shell is burned, if people have taken a look and they think it's fungus then that's probably what it is. Fungus is really difficult to get rid of! I'm curious as to why your basking temps were so high! Is your bulb that close to his basking spot? You can lower the temp. by putting the light bulb further or simply getting a bulb with lower wattage. I use a regular incandescent bulb for mine.

[acf]

i have moved the basking light back a bit, and am slowly trying to find just the right spot. im surprised he basked too, but he loves it up there. i just hope the damage to his shell isnt permanent.

[richieboy]

When you took the temperature how close was it in relation the light and the surface of the basking area. What kinda thermometer is it? Just wondering because I use a digital one with a probe for the water and a stick on one for the basking area and put it as low to the surface as possible. Just wondering because if it was really like 100+ degrees that's hot.

[happycamper]

Maybe after some time and a couple good sheds it will be gone? Maybe lots of time out in the sun, and make some of those jello shots with the ingredients to promote shedding?

[steve]

Were you able to try the silver sulfadiazine for the fungus? As for the basking, 90F is good to entice them. I try to keep a larger area for them to bask and have the warmth focused in the top middle. That way my RES can move away if they feel it's too warm or just stay as warm as possible.

[acf]

no, no luck with the silver sulfadiazine, however im not too sure it is a fungus. his shell is really hard and with the heat having been so high im thinking i probably was burning his shell and drying him out. so it probably caused him to stop shedding and ive noticed pyramiding as well. i think that now that the heat is where it should be over time things will correct its self (i hope!). he is basking right now, i was worried cause when i brought the temp down he seemed to lose interst in basking, probably because he was so used to it being so hot. i also bought him so pre-made frozen cubes for turtles that have tons of good stuff in them and he loves them, so he will be getting so good nutrients this way also. i think i may be on the right track. i hope so anyways!

[steve]

Fungus on the shell will not be soft. If it's spreading, then that's probably what it is.

[richieboy]

What's the pre-made frozen cubes for turtles called?

[acf]

it was in a package that looks like mini ice cubes. you pop them out and feed them by the cube. they are frozen and kept in the freezer. i believe they are called "frozen aquatic turtle diet' not sure who its made by but they are green cubes and contain turnip, krill, blood worm, a type of algea, celery (i think) anyways lots of good stuff and they thaw quickly in the water. the turtles love them and devour them quickly. try looking them up on google? hope you can find them, i live in ontario canada.

[marisa]

It sounds like you were feeding San Francisco Bay frozen aquatic diet---they come in a blister pack which you keep frozen and pop out cubes as needed. I buy them myself and feed them to my turtles as part of their diet. They can be rather messy, so it's good to feed them in a separate feeding container. I usually give them a day or so before I'm going to do a water change.

[acf]

yeah, they are really really messy, i put the turtles in a separate feeding tank and let them at it in there. much easier clean up!