I've been coming to this site for about half a year now since I got my baby RES. I now have four RES in an indoor pond that I built. The water temperature is at a constant 78, UVA and UVB lights are on 12 hours a day running through timers, and at night I have a non light emitting reptile heater to keep their dock warm since the nights here get around 20 degrees F.
My first turtle, Jake, got RI about three months ago (lopsided swimming, not eating, basking all the time, swollen eyes, etc) when my external pump stopped running and the external water heater attached to it basically became useless. This all happened while I was on vacation so it was like this for a couple days. I took him to a vet about 1 1/2 hours from here and had baytril shots administered every other day for a total of 9 shots. By the 6th shot you could notice a big improvement. He's now doing well. This wasn't cheap. The first visit was $45 and $28 per shot afterwards plus driving time and gas. Being the only vet here that will take in turtles for about 3 hours, I really had no choice.
I still use the external heater attached to my pump but I now have two internal heaters to pick up any slack, if any, just as a precaution.
I received a baby RES (about 1 inch) about three months ago from someone that couldn't take care of it and recently he started displaying signs of RI (lopsided swimming, swollen eyes, open mouth breathing). He's always been a little sluggish compared to the rest of my turtles. I had him separated from the others for almost two months when I got him. I have separated him once again from the others, set the water temperature to 82 and positioned the heat lamps to give him a basking area of about 94/95 degrees F. He still eats but it's very little. My question is does anyone know of an online retailer that I can get baytril after getting a prescription from my vet. I've seen baytril online labeled for dogs and cats for a very reasonable price compared to what I would have to pay locally but nothing for turtles. I'm guessing these are just more potent and requiring a larger dosage so would something like that work if the dosage was smaller? This vet really sucks and just says that I shouldn't go anywhere else trying to keep business.
I'm going to go take him to the vet to get things taken care of but it would be nice if I could just get the medicine myself and administer it here without taking the turtle for a long car ride and the several hundred dollar price tag.
The rest of my turtles all seem to be doing well. Very active, basking regularly and bobbing out of the water begging for food when ever I come by. Baby ReptoMin is the staple of their diet but romaine lettuce is given every other day and the occasional guppy maybe about once or twice a month is given.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
