General Care Discussion :: Ate Sulfa Block!

[SebastianMillhouse]

I'm scared now. My turtle just ate the sulfa block I had in his tank. It was down to about the size of a nickle and I threw it in there. I do this maybe once a week to kill of bacteria. It works really well actually. In no more than 5 minutes though, he must have eaten it. Is this harmful?

[SpotsMama]

My turtle did that once and had the worst diarrhea ever for several days. It scared the living daylights out of me but he got over it. I've never given him another sulfa block.

[steve]

How do you know it actually works? Are you doing subsequent tests to confirm this?

[SebastianMillhouse]

My turtle always had a slimy growth on him until I put in a sulfa block. It was gone in 2 days. I also put one in my filter for a few minutes and it makes the water noticeably clearer.

[marisa]

Sulfa is a drug, and really shouldn't be used on a regular basis unless your turtle has a condition that will respond to it (and should be used only until the condition has cleared). Overuse will cause your turtle's system to build up a tolerance to it (Ever hear of how some human diseases are now resistant to penicillan? Taking antibiotics unnecessarily will have the same effect.)

If your turtle is healthy, skip the block. If he's eating it, he's probably looking for more calcium in his diet. Get him some cuttlebone. If you don't know what it is, please do a search on the topic. There are a number of threads on it.