General Care Discussion :: slime?

[mlabri01]

hi there, i'm posting a quetion for my friend who has 2 RES at her home. She's noticed that one of the two has developed a strange slime on it's neck and face. it's not algae, and it breathes alright and takes plenty of basking time. i can't find anything on the web regarding this sympton. has anyone else heard of it? any ideas on what it could be?

[missibsu]

Is it possible to get pictures of this? Both in the water and out?

[CountryGirl68]

Have you seen the slime your friend is talking about? If you can get a picture it would give us a better idea of what your friend means by slime. If not, can you give a better description?

[mlabri01]

hi there - thanks for responding!
i talked to my friend and she unfortunately doesn't have a camera that would capture this "slime" that she sees on her turtle, so i can't post it.

What she did elaborate on was that when the turtle is out and walking around, this slimey substance is not at all noticable. She only noticed it when the turtle was swimming the water. It seems to come off in the water and floats in it as a dirty, grey, filmy substance - almost ghostly grey and it floats about mostly near the head and legs.

The turtle is about 12 years old and behaves normally otherwise. It's also living in the same environment as the other turtle which doesn't seem to exhibit any of this slime.

I'd appreciate any advise on this one as we are totally stumped!

[missibsu]

Sounds to me like shedding. When the skin on the neck and legs begins to shed, it will be visible from in the water, but not when the turtle is dry. It will flake off and appear wispy in the water. If you do a search, you might be able to find some pictures of shedding skin, or someone might be able to post you some. You can compare them that way.

[mlabri01]

thanks - i had a really good look on the web hoping to find a photo but no luck - i did find this interesting tidbit regarding shedding vs. fungus - it's starting to sound like a fungus to me now! what do you think?

I GOT IT FROM YAHOO PETS.COM

Question
I have a 3 yr-old RES and he has always have skin shedding. It makes the water cloudy sometimes and I could see white substance on his limbs and neck. But for the past 2 months, he shedded alot and does not seem to be improving. I have tried keeping him dry most of the time, giving him warm salt water dip everyday and changing the tank water everyday. He is kept dry in my backyard which has the morning sun but he prefers to hide in his hut. Otherwise, he is eating well and active. I feed him once a day with pellets and vege. What could be the causes of excessive skin shedding? I have brought him to a vet early of the year and he said that it is due to staying too long in the water. I have tried keeping him dry 12 hours a day. At night, I would put him back into the tank with some water covering his feet.

Any help is appreciated.

ANSWER
Re: [red ear sliders] Turtle skin shedding excessively....

First, you need to look closely at the skin and determine if it really is skin, or something slimy or cottony. Shedding skin will look like skin, so if it is something white that's clinging to the skin but looks different, it's more likely to be a fungus.

If it is something cottony or slimy, drying the turtle off should kill the fungus, or slow it down. The water would "cause" a fungal infection if it is not well filtered, or if the turtle is sick in some other way leading to a lowered immune response. IMHO, fungal infection doesn't seem to be the problem, because dryness and salty baths should have stopped it, if there was a fungus.

From your description of the problem, and the care the turtle has been getting, my first guess would be that the skin has been damaged by excessively dry conditions. I find it surprising that a vet would tell someone to keep an aquatic animal out of water. RES do bask every day, but they should always have the option of swimming available to them.
The water needs to be deeper than the shell is wide. And the water should be kept lean.

This page has other possible causes of excessive skin shedding:
<http://www.turtlepuddle.org/health/skin.html> See if anything else there makes sense in your case.

[missibsu]

Fungus is the other possible issue. If it is the problem, then I would recommend a vet. Depending on the type, it will need to be treated differently.

[mlabri01]

ok, thanks for your input! i'll let my friend know what the options are.

[missibsu]

If I'm not mistaken, fungus can look more like cotton. Shedding skin will be more translucent. That's not to say that some fungus could be translucent as well.