General Care Discussion :: Spots on shell getting worst......hmmm

[RunninWideOpen]

Squirt has one spot on her shell and it's been getting worst. It looks like a fungus to me, but I'd like to confirm that with some of you other, more knowledgable folk.

Donny has a bunch of spots now. At first I thought it was shedding, but now it doesn't look like shedding to me. Maybe you guys can help me there too?

Here's the pics of Squirt:






And here's Donny:




All three of the RES bask a lot. Proper UVB and heat bulbs are in place. Water temps correct. These spots have developed all in the past couple months. Crush has no spots. She is shedding right now, and her shell is actually starting to look much better (she had a lot of pitting when I got her).

[steve]

Looks like fungus/yeast to me too. Doesn't look so bad at this stage. Your best bet would be to get some silver sulfadine (aka... silvadene or SSD cream). It's prescription only, so you'll need to ask your vet for some. This stuff does grow fast and is contagious to other turtles, so I wouldn't hesitate too long.

[Starchick]

Obviously, it's probably best to see a vet, but Hercules had a fungus issue recently that *looked* very much like what I see in your pics. I got the SSD cream from this link
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0008K ... 391&sr=8-4
And it worked very well. I dry docked him at night, and within a week and a half it was completely better.

[RunninWideOpen]

Thanks! Do you think there's any harm in trying the cream before going to the vet? We've found a very good herp vet here, but he's pretty expensive. If it doesn't work or gets worst I'll definitely take her to the vet, but I'd like to hold off on that if I can.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Do you have hard water where you live? Just had to ask. Sometimes the shell can "stain" gray from all the calcium/minerals in the water. I can't exactly see from the picture whether it is a fungus or just staining.

How often do you do water changes? Frequent water changes can help the condition of the shell (helps keeps fungus away & prevents minerals from building up in the water).

[SpotsMama]

If it's mineral deposits, it should come off if you gently rub a spot with a q tip that has been dipped in vinegar. Typically, when it's mineral deposits the white will be all over the shell at once, forming a thin layer at first that gradually gets thicker and thicker. The typical pattern for fungus is that it starts with a spot or a few spots that gradually get larger and larger, and new spots begin appearing in different places. To my eyes, the spots look more like fungus but why don't you try rubbing a spot with a vinegar soaked q tip just to be sure.

On starting treatment before going to the vet, yes it's ok to do that. Your turtles' cases are pretty mild. If you can't get rid of it with the SSD, then ask the vet for help. For treatment, just do exactly as starchick advises.

If you wouldn't mind, why don't you let us know how it goes after you've tried the SSD? Be sure and dry dock over night.

[RunninWideOpen]

I do about 30% water change every 2 weeks. They're all in the 135 gallon tank now. Our water quality here is actually pretty good. Tap water is actually drinkable (unlike where I just moved from).

Squirt's spot looks a lot different to me than Donny's spots. Squirt's looks more fungal to me...Donny's looks like the shell is just getting "foggy" in spots. I will try the vinegar / q-tip and see if either of them rub off. If not, I'll try the SSD and let ya'll know how it goes. Thanks for the help!

[RunninWideOpen]

hey all.....

so some follow up. he appears to be getting much worst. I treated him with the SSD cream for 2 weeks. it appeared to clear up and go away at first. then it looked like he was starting to shed, but it no longer looks like that. it looks really bad to me. i'm going to make a vet appt, but wanted to post some pics to see what you guys thought first:

Only half of his plastron looks like this, the other half looks pretty good.


I'm concerned about the rear of his plastron. Why is there a big gap on one side?


You can see some spots that look like they're shedding, and some spots don't:


He also has 2 wierd red dots on his chin. I couldn't get him to pull his head out any farther:



Any thoughts you have would be much appreciated.

[megcornell]

If you have a good, reliable herp vet it's great you made an appointment.
As for the gap in the shell has it always been there? I know when I first got my rescue turtle I scanned his shell in depth and saw quite a few differences and irregularities but none of them were anything serious. Since you'll be at the vet, definitely point that out though, just in case.
Are the red spots on the chin little cuts? It could be that his skin is getting caught on part of the shell as he retracts his head.

Good luck at the vets, let us know how you make out.

[RunninWideOpen]

hey meg,

it'll be a couple days before we get into the vet, but i'll keep ya posted.

the red spots don't look like cuts at all, they look more beneath the surface. i've had a hard time trying to get him to put his head out to examine really closely though.

i never noticed these irregularities in his shell before. but, to say that they absolutely weren't there before would still be a guess. it's hard to see but at the front of his plastron on the left side, there are 2 scutes that appear to be seperating there as well. it's very odd.

i'll let ya know what happens after the vet visit.

[RESCHIU]

My turtle has the exact same problem you have, my vet just told me it's because of hard water in Las Vegas(it's still spreading), my vet said not to worry about it unless it's giving bad odor or becoming soft...I also try to keep her dry as much as I can to help....
http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... ht=#144015

http://www.fx.clemson.edu/~ychiu/turtle/white.JPG
http://www.fx.clemson.edu/~ychiu/turtle/white2.JPG
http://www.fx.clemson.edu/~ychiu/turtle/white3.JPG

*for those who don't know my turtle, she once had bacteria infection on her plastron, that's why you are seeing bad scar on her belly, it's all cured now so don't worry

[RunninWideOpen]

hey reschiu, thanks for the response. i think i may have a different problem than you did. I've got 4 RES - one smaller and 2 bigger than this one. This one is the only one experiencing this. all are living in the same water. not the same tank, but same water.

i'm going to go ahead and go to the vet and see what he says. i'll let ya know!

[SpotsMama]

By all means see the vet and let us know what he says. What your turtle has looks to me like fungus too, but it would be good to know what the vet thinks - and what the vet advises you do about it.

Usually fungus results from "husbandry" problems - water not clean enough, turtle not basking properly, light quality not good enough, and even dietary problems. How do you think your setup rates?

My turtle had a real bad case of fungus for a long time that spread and spread until he was almost completely white. He also was not shedding scutes like he should. They just piled up for years until topical treatments like SSD couldn't penetrate the thick layers. If a turtle is having trouble shedding, the best advice is to make sure he basks a lot so that his shell dries out thoroughly and add some vitamin e containing foods to his diet. Vitamin e is supposed to help with shedding. Here are some foods that contain vitamin e:

Tomato
Sweet potato
Turnip greens
Blueberries
Apple skin

Once Spot shed the thick layers of retained scutes, the SSD was able to reach the fungus and he got well again.

[RunninWideOpen]

thanks! that actually makes sense. he has not shed since i got him. i'm still going to see the vet, but will add some of those foods to his diet.

i really don't know what i could do better to improve the husbandry. their water stays clean, I have a large mechanical, canister filtering system that filters through the bottom of the tank. I also have 2 large cascading filters (rated 60 gal each) on the top to keep the water on the top moving.

Donny basks daily on the large basking platform at 90F with a UVB10.0 tube bulb that is about 3 months old. I replace it every 8 months.

The staple in his diet is reptomin pellets. Greens are offered daily (romaine, turnip greens, mustard greens, kale, red/green leaf lettuce). Carrots are offered once a week. Fruits and other goodies like dried shrip and krill are offered about once every two-three weeks.

if you have any suggestions on what i can improve, let me know. He's now sharing the tank with Crush and Squirt (6"), both of which are doing very well. Crush is actually in full shed right now. Donny has more than doubled in size in the past year. He was 2" when we got him and is over 4" now.

[SpotsMama]

Your setup does sound good. and the diet. Does he have any cuttlebone in his diet? The calcium always helps.

It could be that he picked up some sort of shell infection before you ever got him and it's just stubborn.

Good luck at the vet's. Here's a standard caution for people whose turtles are going to see a vet. If the vet offers to give a vitamin A shot, first make sure the vet is positive your turtle really needs vitamin A and then discuss other alternatives to shots with the vet like eye drops with vitamin A, cod liver oil or food supplements. Several turtles have recently had very bad reactions to vitamin A shots and I think it's best that if vitamin A is needed (and often it's not) the safer methods be used instead.