General Care Discussion :: White Spot on the Shell

[summersblair]

I have a male turtle that has a white spot on his shell and I was wondering if you can tell what it is. It is not soft or smelly or anything. It is just white and sometimes more clearish in the water. Almost skin color.
Any Ideas?

[johnQguy]

Shell rot, from the looks of it.

[summersblair]

I was thinking that but usually with Shell rot it is soft and stinks.

[ScrewZoo]

It may be a shedding bubble.. B/c u said it looks clear, that means hes due to a shed more will pop up all over then hell shed em off.

[johnQguy]

Take a close-up shot.

[SpotsMama]

It's hard to tell from the photo. Could you possibly give us another much closer up and when the shell is dry?

One possibility is it's shedding, though it's awfully bright for typical shedding. another possibility is fungus growing underneath a scute that loosened but didn't fall off and trapped water underneath. A shell infection - fungus or bacteria - won't be soft and stinky in the early stages.

[summersblair]

ok I will take another pic when I get home. This was actually under the shell that peeled off of it. I will take some dry pics later.

[SpotsMama]

If it looked like that after a scute peeled off, than my opinion is that it's may be exposed bone - that the scute came off too soon. Did anyone perchance help peel the scute off? Closeup dry pictures would be helpful.

[summersblair]

Actually my wife did peel the scute off but it was coming off already.

[summersblair]

Hey spotsmama do you have e-mail to send the pics. I dont know where to post on the net.

[chrisinva]

Here are the pics


they look kinda small

[steve]

Actually my wife did peel the scute off but it was coming off already.

That doesn't matter. Shedding is not a quick process, and it does sound like it is an exposed layer. The pictures were too small for me to tell.

[summersblair]

Here are some new pics that I took, Hopefully we can figure it out.

[steve]

It's hard to say. A bone layer would be much whiter, so it could be only partially exposed. What is the texture like? Is it smooth like the other parts of the shell?

[summersblair]

yeah it does almost feel like the shell, a little slipier maybe but pretty much the same. Its still hard.