General Care Discussion :: WORRIED: Bowser isn't acting normal

[Ashley]

Bowser normally is very active, and gets so excited to see anybody (especially my mom, AKA "Food Lady").
But for the past two days she has seemed a little more lethargic. She still swims around and explores, but she does so more slowly and wants to bask a lot.
A few days ago I noticed algae growing on the ramp of her dock, and then my dad noticed that the water smelled of algae yesterday.
We were gone a lot yesterday and didn't have her lamps on as much, so I thought she was just in a bad mood (she gets like that sometimes) because she didn't get her afternoon basking in. She basked for hours last night, and was still in the same mood today.
We did a 100% water change, filter cartridge change, and scrubbed all the props and dock really well.
Her appetite is still good, but she's not excited for food like before.
She's been ignoring my mom, which is unheard of.

Also, Bowser's poop has been stringy and not turd-like. It's been like that since she started eating the old dock, which was removed over a month ago. This could be from feeding carrots often and also we fed her crickets last week.

Shell looks fine. Breathing seems normal, swimming seems normal (except that she swims slower).

Here are some more details:

How big is your turtle? 5 inches
How long have you had it? Nearly 4 months

What is the water temperature? 77F
Did you use a thermometer? Strip thermometer
Are you using a water heater? No
How much water is in there? 50 gallons
Are you using a water conditioner? Reptisafe
Are you using any filtration? Aqueon Power 55

What is the basking temperature? 85-90F
Is there a basking light? Yes
Is there a basking platform that is easy to climb on? Yes
What kind is it or what is it made out of? Plastic...Oasis Turtle Platform
Is there a UVB light? Yes

What have you been trying to feed it? Pellets, carrots
When was the last time your turtle ate? Today

How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? 55 gallons
Is the tank near a window? No
Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity? Not really

Have you read the Basic Care section? Yes
Have you searched the forums for similar situations? Yes

Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms?
Stated above.

[Ashley]

So now I'm really concerned.
While she was basking she stuck her head in the water and drank a LOT of it, and she never does that.
An hour or so later she came down into the water (I startled her when I walked by), and pooped a bunch.
Something small and yellowish came out, along with a bunch of sandy looking stuff.
It looks like there's a bunch of sand on the bottom of the tank, but she hasn't eaten anything like that.
There no sand or gravel or substrate of any kind, and none of her props have had parts missing.
Anyway, she quickly went back onto the dock after eating a couple of pellets and pooping some more.

Three things that come to mind:

She used to eat her Zoomed basking dock all the time and pooped it all the time, and even though we removed the dock over a month ago we've still seen the occasional unusual poop....but not like this.

We fed her a bunch of crickets last week.

The whole algae incident mentioned in the first post.



Her normal diet consists of pellets, carrots, and the occasional grape.

[steve]

Algae and the basking are probably not the issues. I would feed only pellets for a couple of days and monitor the type of poop that's coming out. Is the stuff in the poop now plasticity?

Bump up the water temp a little and research some vets in your area, just in case a visit will be necessary.

[Ashley]

The current poop is kind of stringy like...I'll try to post a picture.
There's also been some gelatinous looking stuff in the past.

I don't have a heater since the temp stays around 77 all the time. No air vents blowing on the tank and this room is the warmest in the house. I do know of a herp vet that is very close to my house. But he's really booked up from what I've heard.
Any ideas of the cost of a turtle checkup? I know it varies from place to place, but I'd like to know an average.
I've had some health issues of my own come up in the past couple of days, so I've had to see a lot of doctors and miss work.
No work = no money.

[Ashley]

Here are some quick photos, not the best representation since the poo has been sitting there (I didn't net it out because I didn't want to startle her again while basking).


"Sand"



Poo

[steve]

Vet bills are roughly $70 for me. I have not seen poop like that before... is she the type the eats her own poop?

[Ashley]

She does eat her poop. She had some normal poop yesterday, but it's been like this for a while.
I can't think of anything big that's changed with her environment or diet.
I'm really worried.

[steve]

If it's from the dock, that stuff won't degrade and just scoop it out. I would get a heater, just to warm things up. Maybe you can turn on the heat at your place?

And stick to regular pellets for now, that way you can get more predicable looking poops.

[Ashley]

It stays really warm in my room, even in the winter.
I will feed her only pellets for now. And she hasn't eaten any dock since we replaced it over a month ago with the plastic one.

[steve]

Scoop it out when you can. I know what you mean about interrupting the basking... I hate to do it too, but I just try to do it quickly and ignore them, so they can get back to it quicker.

[Ashley]

I turned her lights off and she finally came down. She swam a bit, ate a couple of test pellets and pooped again (more normal looking). I netted it all out just now and she seems to be exploring the tank like normal, so that's a good sign.
I just can't go to sleep now...I want to stay up and watch her!

[Jaysea]

It could just be the last of the old dock working it's way out. And since she eats her own poopy it's just being grounded down more and more each time she digests it. I'd do like Steve suggested and keep her on a basic diet that way you can tell if something changes and know it's not from veggies causing your turtle to get the runs or anything. Just keep an eye on her, which i'm sure you are.

[Ashley]

She has a good appetite. When I got up this morning (yes, I finally went to sleep. ) she gobbled up the pellets I put in there, but she still wasn't like "OMG FOOD FOOD FOOD NOM NOM NOM!!". Instead she was like "Oh look, she has food for me. Ho hum, I shall eat it quickly."
Within a minute or two she got on the dock and has been basking ever since.

[Ashley]

She definitely has the runs, but in the past hour or so seems to be acting more normal.
We bought some anti-parasite pellets today because it looked like she pooped out a worm.
Hopefully this works, but if not we'll try and take her to a vet.

[Ashley]

Update:

Bowser is acting like her usual self today. So excited to see everybody, exploring and playing in the tank.
We're still going to try the anti-parasite pellets.

I really think she got something from the crickets she had last week.