General Care Discussion

Hello again everyone,

It has been a while since I've posted here, but I've brought myself back and I'm glad to see it's just as (if not more) popular than it was a few years ago.

My 4-year-old female RES is having trouble shedding. I've done everything I can with her diet, she eats a little less than 10 grams of pellets (coated in reptivite) every other day, and fruits and veggies a few times a week (green/red leaf lettuce & blueberries mostly)

I have my ZooMed MVB timed 12/12, with constant supplemental heat from a ceramic heat emitter. The MVB is a range of 10-14 inches from the top of her shell, depending on the water height. She basks for hours upon hours each day (mostly in the early morning to afternoon). She gets completely dried out at least once every day. She's basking right now, as a matter of fact. Her tank is large, and her water quality pristine (Fluval FX5 :wink:

)

She is slowly getting closer to shedding, but I'm still worried about the condition of her shell. It isn't soft, or smelly, but it is discolored. I realize she has signs of the early stages of pyramiding. Most of this came from a few years ago, but it still looks like it should disappear with a proper shed.

To me, it looks like powdery mineral deposits that will disappear overtime as they're exposed to the top layer of shell and an old toothbrush

Thanks for your opinions and advice!

I would personally dry dock for a week (3-5 hours 2x a day). usually helps dry out the older scutes.

to me it looks like hard water deposits, but could be fungus, taking a toothbrush to it may help some.

Hey Chris, it's fungus. Lack of shedding makes the fungus worse, and the fungus makes shedding difficult. How long have you noticed the slow shedding?

Hey Steve,

Darn, that's not what I wanted to hear. She's never actually had a full shed, only scutes here and there. She scratches her shell herself like she expects a shed too. I've been trying to get her to consistently shed almost her whole life because I know how important it is.

I noticed the oncoming of the discoloration around the end of the summer, so about 4 months ago.

There are some pieces that are probably ready to go. The main thing is to inspect for any areas when other infections can form. Under loose scutes in one place, the seams are another. You need to give her a very careful inspection.

Sure, sounds good. There is a lot of air trapped under most of the scutes when she jumps into the water after basking a while. I know a shed is eminent.

Should I expect an easier treatment after the scutes have been shed, or should I grab some Sulfa Dip and start treatment tomorrow?

I would first try to figure out why it happened. It's possible lack a of basking caused it, but fungus is pretty persistent in water environments.

This powdery fungus will, hopefully, begin to disappear now that I've began treatment with Silvadene.

She will be dry-docked twice a day for 3-5 hours each time. Once a day, her shell will be treated with a thin layer of silvadene. It will be spread only over the scutes that have shed and still show signs of fungus. She really doesn't like to be handled, so hopefully this whole ordeal will be quick and painless for her and I.

She is dry docked in an open-top cardboard box. The box is pretty darn big. It has a smaller cardboard box shelter in it, and a 100w ceramic heater keeping one half of the box warm. I attached two pictures.

Here's a shot of the box this morning:

That's her trying to hide. You can see her rear end where I applied the Silvadene to the spots where the top layer of scutes shed and the lowest level is open to air.

It would be a bit easier to dry dock her overnight, since she'll rest and can absorb most of the medication. It looks like a real good temporary enclosure, plenty of space for her to roam around. If the Silvadene is effective, the results should show up pretty quickly.

After two nights of treatment, her shell is showing major signs of improvement. At this rate, another week of treatment should have the fungus gone for good.

For future updates I'll try to get a dry shell picture.

Wow Chris that does look better. I hope the fungus will be gone soon!

Thanks for commenting. I hope this is a help for someone in the future who may have a similar problem. I'm glad that I caught this fungus early, otherwise this may have been a lost cause.

I'll keep updating. It will take a good couple of months, but I plan to have her shell smooth soon. She's still growing, albeit slowly.

Looks good, glad it's working out for her!

The days were not in succession, but this is after a total of 5 nights of treatment.

There are still remnants of the fungus visible in some tight areas, so I will continue treatment, but the bulk of it has disappeared.

She still need a nice shed, but she seems to be getting closer and closer all the time.

Looks very good! If there are "dead" bits of fungus, it might not disappear after treatment, only after a shed.

General Care Discussion :: Fungus or mineral deposits? (4-year-old) (pics)

Who is online