General Care Discussion :: Finally! Pix of infamous white spots on shell!

[steve]

In my case, it was for it to stop spreading. It has spread to every individual scute and has penetrated a few layers on some of them. Basking is very important to help it shed.

[SpotsMama]

All I can speak from is Spot's experience. The white on his shell started in just a few places when he was real little then spread and spread slowly over a long time until almost all of his shell was white. He wasn't shedding any during that time.

Then last summer I started changing things and he began slowly shedding the white. Some shed towards the end of summer after he'd been in good sunlight. He shed a little after I brought him inside for the winter but not much more until maybe 2 months ago when he started shedding faster. Most of the white has now peeled off and the shell looks pretty good underneath.

The point of this is that, whatever was wrong with Spot's shell, it didn't go away when I started treating him. His shell stayed white until it peeled off. I think the white parts were actual damage to the shell, not something on the surface. I think if the fungus is just on the surface that it will come off with the treatment, but if it has gone deeper and damaged the shell, then the shell will have to shed before you can see the improvement.

[kikicool]

Ah, I see. Okay. Thanks for the tips!! I worry, too, that I may have damaged the undershell when I was hibicleansing. I would peel off loose layers... before I read on here that I shouldn't. I feel terrible about it now. Hope I didn't hurt the little guys.... although they both let me pet under their chin now, so I think we're all good. I'll keep you all posted!

Oh, also the woman at the pet store (a really nice woman, very knowledgable and has helped me a lot) told me that a lot of times, indoor turts won't shed their scutes more than once a year. "In MY experience," she said.

[kornygerm]

One of my turtles, recently developed something similar in two plates on the top of her shell, the other turtle seems fine so far.So is that hibiclense effective?.

[SpotsMama]

Hibiclense is great because it will kill the fungus/bacteria. BUT....it won't do any good unless the underlying condition is fixed that caused the problem in the first place because the problem will just come back.

Things that can lead to shell rot - dirty water, not basking enough (needs to dry out completely - top and bottom - frequently), poor diet, vitamin e deficiency, unusually high ph - to name just a few! In other words, just about anything wrong can lead to shell rot!