General Care Discussion :: Looks like Serra's finally got a problem...

[Tenodera]

aww I was hoping for a record!


I noticed Serra has been swimming and then suddenly open her mouth big underwater and then make scratching motions at her eye. Anyone know what's the matter?


Kevin

[Tenodera]

Here's a video of it, but the quality sucks...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFqsvVC8aPg

[xsavingsaturdayx]

I see it. It looks like something is bothering her maybe (perhaps her eyes are irritated)? If she starts doing it more often and starts to show other symptoms, then you might want to look into a vet - but if it is a one time thing, then I wouldnt worry.

[SpotsMama]

For mild eye irritation, I've used zoo med Turtle eye drops and they've been very helpful. Spot's had eye irritation (mild) when I didn't treat his aquarium water so I suppose there was too much chlorine in the water and when he was being treated for shell problems and got Nolvasan in his eyes. I think the drops have vitamin a in them, and since a vitamin a deficiency sometimes causes eye irritation it's helpful for that too.

I agree with xsavingsaturdayx. Unless it keeps up I wouldn't worry. If it does, try the eye drops and if it's still a problem, then it's off to the vet for serra.

EDIT: I said vitamin e above when I meant vitamin a. It's been corrected.

[Safdar]

ooo give her carrots too
It good for the eyes

[Tenodera]

hmm they don't sell the eye drops here in vancouver.

She doesn't show any other symptoms. It usually happens after she chews on the java fern in her tank.

lol I give too much carrots to her! Her belly is turning very orange!

[SpotsMama]

Maybe you should remove the java fern.

[Tenodera]

Ok! the only other time I have seen this was when she was little and when she took huge bites of lettuce she would choke on them and cough them back out.

[oobie58]

Well a wile back i walked up to my baby turtle's cage and he opened his mouth and it was almost like it was stuck like that. so i was totally freeked out and pulled him out of the water and walked around for about 3 minutes and it finally closed. He has never done it sense (knock on wood) but it was a lot like what happened to serra in the video.

[industrial_girl_2000]

How much water conditioner are you using? Too much can cause a bit of irritation.

[oobie58]

You should only use 1 drop per gallon. But u probably already know that.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

well it depends what kind of water conditioner you are using. for some it's 1 drop per gallon and for others it's a teaspoon for every 5 gallons and etc etc.

[industrial_girl_2000]

You should only use 1 drop per gallon. But u probably already know that.

It depends on the conditioner. The ZooMed water conditioner I use for my frog & betta fish is 1-2 drops per CUP of water.

The stuff I use for Sheba's tank is approx. 1 tsp for the entire 90 gallons!

[Safdar]

I use the zoo-med
1 teaspoon for every 10 gallon

[marisa]

Perhaps the Java fern brushed up against her eye(?)