General Care Discussion :: whitening of skin around face and black spots on red stripes

[christoph]

As described above my ten year old RES is showing these symptoms.

The facial skin is lightening in colour and is less green.
The red stripes on either side of the head have little black spots.

Can anyone help with what this might indicate?

Thanks.

[marisa]

Welcome. A pic would be good, but if your turtle's habitat and diet are good, from what you say, it sounds like s/he's "aging" a bit.

[christoph]

how do i post a photo?[/img]

[grey goose]

how do i post a photo?[/img]

Look here:
http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1811

I use Photobucket.

[christoph]

Ok. Lets try this.

IMG]http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc106/christoph_032/DSC00982.jpg[/IMG]

For the most part she is still quite active, but not as much as she used to be in the past few days.

[untsmurf]

Try this.

[grey goose]

It looks like he's losing his color all over, even on his shell. Maybe a vitamin deficiency?
What is his diet like? Does he get enough UVB?

[jenaero]

Maybe she's going melanistic?

[marisa]

The pigment darkens when they become melanistic.

That's really strange---especially the neck.

Over how long a period of time has this been happening?

Are those scutes getting ready to shed? It looks like there's a lot of air trapped under them.

[SpotsMama]

It reminds me of vitiligo. That's a human autoimmune disease wherein melinin in the skin is gradually destroyed, leaving it very pale or white.

What does the skin feel like - is it slimy or smelly? What about the shell?

[untsmurf]

Also, what does his diet consist of?

[industrial_girl_2000]

How long have you had this turtle? What kind of light do you have for your tank (do you have a light for your RES to bask under)? What does your aquarium set up look like? Can you post pics of his environment where he lives?

Also, does he sit in the dark a lot? RES's can lose color if they don't have any light.

[christoph]

Yes, she's shedding them. I checked the bulbs...what I thought were UV bulbs were just regular bulbs. I have been feeding her a diet with some green veggies, hikari sticks, trout chow. The tank has been used for the last three years with no trouble up until a couple of weeks ago when this started to become noticeable. I have not been using those calcium blocks recently...I will try to see if that helps. Also I placed UV Ray Bulbs into the light socket so we will see if that helps too. Thanks everyone. You've been helpful in confirming some of my suspicions. I will update you in a few days. Thanks.

[SpotsMama]

I'm not famiar with hikari sticks. Is that a brand of turtle food? Instead of trout chow, you should feed your RES good quality food pellets forumlated for aquatic turtles. Reptomin and Mazuri are examples of good brands.

What's the wattage and brand name of your new UV bulb? Lighting for aquatic turtles can be tricky but it's terribly important.

Is her skin slimy or smelly at all?

[marisa]

She's shedding scutes? If you got her a good UVB light (what are UV Ray lights?), that would help her shed even more (and might help with the coloring).

Hikari sticks are fine, I use them as part of my turtles' diet. I will say, though, that since each of the three colors of sticks is supposed to focus on a particular vitamin(s) or mineral(s), it could be harder to provide balance in the diet with them if your turtle prefers one color over the other. Trout chow as part of the diet is OK as well. You might try adding or switching one of them with a different pellet like Reptomin or Mazuri in case what you're feeding her is lacking in something. What "green veggies" are you feeding her? I'd skip the calcium blocks in favor of cuttlebone, take off the hard backing, break off a few pieces and let them float in her tank.