General Care Discussion :: Turtle with Abscess

[germanrican]

Hey all!

My turtle got an abscess recently... I first noticed it about 5 days ago... so yesterday I took him to the vet. My turtle is still small, maybe around 2.5 inches, so the vet said he made it difficult to cut the abscess out (he kept sticking his head inside his shell). So what he resorted to was to give him an anti-bacterial shot, see how he's healing and in 5 days come back for another shot.

From what i've read before, the regular procedure is to anesthetize, cut and drain the abscess, then give anti-biotics, which was what the vet wanted to do originally...

Today (one day later) the abscess seems to have gotten a lot smaller, hardly visible to someone not looking for it, and he's eating, swimming, and basking like normal. (which btw, he dives into the water as soon as anyone comes in the room when he's basking. Are all turtles this shy?) His water temp is 79 (plus or minus a degree during day/night)...

What do you guys think? Think all will be OK with him, or is there something more I should do?

Thanks all!!

[TheComputerGremlin]

If the vet is taking care of him, I would say not to worry. The vet probably knows best. Younger/smaller animals are more dangerous to anesthetize, so if he is getting better without, it's better. Otherwise, he might not wake up. I'd maybe bump up your temp a degree or two to help out the healing and feed him lots of good food. And yes, all turtles are that shy, they get better as they get more used to you, though.

[SpotsMama]

I agree - trust your vet to know how to deal with it. Especially since it seems to be working. More typically, the abcess is lanced and drained but I'd never heard of anesthetizing the turtle for an abcess.

[megcornell]

From what I understand, anesthetizing cold blooded animals is very tricky because it's very easy to put them "too far under" and not be able to wake them up.
If the abscess is decreasing, I'd say things are going well.
As for what you can do, make sure you are keeping the water exceptionally clean- you don't want to worsen the infection with poor habitat conditions.

[marisa]

As long as the infection is completely killed, he should be OK. If any residual bacteria remains, the abcess could come back at some point.

Your vet would be the best person to ask about whether there is anything more you should do.

[germanrican]

What do you all think of those little tablets like Dr. Turtle that claim to kill off harmful bacteria in water?

Also, I just bought my xP3 filter after this happend to the little guy, I used all the media included with the filter, but it seems like I should also invest in the ceramic rings. Is that something necessary? How does it keep the water more clean?

[marisa]

The ceramic rings (biomedia) and sponges (mechanical media) that came with the filter are the two crucial medias to use in the filter. The chem-zorb that came with the filter(?) and carbon packs are nice, but not as necessary. Absolutely buy some ceramic rings to fill one of the baskets; they are necessary to provide surface area for beneficial bacteria to colonize on and this, in turn, will help keep the water quality up. You don't have to absolutely get Rena's ceramic rings, you can use other biomedia as well (Fluval's, Eheim's, etc.), just as long as it fits in the basket. If you don't plan on using chemical media (carbon, chem-zorb, etc.) you can buy extra biomedia and fill more than one basket with it.

Skip the Dr. Turtle, it's not going to do much for the water quality and using it over time is likely to make your turtle resistant to the drug that's supposed to be keeping the bacteria in check. Using a good filter and doing regular water changes (full and partial) is far more beneficial for your turtle.

[germanrican]

Thanks!
My filter didn't come with biomedia, but i just sent in an order through Amazon today.

I bought both, since i have enough room for it, but what's the difference between rings and stars? Do they do the same thing, and are rings better than stars?

[octpusgirl8]

They both do the same thing (provide a large amount of surface area for bacteria to colonize), you can use both or just one or the other. I'm not sure if one is better than the other, i've always used rings personally.

[germanrican]

Which filter media is best for making the water less cloudy?

Thanks!!

[octpusgirl8]

That all depends on what's making your water cloudy. If this is a new filter you probably have "new tank syndrome", once the nitrifying bacteria colonize your biomedia the water should clear up. Do you have a test kit? If so, test for ammonia and nitrites.

[SpotsMama]

Rings and stars are both about equally effective in a filter. I use both and they work fine. I prefer the rings because they don't float like the stars do, which makes them a little easier to handle during a cleaning, but it's a minor point. As long as you have plenty of them, they will work fine. (by the way, one package of stars plus one package of rings almost completely fills one basket in an XP3).

[marisa]

The XP3s usually don't come with the biomedia (ceramic rings).

The stars are supposed to have a lot more surface area on them, and one package of them is supposed to be good for over 100 gallons, I think. One package of ceramic rings is good for up to 55 gallons. It's really up to you what you use, you can even combine them if you want to.

[germanrican]

Since I bought both and plan to use both, should I put them both on one tray mixed together? Or in separate compartments, same tray? Or separate trays all together?... or does it matter at all?

Thanks for all your help you guys!! =o)

[steve]

You can use both together.