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Hello,

I've had my RES for approx 6 months and got him as a hatchling. he appears to be healthy and normal and is active when swimming and basks regularly.

I live in a rural setting on a well and i think the minerals may have build up on his shell. He has patchy white areas on his shell and doesn't appear to be shedding. He used to shed often and hasnt in some time. the white on his shell doesnt look like what is thought to be a fungus, but i dont want to rule it out just in case.

Our nearest vet that would treat reptiles is a good 2 hour drive from here.

I have begun adding he suggested amount of aquarium salt to his tank as i understand it can promote shedding. I have also taken a soft bristled toothbrush and gently rubbed his shell with no improvements.

I have photos i have taken while he was dry, i will post them as soon as i can get them off my camera.

Im realtively new at this, however have pretty much read this site up entirely. any suggestions would be awesome!

Thanks!

Welcome to the Forum.

We'll know more from the coming photos. Meanwhile, shedding doesn't happen
often. Maybe once a year or every two years. I'm not sure, I've only had my
turtles for almost two years and they've shed once only (the two RES).

I don't think aquarium salt promotes shedding. Only appropriate food and good
basking under UVB do. Calcium and Vitamin E are mostly needed to promote
shedding. You can read more about nutritional info from the main site.

Good luck!

Aquarium salt promotes better health for your turtles because the salt can kill some bacterias that are bad for your turtles.

Photos will be great. Mineral deposits usually make the shell look grayer and whiter. Fungus is white, and usually starts at one area and spreads out.

thank you all for your advice, until i can get the photos off my moms computer i know your at a bit of a loss

i was at a specialty store for reptiles today and the lady (who owns turtles herself) suggested a rub a vitamin e oil into their shell and let it soak in ofr awhile before putting him back into the tank.

it seems as though she would shed pieces of his shell quite often? is this not normal? gah! there is so much to lear about turtles! lol

lol yes there is and the scutes shedding is normal here refer to this

Scute Shedding
Over a period of time, the scutes will begin to shed. This is completely normal and you can notice the process when their appearance begins to lighten or become a golden color. This is due to the air seeping between the new and old scutes. It should not be necessary to help or force the old scutes off, especially when there is a proper basking area set up. It is important for your turtle to be able to regularly dry off completely. Without proper conditions, your RES will retain scutes (dysecdysis), which can lead to an infection.

and also n00b is it really good for them???i heard it was bad

i've added the images (hopefully it works)

looks like mineral deposits to me.

ive only seen fungus on fish, and it usually looks fuzzy

how can i treat it? i know we can use distilled water as it lacks the good bacterias (for lack of beter words).

Tough to tell from those pics but I would lean towards fungus.