General Care Discussion :: Swiming Lopsided for YEARS now...

[dora]

I got Dora when she and I were tiny, about 15 years ago. Then, 5 years ago I had to leave her to the care of my elderly parent because I moved to New Zealand. I left her in perfect condition.

Now, I am back and we are together again.
But now Dora has a deformed shell and swims lopsided. I've read everywhere that this is a symptom of RI, but my parent say it has been like that for over 2-3 years. I doubt it is an urgent-care RI since she has not died already.

Do you still think she swims lopsided because of a chronic RI? Is shell deformation recoverable?

If now she's better taken care of, can I expect to see her swim balanced again?

What are your thought?

BTW... she still eats well, is very active and her "personality" is the same.

This is DORA... a great picture taken a week ago by my friend.

[penelope]

Love the picture! but can't quite tell what the deformity is...at first glance it looks like the right side (looking straight on) is "thicker" the left.
Is that what you are referring to? Just want to be sure...

[Diamondbacks4Life]

I agree with penelope, her shell looks lopesided. Probably reason she is swimming like that. Any chance you post a pic of top view of the shell. I actually suspect she might have a shell deformation from birth and it wasnt your parent's fault. This is just a guess without the pic though to clear it up.

The shell deformation cannot be fixed, she will be like that always. So she will swim lope sided always.

[dora]

Thanks for your replies!

From top view it's hard to see the deformation. Since the difference is in the "elevation" of the shell. This is not such a great picture but you can see a bit better how she is flatter on the right and yes "thicker" on the other.

Could this be a deformation due to the fact that she had a diet of only turtle pellets for 5 years?

[steve]

I haven't that sort of deformity before. Most shell issues related to diet would be symmetrical.