General Care Discussion :: turtle might have worms?

[turtleinc.]

help me

herbie was swiming and i noticed little clearish whitish thing. they were about half a cenimeter long and squerming. i thingk they are worms

[Ferd]

where were they? were they attached to the turtle? can you post a pic?

[turtleinc.]

no they were swimming

[sonyj]

Could be parasites? What type of foods have you been feeding?

[cprcheetah]

When was his last Fecal Exam by a vet? I would recommend having him checked by a vet, and having a stool sample examined for parasites.

[turtleinc.]

his normal food the pelets. but a few weeks ago i put in some dak green salad leaves from the bag salad

[cprcheetah]

How long have you had him?

[turtleinc.]

about a year now

[Ferd]

if there attached to him, it could beflaking skin. this is a sign of the water being too hot

[steve]

If it is in the waste or coming out of the tail, then you need to collect a sample to have a vet examine it. This is not a home-treatment option because various parasite have different treatment requirements.

[turtleinc.]

they are not skin the are not in his waste the are swiming around and they a very thin and look like clear small worms

[cprcheetah]

Most of the time when an animal has worms they poop out the whole ones, and the eggs are what the vet finds in the waste. That's why it's recommended to have regular fecal exams done on them. A good Herp vet should know how to collect a sample from your guy.

[marisa]

If you're having a fecal exam done, you need to bring in a sample (I don't think the vet is going to spend time trying to collect it). If you call and make an appt., ask what to do.

He's never had aquatic plants in the tank? If he has, it's possible the worms are planaria, which can come in as eggs on aquatic plants and hatch. They're harmless to turtles.

I'd clean the tank and all objects in it and rinse with hot/very warm water. If you see them again, make an appt. with a herp vet.

[Boogerbutt02]

the worms might be in the pellets... I get small white worms that crawl up the sides of the tanks if my turtle does not eat all of the pellets I put in there... clean the tank and only feed veggies for three or fours days and see if the worms come back. If they don't then you know it is the pellets...

[marisa]

This is possible as well. I recently threw away a small container of pellets that I had had for quite and while and had forgotten about. When I opened the container, there were some tiny worms in it. I think the heat here had something to do with it as well.

Clean everything well and rinse with hot/very warm water. If you've had your turtle's pellets a long time, get some new ones. See if the worms come back after a good cleaning.