General Care Discussion :: General questions about turtle's health

[Kai.]

So I have a huge piece of wood in my tank, but for the past day it has been leaving a lot of little wood pieces in the water. Will this do any harm to my turtle babies? There is also moss like stuff growing on the side of the wood (it was used in a previous salt water aquarium). I have washed it all off, and hopefully it'll be all gone when I put it back into the turtle tank.

Does anyone see any problems with using this wood as a basking area for the turtles?

When I woke up this morning, the water in the tank was relatively yellow. Not really yellow, but like diluted yellow. The three babies are really small, and I doubt they could have dumped that much urine into the tank overnight. Would this have something to do with the wood?


I'm also really worried about one of the turtles I have. On it's neck, it looks like there is something small stuck in between the folds of it's neck. Has anyone ever heard/experienced something like this? Should I bring him to a vet or something? I'll post pictures of him afterwards.

Thanks

[bondturtle]

Hi Kai.. I'm the guy that doesn't edit
I had put in a piece of wood into my aquarium as well.. I had also asked the guy from the pet store and he advised me to put it in boiling water for 10 minutes before putting it in my aquarium.. the boiling water was all yellow.. seems like it got rid of some bacteria and dirt. maybe you should try that?

[Kai.]

I don't think that my mom would let me boil a huge piece of wood in her pots. And besides, my wood was used before, so it was probably already sanitized. I was just wondering if the colour was normal, and I looked on another turtle site and it told me that it was, and that a carbon filter would probably do the trick. Thanks for the info tho bond.

Umm.. does anyone know what is wrong with my turtle's neck though?

[jenaero]

I think photos would help with that. I'm having trouble picturing what it might look like.

[Kai.]

It's really hard right now to get a picture, i'm working on it, but because he's so small overall it's really difficult to get the little bump on his neck on camera

[jenaero]

In that case, bringing him to a vet certainly wouldn't hurt. I've brought all mine for at least one visit even if nothing was wrong. That way they'd have the info on file in case something did happen (which it eventually did)

[Kai.]

but i just bought them yesterday... lol. Bring him to a vet? is there a way to find a turtle vet near me?

[jenaero]

I didn't realize you'd only had him since yesterday. Still, if you think there's something unusual, no harm in getting him looked at.

There's a sticky at the top of the Urgent Care section for locating a vet in your area.

[SpotsMama]

On the wood in the tank, I'd be concerned about the little pieces floating in the water. Can you wash the wood so it doesn't shed? I think it would be very bad for your turtle to be swallowing splinters, and they will undoubtedly try to eat the them if you leave them in there.

Probably the yellow color in the water is from the wood, which means something is leaching out of it. If it were me, I'd take it out then I wouldn't have to worry.

[Kai.]

About the little pieces of wood, they sink, and I clean them out when I see them. I took the log and it is currently in a bucket of water... I was hoping i could wash the colour staining stuff out of the wood. Should I wait for the whole piece to dry before i put it back into the tank? or does that make no difference?

Thanks for the vet info, i'll go check it out if he seems to be suffering any from it. He seems perfectly normal, and is very active though.

[SpotsMama]

On the bump on the neck, you turtle may have the early stages of an abcess. Here's a recent string with a picture of a turtle with a more advanced one:

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... =bump+neck

[Kai.]

I don't think it's that.It's not a gelatin like bump, but more of a kind of little pebble looking thing that looks stuck in between the folds of his neck.

[lotsofpets]

Is it something like this? (excuse my silly artwork)

[img][img]http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n122/lotsofpets_2006/RESexample.jpg[/img][/img]

[Pizza]

That's a good picture, and I'm serious. It looks humourous and artistic. The turtle's neck actually looks like the neck of a turtleneck sweater,

[Kai.]

actually, it does. Is it serious? I just managed to get a picture of it, so for those who can't visualize the condition from lotsofpets' picture (which is pretty good btw), it looks like this