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I've been doing a regular shell check on Leo probably about twice a week and I noticed when I picked him up earlier on this week and today that he seems to have little green specks in his shell in random spots- I thought it may be algea but I tried to see if it would come off and it seems to be under the shell?? I know that for some reason my zoomed dock collects algea on the part that's in the water and I have to clean it under hot water often but could that even be compared when it seems like the green specks are under the actual layers of the shell? He seems fine otherwise other then I'm still not catching him basking as much as I used to! Let me know what you think!

Napoleon had something similar recently, and it really did look like it was under the top layer of shell, but it came off when I used a toothbrush on it, and in his case it was just algae. I have the same problem with the zoomed dock, i use an old electric toothbrush to clean that.

Have you tried using a clean toothbrush to see if those green specs can come off? It sounds like it is an algae problem but it's fine if you clean it regularly. Many wild RES have algae on their shells and no one to clean them off

Are the scutes loose/lifting at all? Algae can collect under loose scutes.

I don't think the scutes are lifting but I am going to try a soft brissel (sp) toothbrush on it and hope that it comes clean!! if it doesn't though, what could that mean?

p.s. Starchick i'm going to have to use your idea to clean the dock with a toothbrush too!! lol It's a pain in the butt to clean!!