Feeding and Nutrition

Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2010 11:28 am **one of my guys seems to be shedding alot?**

i have two res. both of which are shedding right now, however one seems to be shedding more, or rather, more frequently than the other. the water temp is at 75-77 throughout the day, the basking area heat is produced from a 6" zilla heat lamp and ithink i can recall a 75w basking lamp approx. 9-10" away from their dock? granted, the one that sheds more also tends to "hog" the food at times, is this what could be causing the shedding? what are other things in the environment i should be looking at for the cause of this?

Do you mean shedding skin or scutes? How often do you change the water and how much do they bask?

shedding their skin, and one seems to be shedding some scutes slowly. I'll do a water change today, the water seems pretty good though, i top off a gallon or so evvery couple days, use turtle clean and have an oversized filter, they bask several times a day at their leisure. im glad you of all people jumped on the thread i really appreciate it!

ya know, i just did a water change and the gravel was pretty messy. also, i thought the seachem amonia in-water tester was a little shotty, but sure enough, it went back to yellow (neutral level) shortly after the change, will this help with the shedding? I have a small pleco in the tank with them and everyone gets along quite well, however, im curious about how frequent, and to what percentage of water changes can be done considering Sucka's (pleco) well-being

Gravel is strongly NOT recommended for RES. What's the temp on the basking area?

i know about the gravel being taboo-i hand picked out any rocks that were small enough to eat, they were originally my girlfriends turtles and she had gravel in the tank since they were babies, i guess they're used to it as they dont "experiment" with it. I acually just upgraded the tank and bought a digital thermometer to test the basking temp. originally it was at 96-98 degrees, i thought was a bit high even though they spent alot of time on the rock. I raised the lamp about 4" and its now at 92-94.

the one thats shedding more isn't moving around as much and is sort of "hiding out" under the basking platform, my girlfriend witnessed the turtle take a "massive poop" (her words) which was much more waste than either of us have ever witnessed, last night it seemed very aggitated and was living up to her name "Bully", it was even harrassing the pleco which it never has, i see it biting the shedding skin off its arms from time to time, could this all be related?

Do you have a picture of the one that is shedding more? I'm just wondering if it's something else.

shes (i think its a she) is not shedding so much right now, now she is a little more lethargic than usuall, she seems aggitated as she's acting territorial right now. She seems to be claiming her territor and going after the other res and the pleco when they come near, its not that severe that i have seperate her but it isn't usuall behavior. heres a few pics, if you need a specific shot just let me know...

Feeding and Nutrition :: one of my guys seems to be shedding alot?

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