General Care Discussion :: Shell Rot?

[MEandYouPhoto]

So I thought I would post a couple of pictures of Franklin's shell it appears that he has shell rot on the top of his shell. But what I cannot understand is how this is happening. I had him in a 20 gallon tank for 6 months prior to moving him to his 55 gallon, I added more lights, more water and a great canister filter he basks all day when we aren't home and sometimes when we are. I keep an eye on his shutes and they are shedding normally. I have been doing all the right things for him as per the advice of this forum but still somehow he ended up with shell rot. The only difference is the media configuration. I went from the standard box configuration that the Fluval 406 recommends to the massive bio media load as per the forums.
At first it seemed to be just the one spot on the top if his shell but now it seems to be making the edges of his shell white in some spots. The areas are hard to the touch and I helped remove the shute that it was festering under (it has started to peel back on its own) I then took soft tooth brush and scrubbed the area really well and added some Neosporin and dry docked him for a couple of days at a time (except to feed and get some swimming for a couple of hours) and that seems to have stopped the growth but it doesn't seem to be clearing up or shrinking in size.

Included are some pictures

Shell Top

Shell Bottom

I know that taking him to the vet and getting some Silver Sulfadiazine cream to treat the rot is the best choice but I was hoping to avoid the expensive vet bill.

Any feedback and advice is welcome

[steve]

There are some old areas of either infection or injury though it's hard to see if there's anything else since he might be shedding soon. Which are the white spots you see?

[MEandYouPhoto]

The area's highlighted are new white area's that didn't exist on his shell about a month ago.

[steve]

Could be shedding, it's hard to tell at this stage. Have you had much experience with it before? It's easier to recognize in person.

[MEandYouPhoto]

No its really the first time I have seen this come up. When I first saw it on his shell it was soft to the touch so I helped remove the shute that it was under and scrubbed the area really well. The area is still discolored even after a couple of weeks.

[steve]

So he just recently shed a scute over those two spots?

[MEandYouPhoto]

over the one on the left yes. no scute removal on the one on the right

[steve]

From the ridges, it looks like there is still some shedding to be done. I'd keep a very close eye on it for now.