My red eared slider had a shell injury, and I nursed him to health. When I released him back into the pond, I sat him on a rock and waited for him to get in the water. When he finally got in, I noticed he wasn't going under, and resorted to hiding under a lily pad. So I went over, touched his shell, to try and get him to go under, but he wouldn't.
I realized then, that he couldn't, when I picked him up (to cause him to hide in his shell) and put him back in the water, to see him floating while in his shell.
So he's back in the hospital tub, I'm going through the same procedures I did when he was injured. I'm not sure what I should do, though. Does anyone have any ideas on what's wrong, and what I can do? I can't put him back in the pond, when he can't dive, because he's more vulnerable to predators!
