Urgent Care :: RES has swollen eyes

[MYLITTLESPEEDY]

Hello. I have been registered for a while now but haven't posted. I have been reading everything I can everyday about the turtles. Since I joined I have lost both of my RES, Speedy and Lucy, and have gotten 2 new turtles. Brownie a eastern painted, size of a quarter, and Kamikaze a RES a bit bigger. They are so fun to watch.
Now my question. I have had them for a week and a half and I woke up this morning to find Kamikazes eyes were a little swollen. He is eating fine but he rubs his eyes to open them. I have some turtle eye drops and put them in this morning and seemed to help alot . I looked at him again this evening and they were a little swollen again. Can I use the drops more than once a day? Brownie is fine, but I put the drops in her eyes also this morning(just in case). I have the water at 78-80 degrees with a heater and a filter and the 2 lights (uvb and basking) over the basking bridge and I have been adding a little water every other day when it gets too low. I haven't read any one else lately that has this situation so I had to ask. Any help would be appreciated.


Thanks,
Diana

[emma]

How did you loose your turtles??

[MYLITTLESPEEDY]

Well Lucy died when I left her with a friend when I went on a cruise, she said Lucy started choking and she didn't know what to do and it died. Speedy, the other one, stopped eating right after and I called the vet and asked if he/she could be in "morning" over Lucy and they had no idea. Speedy died 2 days later. I really don't want to go thru that again. My kids still go visit the graves in the backyard every chance they get.

[megcornell]

What kind of UVB light do you have?
Sometimes they bother RES' eyes if they're too close or too strong. There have been a few turtles who have had issues with the reptisun 10.0 bulbs.

[MYLITTLESPEEDY]

The UVB light is repti sun 5.0 incandescent from ZOO MED.

[grey goose]

Try turning the UVB off for a few days (at least three) and see if that helps. If the swelling goes down, adjust the lamp so it is further away from the basking area. I know there is a sticky on this somewhere, but a full report on the effects of UVB exposure can be found here:
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
You must be very careful when it comes to the placement of compact UVB bulbs, especially the Reptisuns, too close or a too reflective fixture could do a lot of damage to your young turts.

[MYLITTLESPEEDY]

Thanks for your help. I went into the equipment section after Megcornell asked about the light and found the post about the uvb light. I wish I would have checked there first. I thought I set up the light as they said in the instructions but maybe it is too strong for him. I would think that both turtles would be affected the same way but the painted isn't having the problem. I turned off the light for tomorrow, it is on a timer for 12 hours, and will leave on the basking light only to see if he gets better.
Thanks again for the help.

Diana

[megcornell]

Sometimes one turtle is more sensitive than the other or is just quicker to show symptoms of being bothered by the light.
You're wise to give their eyes a few days rest.
How far is the light from the basking area? Also, Grey goose makes a good point about the lamp itself, some really intensify the brightness so you may also consider changing your lamp.

[SpotsMama]

Keep up the turtle eye drops, once or twice a day, to sooth the irritation. Meg makes a good point about the light fixture. A shiny reflective interior surface concentrates the light whereas a matte or white interior does not.

[MYLITTLESPEEDY]

This morning, after I read what you wrote, I put eye drops in his eyes and then I fed both of them. He was eating fine but his eyes are half open. Hopefully I caught the problem early and he will get better.
The lamp is a silver clamp lamp over the tank. If I take off the reflector will that help? If I paint the inside of the reflector would that help? I didn't think I had it too close, I moved it farther away just in case, to the other end of the tank, so next I will have to get the stand for it. Is it ok for the painted to go without the UVB light for 3 days also? I am trying to do the right thing for these since I lost my first ones. Thanks in advance for you answers. Sorry I ask alot of them.

Diana

[madmax1]

I had the same problem with my turtles took them to the vet he said they had a vitamin-A deficiency he gave me Vitamin A&D ointment to put on there eyes also gave me Vetro-gen which is gentamicin sulfate a veterinary opthaimic ointment which was to be put on eyes first then the A&D ointment on top being my turtles were so small like yours every time i tried to get ointment on eyes they would put there head all the way into there shell so the vet told me to put the ointments right over the the front of there shell where there head is and when they come out of there shell it will coat there eyes and as a natural reaction they will rub there eyes and it will coat there eyes nicely I was told that if they ingest some of the Vitamin A&D ointment it would not harm them, this was done for about 4 days in the morning and in the evening i kept the dry docked for about 1 hour before i put them back in there tank. now it gets a little messy. but by using the ointment it does not come right off when put back in the water which is a big help unlike the liquid drops repiti turtle eye drops which will not last in the water. you can see in the water by his head some of the ointment coming off . it dose get the tank pretty messy but a small price to pay by cleaning the tank. every couple of days . my turtles eyes cleared up with in the 4 day period by day 2 they were clear . but continued for 2 more days of treatment . and my turtles been fine ever since .

Here are a couple of pics of my turtle eyes they were pretty bad- they were sealed shut.HE even had a scrape on his back foot poor little guy.which A&D seemed to help


My vet was in charge of the medical care of all reptiles in the staten island zoo -i was told that most of the time this condition is caused by vitamin A deficiency . especially in young hatchlings - here are a couple of pics off ointments-



I put the vitamin A&D ointment in a syringe to make applying it easier

HERE are is a picture after treatment.

[SpotsMama]

Hi Diana,

On painting the inside of the light fixture, that might work but I'm hoping someone who knows more about these things will respond in case you would need to use a special paint or something. have you noticed any improvement yet in your turtle's eyes from leaving the light off?

As Madmax1 points out, it's also possible that the irritation has been caused by something else. A lot of things can cause eye irritation in turtles, such as a shortage of vitamin A, water that isn't clean, injury, too much conditioner in the water, illness such as a respiratory infection and strong uV radiation from a light bulb. Since you were using the type of light bulb that has been implicated in eye problems in the past, that's the first thing that comes to mind in your case. But it could be something else such as a need for more vitamin A.

The Zoo Med turtle eye drops you are using contain vitamin A and I would think if the mild condition were caused by a shortage of vitamin A that it would be cured by the drops. Another simple remedy for a moderate vitamin A shortage is to put a little cod liver oil on a q tip and apply it gently to the turtle's eye lids a couple of times a day.

Here's a caution if you wind up taking your turtle to see a vet. If the vet offers to give a vitamin A shot, first make sure the vet is positive your turtle really needs vitamin A and then discuss other alternatives to shots with the vet like eye drops with vitamin A, cod liver oil or food supplements. Several turtles have recently had very bad reactions to vitamin A shots and I think it's best that if vitamin A is needed (and often it's not) the safer methods be used instead.

[MYLITTLESPEEDY]

I had the UVB light off all day today and just had the basking light on and the eyes seem to be better. I also changed the water, I put chlor out in the water. I was putting stress coat in the water, Petco said to get it for the chlorine. I went to a little pet store and they said to buy a turtle conditioner, in the shape of a turtle, and put some of that in the water. I did. I don't know who to listen to so I read alot on here and try different things. I put the drops in his eyes this morning and again now. I have him in a container without water so the drops will soak in. He wants to go home and climbing all around. I am so glad you are so helpful to the new owners. Thank you for all your help.

Diana

[SpotsMama]

I'm hoping that the eye drops plus cutting back on the UVB light will do the trick. We'll see.

On chlorine in the water, chlorine is one of the (many) things that can irritate a turtle's eyes. The best thing to get the chlorine out of the water is a conditioner for reptiles called Reptisafe. It's blue and is sold with the reptile products. It not only gets rid of chlorine but also does other helpful things such as neutralize ammonia. Just follow directions on the bottle. As with so many things, too much Reptisafe can also irritate eyes, so go easy!

The conditioner in the shape of a turtle is probably not going to be helpful. There is one type that is really a calcium block that won't hurt but a cuttlebone is cheaper. Another type contains sulfa, which kills bacteria and fungus. The problem with putting sulfa in the water as a conditioner is that the harmful organisms develop a tolerance to it and then, when you need sulfa to combat a real illness or infection, it no longer works. So we generally recommend not using sulfa unless there's a very good reason to in order to preserve it's effectiveness for when it's really needed.

[SpotsMama]

By the way, Stress Coat is a good product though it's for fish. If you've still got some, you can continue using it (according to directions of course) to condition the water and remove chlorine until it's gone, then replace it with Reptisafe.