Urgent Care

i have 2 red eared sliders and 1 yellow belly. Both my red eared slider are almost a year old now and recently i have been changing their diet to feeding them reptomin pellets once every other day as well as mixed vegetables the days they are not fed reptomin pellets. As of yesterday i have noticed that one of my red eared sliders have been swimming lopsided, i would say roughly a 75 angle tilt while she is swimming. She eats the same amount she usually eats everyday (as much as they can handle in 15 mins), her breathing looks normal and she's pretty active. The only change i would say that i have noticed is that she does not thrust towards me anymore when i give them the feeding time signal, she just stays still until i have dropped the food in and then she starts eating when i leave. She is basking a lot more and her fecal matter is more of the form of diarrhea. I have a 55 gallon tank for the all three turtles, water temperature is constant at 26 degrees Celsius and the basking area is heated at 35 degrees with a proper UVB and Heat lamp. The water quality is pristine.

I dont have the money to take her to the vet knowing that treatment can be very pricy. I just want to know whats going on with my turtle.

The first thing that immediately comes to mind is a respiratory infection, which definitely requires vet attention asap. I'll let the more experienced people here weigh in on what some other causes might be, but for now, I would try turning the heat of the water up to around 78F/25-26C. That's usually the first suggestion people throw out when dealing with potential injuries or illnesses. It looks like your basking temperature is around 95F, which is already higher than what's recommended so that should be warm enough already. When she swims lopsided, is she doing it constantly or do it just happen once in awhile? Just asking because sometimes when Flippy is playing or chasing things around the tank she tilts herself one way or another, but she swims normally the rest of the time.

Thank you for the reply! But it just turns out she was constipated. She is now swimming perfectly fine and active as ever after her bowel movement.

Interesting to note about the constipation. I have a turtle (large female) that tends to swim lopsided and has since I got her from a friend. I panicked when I first saw that because I knew swimming lopsided was a symptom of a respiratory infection sometimes, but ... she's fine and she still swims funny.

She's just the odd one out in the tank.

Not sure if I heard of the constipation theory before, though I would look into other reasons first. I agree with apondfortimmy too, they can be a little odd sometimes

Urgent Care :: Red eared slider swimming lop sided but seems healthy

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