Urgent Care :: Painted Turtle Respiratory Infection?

[steve and felicia]

We have a 3 inch long eastern painted turtle, who is about a year old. Yesterday we noticed that when he swam at the surface of the water he kept burping or blowing bubbles - apparently clearing his mouth. He's still doing it today. There is no wheezing, just the sound of a few small bubbles rising to the surface. When he is basking he breaths normally, although it looks like his mouth is slightly open. Otherwise he seems normal - he's very active and alert, and spends part of the day basking.

We think he may have chipped a little of his beak recently - we gave him his first cuttlebone two days ago. it was a 1 inch piece with the natural backing still attached. We have removed it from the tank. I'll add a photo of his mouth. Maybe this would cause his mouth to appear slightly open, and would allow water to enter his mouth, causing him to force out water and bubbles?

Please reply with advice - we are hoping this is not a respiratory infection, but will take him to the vet if it continues.

Thank you so much!
Steve and Felicia

Set-up:
1 eastern painted turtle, 3 inches
50 gal tank
submersible heater, water temp average 74 to 76 degrees
Fluval 406 filter
floating dock
Reptisun UVB bulb
heat lamp
no substrate

Food:
Reptomin pellets every other day
lettuce, dandelions
occasional blueberry, cricket

[Diamondbacks4Life]

It does indeed look like he did chip the upper front of his beak which will grow back pretty fast. That probably is causing the release of the air more then normal. I had a female chip the side of her beak and she would release air more then normal from the chiped area. Since you say he is active and no other signs I think we can safetly rule out R.I.

[swiltz]

Yeap! Turtles with RI will be sluggish, and tend to bask for abnormally long periods of time with their eyes closed

[ataraxiamb]

Welcome! Your turtle is adorable, and I'm glad to hear he's healthy. What's his name?

[steve and felicia]

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

The next day he didn't do it as much, and now (a week later) he has stopped doing it. His mouth looks completely closed when he's out of the water.
We're still not really sure what it was, but he doesn't seem to have any problems. We'll keep a close eye on him though. His name is Mr. Turtle, but we're actually not sure of the gender yet.