Urgent Care :: turtle having trouble staying afloat

[cardboard]

Hi,

I noticed about an hour ago that one of my turtles (he's about 2.5 yrs) is having trouble staying afloat. He has been staying on the bottom of the tank walking around, but when he tries to swim up he potions his arms and legs VERY rapidly but is having great trouble getting his head above the water and staying above. He's using some of my plants and floating media to gran up and crawl onto the surface of the water. I took him out and he seems to be very active and walking around, but i noticed his breathing is much more slower and unusual. I'm worried this is a sign of respiratory infection. Could it just be that he just woke up and is a little groggy? Both of my turtles usually wheeze a little when they are very active and then come up for a breather, so i haven't thought of this as a symptom. He doesn't seem to have bubbles or foam coming out of his nose or lopping to one side.

Thank you for any help. I'm planning on lowering the level of the water down so that he won't have trouble getting air throughout the night.


EDIT: he's now also opening and closing his mouth continuously underwater. I'm beginning to get very very worried

PS. my water temp has always been at 80degrees

[devilduck]

Bump the temperature up to about 83 for a few days. Has he been basking and eating? If he is having problems reaching the surface you may want to add some type low platform to help him out, an upside down ceramic flower pot would be ideal.

[cardboard]

Bump the temperature up to about 83 for a few days. Has he been basking and eating? If he is having problems reaching the surface you may want to add some type low platform to help him out, an upside down ceramic flower pot would be ideal.

thanks for the reply. yes, he has been basking and eat normally for the past few days. in fact, i had just fed them that afternoon and they were both swimming and eating just fine.. i don't know what could have happened...

[steve]

Were there any loud noises from the tank when this happened? If there is any indication that he's having difficulty swimming, take him out of the water.

[cardboard]

just wanted to give an update. the morning after this happened i took him to the vet and the x ray revealed that he was full of sand... literally his entire intestinal tract. so we put him on laxatives and a day and a half later he was swimming back to normal! since then i've removed all of the sand from the tank

[steve]

Wow, that sucks about the sand. Glad to know he's recovered!