Urgent Care :: Underbelly of Turtle Flaking?

[Califmommy9]

My turtles are both 1 1/2 yrs old. We have had them about 6 mo. They have two basking docks, are in a 90 gallon tank w/ UV light. I feed them pellets every other day, some tuna every once in a while and different types of greens.. arugula, romaine etc. They eat fine.. they dont fight. There are two filters and 1 large pleco in the tank and 3 very very tiny pleco.

I started noticing some while flakeyness on the bottom of one turtle "Duncan". It looks as if he had rubbed his under belly on something and scratched it all up! I took him out tonight to chk it out and its all rough and a couple spots look pitted and feel like they give some if you press them. Some areas look like they are flaking.. he has also been shedding the last several days. His top shell (sorry I dont know the official term) looks great has no spots and is not soft. He basks every day and I keep the light on about 14 hours per day. I know there has to be something wrong if his underbelly looks this way.. one spot looks pitted and in another you can push on it and see it go in and out! I noticed tonight the other one has 1 small spot that looks similar. HELP!

[missibsu]

What are some of the things that you have in your tank for decoration? Could it be something that he is rubbing against? You mentioned a UV light, is it UVB or UVA?

[cam722]

You said that there are soft spots. Is there any odor? Is it at all possible to post pictures, it would help alot in trying to figure it out

Also, is their basking area a place where they can completely dry off, both the top and bottom of their shells?

btw, the correct terms for the shell are.. bottom (plastron) top (carapace) .. there is a diagram and explaination of a turtles anatomy you can find HERE

[marisa]

What are you using for a basking areas--the turtle docks you buy in petstores?

The pitted areas you said felt soft--how deep is the pitting? Can you post a pic of the areas when the shell is dry?

[Califmommy9]

I tried to get pix last night but they are too dark to really be able to see the detail of what is wrong. The basking dock is from the pet store.. it hangs over the side and they crawl up there.. i think it does stay somewhat damp but they also have a floating log which is dry on top and they both get up there and bask. Their light is outside of the tank.. I think its UVB. There are some round river rocks in the tank and the floating log and dog.. there is no heater b/c it stays about 74 degrees in there w/out a heater. The pitting is about 2 mm. THey are not acting sick at all.. they both are swimming around and chasing the baby plecos.. they both are basking/sleeping at night and their tank temp today is 75. They both eat well and are not aggressive w/ each other. I ll try to post the pic's I did get to see if you can see them at all.

[missibsu]

If the UVB light is outside the tank, is there anything between it and the basking area? If there is small screen or glass between them it will filter out the beneficial rays.