Urgent Care :: Raw Plastron?

[ActiveSibe]

Because I am new to turtles and have never cared for one before our new little friend has been a huge learning experience. You see my room mate obtained Herman from the shelter, unfortunately there was a break out of panleuk and the little guy was possibly gonna get put down because no one could care for him. Knowing my room mate loved turtles the folks at the shelter encouraged her to take him. Unfortunately he (I think its a she) has some damage to his plastron. The folks at the shelter prescribed silvadene cream. However I feel like its not helping, its not deep or soft so I don't think its shell rot, but thought I would post some pictures to see what you guys think. He is kept out of the water except for an hour or two a day so that it can dry out and heal. We are in the process of acquiring all of the equipment to house him so as of now he gets to enjoy the natural sunlight of San Diego. He is of course supervised and I am home most of the day because I am between school programs, I monitor the temperature very closely so it doesn't get too hot for him and always give him shade. He has been eating ReptoMin as a staple food and seems to have no interest in red lettuce, cantaloupe, or zucchini. I know diet and UVB can be very important to their over all health from what I have read here so any advice would be great, I was thinking about the PowerSun 100 watt bulb? Any suggestions or help is greatly appreciated.

[steve]

I'm not sure what to make of this. Shell breaches are usually deep but scar over. He's missing large areas of scutes that looks like it might spread. Infected scutes might need debridement, but I'm not sure if what we're seeing is from an injury or illness. Was there any bloodwork done?

[ActiveSibe]

He hasn't gotten any bloodwork done but ill probably take him in to get some done if it gets worse. It doesn't appear to be painful to him when touched or having some pressure put on it. The shelter folks seemed to think it was an injury not illness. I'm not sure on his history but he appears to be healthy otherwise. He is active, alert, good appetite, basking, and feisty. I already talked to the doctor I worked with and he agreed to take a look at him. He's worked with turtles in the past so hopefully he will be able to address it.

[steve]

The main issue is if it spreads... you sometimes need to be aggressive with the treatment against aggressive illnesses/injuries.