Urgent Care :: Shedding or a problem

[Lisa4christ]

Priscilla is about 4 inches. She lives in a 55 gallon tank. She eats pellets, mealworms and greens. Water temp is 78. Basking temp is 90. She loves to bask. She has a heat bulb and a UVB bulb. I do a 50-75% water change every week.
She has some white spots on her shell and I am not sure about them. They have been there for several weeks. When wet they appear green( see second pic) as they dry out they appear white see first pic. Not sure if it is shedding, but having a hard time or something else. She tries to rub at them on a rock in the tank. They feel like the rest of her shell. They get much whiter and shiny after basking. This picture was taken after she was out of water for 5 minutes, but not under a basking light.

[steve]

If it's algae, you can remove it by gently scrubbing the shell. Use a new toothbrush and clean water. If you want, you can use diluted Betadine or Hibiclens then carefully rinse and don't let the turtle drink any of it. Let the shell completely dry and take another picture.

[Lisa4christ]

Here are some more pictures of the spots after she has dried out and been basking.

[steve]

So that looks like a bit of fungus. I'd definitely want to try to treat it at this early stage.

[Lisa4christ]

Ok. I will dry dock her. What should the room temperature be? We keep the house cold, but I can put her in the bathroom with a heater.

[steve]

You'd need to do more than dry dock. You can try a turtle sulfa dip but usually silver sulfadiazine cream does the trick in less aggressive infections.

[Lisa4christ]

Ok. She has a vet appointment tomorrow. I did not have any sulfadiazine cream, so I used neosporian until we go to the vet. Here are some updated pictures. She is not enjoying being dry docked and has refused to eat. I even put a few minnows in with her this afternoon. She has been out of the water for about 21 hours a day. I let her swim and provide food which she turns her nose up at for about 3 hours.
The second picture of her looks better then before. This is dried off after a 3 hour swim without reapplying neosporian. I am concerned about the underside next to her front foot. I attached a picture. What do you think?

[Lisa4christ]

Sorry pictures would not load from iPhone:( hopefully this will work.

[steve]

What's the specific problem you have with this area? The white spots?

I don't think Neosporin does much for fungus. It's a bit oily, so that could actually make it look less visible, but it's still there.

[Lisa4christ]

Saw the vet today. He saw before pictures and Priscilla now and thinks the dry dock helped more then the Neosporin. He gave me some ointment for her that is anti bacteria and also anti fungal. Really liked him. Seemed to know what he was talking about. I also took my other two turtles and everyone fell in love. Apparently, they do not see many healthy turtles.
I am concerned with the white spots. He said there was an abrasion, but not deep and to use the ointment twice a day and return her to the tank on Sunday and continue the ointment once a day after that. Thank you for all your help!!

[steve]

Was the vet certain it was fungus? From what we've seen, dry docking alone does not stop fungus as it lurks in and below scutes.

[Lisa4christ]

No, that is why he prescribed an anti bacteria also. It might have been an abrasion. It seems to have cleared up. I read in another post where you said the Neosporin could mask the fungus, that is why I washed it off and let her swim for 3 hours then dried her off and let her bask for a while. The white spots never returned and I did not put anymore Neosporin on it. It had been more then 24 hours since I put any Neosporin on when she saw the vet. I was thinking that with the swims she had and drying her off with a towel, the Neosporin would be gone by the time she saw him. I did not want it to mask the problem.

This did help push my husband to upgrading the type of filter we use:)

[steve]

Thanks for the update. Please keep us informed with her progress.

[Lisa4christ]

I put Priscilla back in the tank today. She is enjoying being able to swim and dive and she started eating right away. She did not eat the entire time she was dry docked. She just pouted:( I was not sure how she would react when placed her back in the tank because I had rearranged everything and put in a new canister filter. Usually when i change anything in her habitat, she pouts, but I guess she was just to happy not to be dry docked anymore. The shell looks much better I will post a picture when she stops long enough for me to get a decent shot.

[Lisa4christ]

I got some pictures this morning when I got her out of the tank to put ointment on her. I think it looks better. Thank you for all your help:)