About two months ago me and my girlfriend bought two hatchlings after doing our homework, I must add. We felt ready to care for the turtles. They are about 1 1/2 to 2 inches. For the first month everything was fine. I noticed white lines around the shell of one of them. I immediately looked at this forum and others, and concluded she was growing, as she was showing no signs of being ill. She was basking, eating, swimming, sleeping just fine. She lived for another three weeks and sadly died suddenly and unexpectedly.One day she was fine, the next day she was dead. Now we have one turtle left, and are desperate to keep him. And just noticed the same thing happening to him.
as I said, he is about 1 1/2 inches. The tank is 20 gallons (I'll upgrade when he gets bigger) with a 50 gallon water filter. I do a 50/50 water change once a week and a full tank clean once a month. I have UVB, heatlight, basking area. Really tried to do everything for them. Water temperature is about 29C and basking area, depends, but is usually about +5 to 6 degrees.
The only culprit that comes right to my mind is that we have large gravel substrate, which I was hesitant about buying at first because I've heard it can cause nothing but problems, but figured I'd give it a go at first. I'm thinking there may be bacteria in it. I don't know. Here are pictures of my poor guy's shell. Its hard to see because of the glare, unfortunately. I'm ready to take him to get emergency care. Me and my GF will be absolutely devastated if we lose him too. Please, any advice may save his life.
Thank you for your time.
