Urgent Care :: Cure for Swollen eyes

[madsteelerfan51]

So my brother bought three baby red eared sliders for my niece which he did not know how much care they needed, so I decided to take over and care for Willie, Tittles and Ozo. They were provided with everything they needed, Basking platform, Uv light, 40 gallon tank, vitamins, filter, and I cleaned their tank twice a week. There were about one inch and a half when we first got them. Now two are almost 4 inches except for Willie who is around 2 inches. Two months after we got them, Willie eyes became very swollen and he seemed blind as a bat. I tried eye drops, fish oil. and nothing seemed to help, twice a day , everyday I fed him by hand . He Ate, but did not grow and no improvement for 2 months now, so I decided to try using bottled water instead of tap water and safe drops, NO TAP WATER IN MY TANK. After a week to my surprise Willies eyes were better, he could see, and has been fine for a month now, when I gave it more thought, tap water has chlorine , and they are swimming in the water most of the day, ours hurt when we are in a pool for half of the day.

using , themometer , water heater set at 80, basking temp @ 95, feed, worms, repto sticks, have 15 gallons of water in 40 gallon tank

[devilduck]

Eye infections most commonly occur due to water quality issues. It may be that your municipal water supply contains a lot of chlorine and perhaps chloramine. You can use a chemical neutralizer for these such as Seachem Prime or Safe. You can also use a water passed through a water filter filled with carbon media that will remove chlorine/chloramine.

What type of filtration do you have? Inadequate filtration may also cause the eye swelling.

[madsteelerfan51]

I'm using the Zoo Med Turtle Clean Canister Filters

[steve]

Did the eye problems coincide with a new UVB bulb?

[madsteelerfan51]

Hi Steve, I don't believe so, I have had the same Uv light the first day we got them , and this only happened to 1 of the 3 we have. Since I have been using the bottled water , they have been looking healthy and growing, all three of them

[steve]

Try switching to a carbon media filter like devilduck suggested. If chlorine/chloramine concentrations were strong, it probably would have affected all the turtles.

[Kansasslider]

Kinda strange it only affected one turtle? But I guess its possible. No need to use bottled water as mentioned carbon works well. Glad its better. Some turtles die from not being able to see food.

[madsteelerfan51]

Thank you for all your suggestions, and I will give carbon water a try, and Kansasslider, that's why I would feed Willie by hand , reading many posts that others had with the same issue, mentioned that theirs died by starvation . The good thing is he would eat out of my hand every time I fed him