Urgent Care :: Does my RES have Septecemia?

[ericadamson]

I have just noticed his plastron having this redish tint to it for the past couple weeks. I have looked up septecemia and he has no other signs of it other than his plastron is reddish. His habitat is in good condition. all temps are where they need to be and he basks regularly. no changes there. he is 1.5 years old so kind of young and i know young turtles can have reddish tints to their plastrons but im not educated enough to determine this! Im kind of broke right now and figured i would ask on this forum first then take him to a vet based on the kind of answers I get here. any help is greatly appreciated also here is a picture!!

[steve]

It does look a little more reddish than normal. Has he been going through a growth spurt? Is his basking area surface abrasive?

[ericadamson]

His basking area is good for sure. I just bought it a couple months ago after seeing it recommended on this site actually. its the foam turtle dock. and he grew quite a bit these last few months, but ive only noticed this redish tint for mayb a month or maybe even two. time has been flying lately haha. i did say a couple weeks in the original post but now that i think about it it has definately been over a month

[ericadamson]

also I am sorry for not answering all the questions that you asked for. I just saw that in your signature and i just signed up but i can do those for you right now if you want?

[steve]

It's OK. Is there any redness on the skin? Has he been growing quickly? What does he get fed?

[ericadamson]

I was looking at him earlier today and noticed a very very minute bit of redness inbetween a few of his toes on the lighter part of his skin but thats it.
Ive been feeding him pellets mostly. once in the morning I feed him an amount that is about the size of just his head. his pellets were the Exo terra aquatic turtle juvenile pellets for the last 6 weeks. before that he had tatra reptomin pellets, which i switched back to because he seems to like them much better. If he begs in the afternoon for food I will give him a bit of red leaf lettuce. its also I have been feeding him like that since I got him as a hatchling.

he did grow pretty rapidly in the last six months I would say. but ive never owned a turtle before him so I dont really have anything to reference. nor do i know how much they should be growing..

another thing that should be noted is I have him in a a tank that is too small. its 20 gallons and hes about 3.5 inches of straight shell length. in the last month i was really tight for money and didnt change his filter for the month, but i did partial water changes twice and would remove the filter and rinse it till it was as clean as it would get once a week. other than last month I do biweekly full tank cleanings and filter changes. last month was just bad

[ericadamson]

I was just looking at him and noticed a tiny bit of reddness on top of his head.

[ericadamson]

i only can see the tiny bit of redness between a few of his toes when he is basking, otherwise its not there when hes just in the water or when i have him out of his tank with me.

[steve]

Its normal to have a little redness around the webbing or where the limbs attach to the shell. The redness on the head... is it changing? I ask because some RES have red coloring on there.

As for what's happening, I think it's related to a growth spurt. The basking area might play a role, I do not know what kind you have. I make very few product recommendations. If it does become redder or spreads, then you should consider taking him to a vet. In fact, research a few near you so you won't have to scramble in the event of an emergency. Maybe ask about any payment plans if you think that would be a concern.

[penelope]

Yeah the areas to keep an eye on are the parts around the neck (places that don't normally come on contact with stuff) . Another thing to look for is if the seam on the plastron turns obviously pink. It doesn't look like it on the picture. Last, septicemia is a blood infection that is the result of another untreated one. Odds are he would be acting sick also.