Urgent Care :: Did I blind my turtle? =(

[Mxdem]

Hello guys.

It's been hard for me to take care of my two RES turtles, but I've tried. And I recently got some extra stuff, like a new waterfall filter, this aquatic plant which is supposed to help control algae in the tank and an extra lamp for my Exo Terra 100W Daytime Heat Lamp

So, anyway, I only had one lamp for a couple of months and I've been trying to keep my Repti Glo 5.0 and the Exo Terra 100W on for a couple of hours a day each. Then yesterday, when I got all of this, I noticed one of my turtles wasn't really paying attention. He keeps bumping into everything, can hardly see the food and his left eye is now blank. He's always basking, btw, all the time. The other one is almost always swimming.

Now his left eye has a redish/white tone to it, it is definitely not the eyelid, and he doesn't seem to get any kind of response from that eye.

Reading a bit I saw something about UVB bulbs burning turtles' eyes in the long run, specially if they're not good anymore. And I didn't know most of them are even harmfull after 6 or 12 months =/ I've had this bulb for about 16 months now, so I don't turn it on anymore

Is there anything I could do for my turtle? I can order anything from Amazon/eBay but there are no Reptiles Vets near my area, nobody knows anything about turtles here.

I'll include some pics, both eyes, and also my tank so you can see it




This is his other eye, which seems fine


This is the set up. I have some medium sized rocks but they're getting cleaned. The Heat lamp goes on automatically at 2pm and goes off at 8pm.


Bonus pic. I just got this tattoo on saturday. Left turtle (Dark one) is the little one who's always jumping when I get the food. Right side turtle is the one I made this post about, he's always chilling enjoying some sun

[butterflygirl921]

It looks to me like he's partially blind. I don't think there's anything you can do to reverse it. To help with feedings try holding the food until he takes it from you. But as long as he's acting normally I wouldn't worry too much. Hopefully someone else can suggest something

[Kansasslider]

Personally, I don't think that caused by a light. I had problems with using a clear bulb and never seen swelling like that. Is the 100 watt bulb clear or frosted? I think 6 hours for basking isn't nearly enough. Are both lights hooked up to a timer? Hopefully someone with more knowledge about this will chime in real soon.

[Mxdem]

Personally, I don't think that caused by a light. I had problems with using a clear bulb and never seen swelling like that. Is the 100 watt bulb clear or frosted? I think 6 hours for basking isn't nearly enough. Are both lights hooked up to a timer? Hopefully someone with more knowledge about this will chime in real soon.

The 100W bulb is frosted. I read 6 hours was good enough for them and prevented algae growth, but I can change it to anything if you recomend it. And yes, it is connected to a timer now

It looks to me like he's partially blind. I don't think there's anything you can do to reverse it. To help with feedings try holding the food until he takes it from you. But as long as he's acting normally I wouldn't worry too much. Hopefully someone else can suggest something.

Thank you. I'm patient enough to feed him, don't worry.

[Kansasslider]

As far as lights go. I recommend setting them with sunrise/ sunset. Some might disagree with me about that but can mother nature be wrong? At the least one hour after and one hour before.

[steve]

It doesn't look like they eye lid is swollen, but the actual eye? Could it be a growth on it? I'd stop with any UVB lights for now. I would also separate the turtles incase this was an injury. Is it warm enough to take him outside for some sun?

[Mxdem]

It's definitely not warm enough, no. I'm keeping the Warm Light on almost all day now and he's almost always basking. A bit swollen, but it seems more like the coloration effect rather than an actual inflammation or something

[steve]

Try the Zoo Med Repti Turtle Eye Drops. Or an antibiotic from a vet.

[Mxdem]

I actually started with antibiotics since yesterday, doesn't seem like an infection, though. More like cloudy

[Kansasslider]

It doesn't look cloudy in the picture. And there is a lot of swelling. Did you get the ointment from a vet?

[steve]

What kind of antibiotic? An ointment? Injection?