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Gilbert's been active all week but as of Thursday night, I took out and put in new water, and the next day he was slow moving and almost looked tired. Now he won't even eat. I just recently started feeding him carrots, maybe that's the problem? He had surgery last month for an ear infection-abscess, and he recovered just fine if that's any help.


How big is your turtle? About 5 or 6 inches.
How long have you had it? This would be the eighth month I've had him, and he looked almost newly hatched when I got him.

What is the water temperature? The thermometer says around 78/80
Did you use a thermometer? Yes
Are you using a water heater? Yes
How much water is in there? Around 50 Gallons
Are you using a water conditioner? Yes
Are you using any filtration? Yes, two large filter rocks

What is the basking temperature? 90 Degrees Fahrenheit
Is there a basking light? Yes
Is there a basking platform that is easy to climb on? Yes
What kind is it or what is it made out of? Its a heating lamp with a maybe a 100 watt bulb
Is there a UVB light? Yes, right next to the heating lamp

What have you been trying to feed it? Floating Food Sticks, Turtle Delite Dried Whole Shrimp Treats, Baby carrots
When was the last time your turtle ate? He eats 6-8 pellets once, sometimes twice a day and ate 8 last night but won't eat today

How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? 75 gallon tank with about 50 gallons
Is the tank near a window? No
Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity? His tank is in the living room, but were not that loud/hectic.

Have you read the Basic Care section? Yes
Have you searched the forums for similar situations? No

Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms? He's been clinging on to his fake plants and just resting there for awhile, he'll go to the bottom of his tank and just lay there when typically he swims actively and he usually gets excited to see me, now he won't even swim towards me. All he's doing is sometimes swimming around slowly.

Lethargy (in water/out of water) is pretty serious, it warrants a vet visit. He is 5/6" after only a few months? That's a dramatic size increase.

I've measured him and I was wrong, he's about 4''. I've never been able to accurately measure him until now. Could it be anything mild?

It's hard to say without an examination. Sometimes you need to go by your instinct... if you never seen him act this way, then I would be a lot more proactive.

It's pretty hard to judge what's wrong with Gilbert. Inactivity and lack of appetite are symptoms to many things.

He's swimming more and eating again, but still isn't as active as usual. He's always yawned once or twice after crawling onto his bask rock, and sometimes falls asleep up there for a short period, is that normal?

Short periods is within normal in my opinion.