Urgent Care

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Ok turtle friends- I have never posted to any forum before so this is new to me but I am pretty desperate and I have read most of the postings here and the responses seem very helpful so here goes...

I purchased a RES from a big chain pet store a little over 2 weeks ago. She is about 4 inches and was in a 20gal tank for about 4 days before I purchased a 40gal tank and moved her. There are 2 water filters in her tank- both rated to filter a 50gal tank. There is a water heater in the tank and water temp. is reading 79 degrees. There is currently about 6 inches of water in the tank with 1 layer of large pond rocks at the bottom. I put water conditioner in the water when setting up the tank and followed the directions on how much to use. Basking temp. is reading between 80-86 degrees. I have basking light set up with the UVB light on one side and the halogen light (not sure what it is but I know she needs it) on the other side. I have been feeding once a day- superworms a few times, turtle pellets (mostly) and lettuce. The tank is in a bay window and in a room that does not get a lot of activity but my dogs to run by her tank frequently and sleep on the rug in the same room frequently. (They do not really notice or bother her tank though).

OK- So the first few days we had her she was doing great- eating well and swimming a lot. Then she settled into a pattern of swimming each morning for an hour or so and basking most of the rest of the day (sometimes using her hiding spot) and then sleeping. About 4 days ago I noticed these white spots forming on her shell and some translucent skin floating in the water. I assumed she was shedding. Then she stared forming white spots on her nose. And stopped eating. Yesterday she stopped swimming. Today she got in the water and swam but is was very slow at first, then got better. She was able to climb up the ramp to her basking place and even got back in the water again but then spent the rest of the day on her basking log, in the same spot, an and refused to eat. Also, I noticed that the white has moved to around her eyes and she has been using her front claws some to scratch at it. She seems very lethargic compared to the first few days. Her swimming (when she does swim) has been slow and sometimes odd for about 3 days when she gets in the water, at first, then it gets better. The white spots and stuff around her eyes does not look fuzzy, it looks dry and crusty. She has not eaten in 4 days. I have a vet appointment for her in the morning but I am very afraid she is really sick and could die during the night...

If you are using carbon filter media, you don't need water conditioner. Is she basking? I would also not let direct sunlight reach the tank. Skin shedding is normal, especially when the water is warm. I have not seen anything like that white stuff before (that attaches to the skin and shell). On the shell, can any of that stuff be removed, say if you gently scrapped it?

I would consider a soak for her in diluted Betadine (the solution should look like weak tea).

Ok- I gently scrubbed the spots and several of them came off completely. A few appeared to come off but then came back. I use a Tetra ReptoFilter which I believe is a carbon based filter. Do I need to change the water? Is the problem the water conditioner?

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Here is a picture of the type of light that her tank gets- this is when she was in a smaller tank for about a day while I was getting the bigger tank set up with filters and everything. There is an overhang outside the window so I wouldn't say it's direct sunlight, but there is definitely light that goes into her tank...

I'm not sure if the water conditioner is the problem, but I'd skip it for now. Anything else in the tank?

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Just pond rocks, water heater, 2 tetra filters and a calcium block

Do you think I should change her water since it has the conditioner in it?

I'd skip the calcium block. I don't think I would change the water now, try not to add stress right now.

ok. Thank you for your help

one more question- do you think the vet trip is necessary? I am concerned that she may just be shedding and stressed and the vet trip would just compound the stress....

How far away is the vet? Are they experienced with turtles? Lethargy is not a good sign, though I would be cautious with any medications at this point.

The vet is about 15-20 minutes away. Their website said that have experience with reptiles but when I called they said they don't see a lot of turtles. However, they said that, if their doctor couldn't help me they could find someone who could... She has been more active tonight than I have seen in the past 2 days. I am just concerned if it's more stress and shedding then a vet trip will make it worse. But if its a bacterial infection or something then she needs to be seen- however I just don't see any signs of bacterial infection- nothing is moist, eyes look fine except for the dry white stuff around them now, nose is not wet- nothing like this

I haven't seen an infection like that either, but perhaps you can make some changes to the tank and see if those spots clear up.

Update on Lucy:

I ended up taking her to the vet this morning after mapquesting it and realizing it was only 8 minutes away. The vet said she had a bacterial infection and I needed to take her to a place in Houston, 40 minutes away from me, where she needed to be hospitalized, fed intravenously, and given antibiotic injections every few days. Now, I AM a first time aquatic turtle owner, but not a first time reptile owner. During my life I have owned many types of reptiles- monitor lizards, different types of snakes, chameleons, tortoises, geckos, etc. This advice just didn't sit right with me. To take a reptile who was already stressed and adjusting to it's new environment and throw it into another environment AND force feed it seemed like it might make her so stressed that she would die from the stress alone.

SO- I remembered seeing a referral to a herpetologist on a website that was about 40 minutes from my house. The only reason I didn't take her there this morning was because I was afraid the drive was too far and would be too stressful for her. When I called them they said I had to wait a few hours until the Dr. was out of surgery and, surprisingly enough, during this time Lucy swam in her tank for about 45 minutes and ate about 3 turtle pellets.

I took her to the herpetologist this afternoon and was very impressed with him. I learned that he actually treats the exotic animals at a Rainforest/adventure place near where I live called Moody Gardens. There he treats animals from Crocodiles all the way to Komodo Dragons. Anyways- he agreed right away that Lucy did not need to be hospitalized as it would be too stressful to be out of her environment. He swabbed the spots on her shell and determined that she has a bacterial infection. He said that it is likely from a Vitamin A deficiency and that many of the reptiles that end up in the animal trade end up with this deficiency due to not being fed correctly. He told me to get over the counter Vitamin A gel caps and give her .03ml 2-3 times a week until she learns to eat her greens (I haven't been successful in convincing her to eat her greens yet). He also said that she need to sunbathe twice daily for 10-20 minutes basically forever. Lol. He said that there is no substitute for real sunlight and it helps the immune system work correctly. Lastly, he gave me Chlorahexaderm- she is to bathe in this every day for 10-15 minutes for 2 weeks to fight off the bacterial infection. He said he thought she would be fine and that he had seen turtles in much worse condition than she was that have pulled through.

So glad I made the visit. Thanks for all the help!!!

I've had my share of strong disagreements with vets and I'm glad you trusted your instincts. Herpetological medicine is nowhere as advanced other veterinary medicine so a second opinion is never a bad idea. I am very iffy on the Vitamin A deficiency diagnosis... it's such a common response, that I refuse it when offered. My concerns about the white stuff is that it has grown on the skin AND shell. That is unusual to me and this could be two different kinds of infection at work here. Chlorahexaderm has the same ingredients as Nolvasan and Hibclens. The later can be found in drug stores and is very good (doctors like to use it to wash their hands and I use it as a scrub). Anywho, I'm looking forward to the results.

As for trying to get her to eat, I'd try using a veggie clip. You might also want to make some changes to her tank... check out some of the recommendations throughout the forum.

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