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Hi,

I have 2 RES around 5 yrs of age.

we recently got a new aquarium for them that's 75G and a new basking platform. The old aquarium and the platform were too small for them.
The Female turtle Milo (with us for 4-5 yrs) wants to bask all the time. on the other hand, the male turtle Pinto wants to stay in the water all the time. Pinto really needs to bask as his shell has started to rot i think.

I don't think the problem is with the platform or the temperature as Milo is Basking. Please help me get Pinto to bask.

Thanks

Is it possible that Pinto is harassing Milo? Is there enough room for both?

The shell rot issue would be another matter, one that warrants separation and treatment.

Hi

apologies for the late reply.

So the moment i posted this, Pinto started basking. I realised, he is a shy Turtle and won't bask when someone is around. Now the problem is, i am a stay at home mom, with a very active 17 mo old and can not keep my son away from the tank. So Pinto gets very lil time here and there to bask (mostly when my son is taking his nap). Milo isn't as shy and dosn't care for people around.

they are currently in a 75 Gallon tank that we bought on thanksgiving. The previous tank was a 20G with a much smaller basking platform, so they could not bask properly

Now my questions are
1) can i treat them with the way shown in this ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnCYQJODI1E ) video?
2) can i use some plastic plants from Dollar store (on the basking platform) to make them feel more secure? or do i need to buy them from a pet store only. is there a difference? coz my turtles are really aggressive and would try to bite everything.

I don't have any answers to your questions, but just wanted to mention how cute your second pic is.. I guess they really like each other Huh?? Love it..

I think it's more likely your turtles have retained scutes and fungus than shell rot.

Humnn...

So now what should I do for the fungus? Especially for Pinto, as he won't bask much

Also, is it okay that Milo is basking all the time? i.e. 12+ hrs a day?

You can check out the Care pages on the main redearslider.com website, there should be a good set of dry-docking/fungus treatment guidelines.

Some turtles do bask a lot, although >12 hours a day is a bit strange. There are a lot of potential factors, and they are not mutually exclusive. Your water may be too cold, your turtle might be gravid (if female), there could be too much chlorine and/or chloramines in the water, or (this is generally the worst case scenario) your turtle might have RI (common with water that's too cold/dirty). Is Milo displaying any other strange behaviors?

Is it a continual 12 hours or on and off?