Urgent Care :: Can anyone please advise... I think my terries have passed.

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Post Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2017 4:03 am   Can anyone please advise... I think my terries have passed.

Hi all, I'm new to the forum and unfortunately due to some difficult circumstances. I woke up this morning to find both my RES floating motionless in their tank. They were completely stiff but not swollen and at a glance they just looked like they were chilling. They are both super healthy, the one grew 3 times it's original size in just 3 months and they devour their food as soon as it comes.

I keep the tank outside mostly, usually towards the shade but they have morning to mid-day sun. there are no pebbles or anything in the tank, just their 'pride rock' where they would bask and do their turtle yoga.

Yesterday was a particularly hot day, hotter than usual and my husband and I were both at work all day. In the evening they seemed ok, I mean Singapore is hot every day so we didnt think much of it. Now they seem dead!

We took them out and our them in clean fresh coolish water but it's been hours and no movement. they are both in the same position, all legs out almost in a swimming motion (legs directed slightly backwards) and their heads and slightly retracted and eyes closed. There is no smell but they are stiff and don't react to any touch or movement. when I moved the tank this morning, the larger Terry slowly let up some small bubbles, his nose was out of the water but the smaller one's head is submerged.

I'm pretty devastated, turtles are my soul animals! does anyone have any suggestions of things I can try, perhaps there is a way to save them if they aren't already gone...

I feel absolutely horrible and heartbroken, especially if it's because I kept them outside yesterday instead of moving them inside like I sometimes do...

I'll try attach a photo of how they currently look.

Thanks so much.
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my two loves
Luna
 
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Post Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2017 4:28 pm   Re: Can anyone please advise... I think my terries have pass

How big is the tank? I would probably leave them out of the water at this point and observe. Sorry to hear about your situation.
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steve
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Post Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 12:43 am   Re: Can anyone please advise... I think my terries have pass

How deep was the water in the tank ?

Overheating is a more common mistake and a more dangerous thing for a reptile than being cold. I am sorry to say this, but your description sounds like rigor mortis. :s
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PokePony
 
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Post Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 4:10 pm   Re: Can anyone please advise... I think my terries have pass

That happened to my turtle - totally unresponsive, but not dead. They can hold their breath for a very long time (hours). One sign of death is that the eyes will sink in. Until then and until you don't see and bubbles, don't give up.
"I know up on the top you are seeing great sights, but down at the bottom we, too, should have rights"
~ "Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories" by Dr. Seuss ~
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penelope
 
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Post Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 6:45 am   Re: Can anyone please advise... I think my terries have pass

Come on people, don't take on him. What's the point of asking size of tank?
I know that the ego of most people here is taller than the mount everest but to the OP I would say:

I have exactly same RES pair. One is 2 and a half inches and the other is 3 and a half inches and the latter is much stronger one.
I don't have a tank, I keep them in tub, baby swimming pool (never used by any human being, solely bought for the turtles to use during their play time).
Pool is quite big but they get in it for around 2 times a week (one hour each time). Mostly I keep them in a tub and make them sleep in dry clothing covered with a cage to protect them from unwanted attacks by mice, lizards etc (no mice at home but just in case, my house is huge here in India and we have lawns, grass, trees, and anything like mice or snakes is inevitable). One of my turtles (smaller one) was absolutely fine till 30th August 2018 (I had seen photographs of him dated 30th august and he was fine, I click photos with date tag for this reason) but suddenly on 1st september his eyes were closed (swollen and closed), after three days of 20 hours dry docking and sunlight he managed to open the eyes, I gave him carrot soaks too. the fifth day, suddenly his eyes closed down again and they never opened. Back to back carrot soaks didn't help either. Contacted a friend (doctor) and he gave me 1 eye drop (didn't work). After 7 days he asked to visit so that he could give it vitamin v8 shots. There I thought, he is my friend and was trying to help I agree, but who can suggest shots without a proper examination? I researched a bit and found out that turtles may even die due to shots.

I tried everything but in vain. Then the other turtle started to have swollen eye issues so I separated them. I ordered AZOO turtle eye drops. Was giving them for 8 days (days are increasing you can see) and never saw eyes opened. Then I thought that if eyes are not at all opened how could he be benefited from drops? I forced open the eyes of the turtle and dropped the droplets inside it.
There I saw, NO EYEBALLS! Dried skin (thick white skin). I thought he would remain like that forever, he was eating (just by the idea of smell, I used to put him in a small container full of food so that whenever he tried to gulp, he ate. NOT MORE THAN 5 minutes).

ONE MONTH and I found the perfect trick.

provide him warm water (neither completely tap water nor completely RO water, a mixture of both or you may use pure RO water with the reading of 70-80 this much of impurity is must).
Don't keep him all day inside water, don't use heater, change water to warm water as soon as it cools down (1 hour, 3 times a day).
After one hour, take him out of the water and put AZOO eye drops and let him sleep in dry.
Then repeat water treatment.

MAGICALLY HIS EYES APPEARED SLIGHTLY AND NOW THEY ARE COMPLETELY OUT BUT DURING DRY DOCKING THEY GO INVISIBLE AGAIN BUT STILL I AM NOT PUTTING HIM IN WATER 24 HOURS AS HE IS IMPROVING AND I DON'T WANT TO DO ANYTHING WRONG BY TRYING TO ACCELERATE THIS IMPROVEMENT.

They are not ill.

ROOT CAUSE IN MY CASE: Tub that I used earlier was label the same as the one I am using now but in actual it was a cheap plastic that was slowly dissolving in water and hurted the eyes of my turtles.
This ill turtle eventually caught cold (too much white mucus in water), started to breathe from mouth and caught RI later. I treated it by dry docking him and exposing him to very warm climate and 24X7 uvb and sunlight whenever possible (one at a time). Dry docking healed his RI but dried off the eyes. Water treatment gave him his eyes back but continuous dry docking also prevented RI from recurring, I gave him oxygen from mouth too once when he was passed out (I thought he was dead until he made some chirping sound from mouth, his limbs were frozen though). He came out from the mouth of death and yours have got the issue just now. It is surely possible to heal them only if you focus on healing instead of listening to the people who are asking its gender, tank size, what you feed him etc. These things are for prevention, not for cure. Feed turtle pallets (shrimps at max 2 times a week) and don't feed less at all please. Feed 10-15 pallets to each turtle and feed 1 time and 2 time in alternate days, they need to eat! Don't listen to the people who love to starve them, they won't eat to death, turtles know it better!
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Post Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2018 4:10 am   Re: Can anyone please advise... I think my terries have pass

@vishgaur No one took it out on them, we are here to help them know what could cause that so it doesn't happen again. I think you should step down a bit and take a chill pill. ;) Especially when you seem to take your personal experiences as a facts, when it is the last thing to do. I'll give you a very important advice: to know how to help someone, you need first to understand what happened, and ask the right question. You can't assume everything and give personal stories, it can end very badly.

Also, this post is a year old.
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