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Disease?!!!

PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2005 5:15 pm
by judge
I Have A Helmut, Painted Turtle, And Had 2 Red Ears. We Adopted Them About 2 Years Ago. The Smallest Of The Sliders Died Shortly Aftr We Got Them. About 3 Months. He Just Stopped Eating. We Even Thought That He Might Have Drowned. Mind You, My Wife And I Do Not Know Much About Turtles.

The Other Slider Did Well. We Named Him "Happy" Brought Another Tank, Added "Googles" (Our African Side Neck, And Shortlty Afterward Got A Painted Turtle "Tomato".

They All Cohabitated Well. They Were Always Energetic. Tems At 75-80 Degrees. We Tried To Keep The Drafts Low, 55 Gallon Tank, Double Filter System, Changed The Water Once A Month, Fed Them Pellets...Once In A While Feeder Fish.

The Turtles Looked Great. My Wife Noticed That Happy Wasn't Eating. This Was Unusual For Happy. He Would Usually Come Up To The Glass And Greet Us. He Stoped Eating Like I Said. We Brought Him To A Pet Store. The Owner Said He Looked Great. He Gave Him A Shot Of Vitamins And Said He Appeared To Be Fine. No Obvious Problems. Two Days Later Happy Died.

What We Want To Know Is:
[b]
1. "What Are The Common Diseases Turtles Get. Specifically Sliders.

2. What We Can Do To Prevent Them.

3. And How Can We Recognize When The Turtle Is Sick?"

We Need Some Help. Advice, And Information.

Moderators, oard Members Please Help. We Love Our Pets. And "Happy" Deserves To Have Not Died In Vane. Any Info Would Be Sincerely Appreciated.

Jim & Diane, Googles And Tomato And Our Beloved "Happy" Thanks You.

PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2005 8:54 am
by jenaero
That part of the site is not yet complete, but here is a link that I'm sure you will find helpful!

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/emergencies.htm

a little help

PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2005 11:22 am
by College_Turtle
There is a fungi that grows in the water im not sure what it is and im telling you this so you will know and not to alarm you but The fungi can get into the turtles eyes and when it does it gets into their system and kills them. What i do is once a week or once every two weeks i take Ish Ka out over night and let him dry out. I also use a thing that disolves in the water and it helps kill the bacteria that may be growing in the water hope this can help you a little

PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2005 11:29 am
by Stacey
:? Is it safe for a RES to be out of water all night? :?

I know they can sleep on their basking area, but too not have the option of going in water??????

PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2005 11:34 am
by College_Turtle
oh yeah its very safe for res to be out of the water. when you go to a lake or whatever and they have turtles at the lake you see them out and about basking or just going out for walk LOL they have to dry out or they will get a fungus and then they die its a horriable way to go for an amimal i think.

PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2005 12:17 pm
by Stacey
I know that they can be safe out of water :wink: but I mean being left out with no option of getting back in the water. Maybe it's just the whole "aquatic" turtle thing that's making me second guess it?

PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2005 1:02 pm
by jenaero
I've never heard of anyone doing that and I think it would be very stressful for the turtle. If he's acting normal, eating, swimming etc then don't do anything out of the ordinary. RES sleep in the water (mostly) because that is where the feel safe. I know for a fact that mine wouldn't get any sleep if I kept them out of the water because as soon as they're in a dry container (to get weighed or transported back to the tank after cleaning) they flip out.

PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2005 2:28 pm
by College_Turtle
I only leave him out of the water over night. They have to dry out or they get that fungi and die and im not going to kill my turtle. I was told to remove them over night by a woman at a pet store and then i called a vet and asked and he told me the same thing, it doesn't throw them off to be left out for 8 hours at night if i thought it would hurt him i wouldn't do it

PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2005 2:39 pm
by jenaero
The reason we provide a basking area with uvb and heat is to let them bask and dry off. If this is provided, they don't need to be kept out over night in order to dry off. Basking is what they do in the wild. Wild turts would never sleep outside the water.

I'm guessing you're talking about preventing shell rot...basking prevents that.

PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2005 8:36 pm
by College_Turtle
I was told it helps to keep the fungus out of their eyes at night he gets in the water and stays all night it doesn't bother him when iset him in a box the next morning beforei head off to class i put him in the water and he swims around. cause even when i put him in a box he moves around all night so i figured if it bothers him he wouldn't move around so much

PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:08 pm
by Stacey
I am in no way trying to be rude, but maybe he is moving around alot because he is trying to find water :shock:

I also am not understanding how we are supposed to keep fungus out of their eyes? If we are cleaning the tanks out properly and providing adequate filtration, where is this "bad" fungus coming from???????

PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2005 10:35 pm
by jenaero
Stacey,

Don't worry about it. And yes, he's moving around all night because he's freaking out, trying to find water. That is terribly stressful and I don't know anyone that would advise it. As I said, wild RES (or any aquatic turtle for that matter) would never sleep out of the water because they are most vulnerable to predators on land. Water is where they are comfortable. The only time mine sleep out of the water is when they fall asleep basking, and that's only because they know no one here is going to eat them.

Jen

PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2005 10:45 pm
by punkiemichelle
I really do not think it is necessary to take your turt once a week for 8 hours. If he basks "normally" and other wise is acting/eating normal, why would you put your turt through all that unnecessary stress?? Sounds pretty silly to me. Now if he was sick thats a whole diff. story. Right?!

PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2005 10:49 pm
by jenaero
yep

PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2005 12:56 am
by College_Turtle
if it puts stress on him he would let me know by swimming away from me when i go to pick him up even when i go just pet his head. i was told the fungus lives in a damp place no matter how often you clean the tank.

also i was wondering when you put turtles in a traveling osais how bad does it upset the turlte? i ask because i had to take him home a few times on long weekends and when i take him out of the traveling carier he won't move as much for like 20 minutese. can they get car sick?