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Ok, so I have a 3-5 month old southern painted turtle housed in a 55 gal tank with a canister filter, heater, turtle topper(basking dock), heat, and uvb lighting. He's been keeping his mouth semi open when he's out of the water and it's making me nervous. I've noticed he basks a lot and has seemed weak when eating. His bite streamgth is definitely less than what it was a month ago and he is housed with year old red eared slider. I don't know if he's sick or just acting weird but I'm really concerned and don't know if I should take him to a vet. Please any advice would be appreciated and please feel free to ask questions.thanks

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I would separate them as a first measure. Has he been eating less? What do you feed him?

steve wrote:I would separate them as a first measure. Has he been eating less? What do you feed him?

I feed him a mixture of saki-hikari turtle food, mazuri turtle food, and another food I don't have the packaging for anymore. I've offered him romaine often since I've got him since my res is a maniac when it comes to his greens. I've seen him eat carrot and zukini, and I offer feeder fish but he's too small to really catch them so he rarely eats any. How can I separate them? I only have one heat lamp and uvb light. I have a 10 gallon tank laying around that I could use, but as far as filtration goes I only have a sponge filter.

And he's still very active in the water and he's still very enthusiastic about eating. I've been trying to get alittle extra protein and calcium in him.

I just noticed he's holding his mouth open underwater too. This is kind of decreasing my suspicion of ri. I really care about this turtle and don't want to lose him. His name is taco by the way

Does the other one get in the way while eating? Having another enclosure is always a possibility when keeping multiple turtles.

steve wrote:Does the other one get in the way while eating? Having another enclosure is always a possibility when keeping multiple turtles.

no I feed them in different containers so i can also feed the fish, but hes developed an abscess on his neck above his ear. I've had him quarantined for about 48 hours since the abscess surfaced. I'm calling the nearest herp vet in the morning. do you thing they will work on a turtle so small? he's literally the size of a slider fresh out of the egg. i'm really worried about my little buddy.

It would depend on the experience of the vet, but most don't like to deal with hatchlings. How big is the abscess?

steve wrote:It would depend on the experience of the vet, but most don't like to deal with hatchlings. How big is the abscess?

It's nothing compared to pictures I see online, probably the size of a large pimple, but it's decreased in size since yesterday. I'm gong to give it a day or two before I call the vet just to be sure. He's still eating fine and active when he's in the water.

Maybe it's not an abscess and just a sore?

Maybe. I'll post some pictures. I just put some convict cichlid fry in there with him and he's chasing em down. he's not acting sick he just looks sick.