General Care Discussion :: The dreaded question: Fungus?

Taking care of your turtle's overall health.

Post Posted: Mon May 21, 2018 8:24 pm   The dreaded question: Fungus?

Hey, guys. I'm new to the forum and first time turtle owner. As many others here, I rescued this baby RES from someone who kept them in a tub barely big enough for the turtle to move, and just enough water that he could be submerged, probably wouldn't even be able to flip back if he fell on his back. He had no light, a rock as a basking area but since the little guy was extremely lethargic, I don't think he basked a lot, if at all?

I've put him in a bigger tank now, he's about 2 inches (and about a year old, I think he's way too short for his age still?), he has about 20 gallons of water and will be upgrading soon. I DIY'd him a basking area with a garden hose holder, set his light up, and he's bee better than ever. He always begs for food, as turtles do, chomps away on his veggies, and he's been basking for most of the afternoons -- he used to be really freaked out of anything even moving near his tank, now he only glares at me when he's basking and I walk by, so I definitely see big improvement on his personality.

He shed his skin a lot this past week or few weeks, which I assumed was just from the environment change and maybe he's growing. When I got him, his shell was covered in algae and needed a good shed, too, from what I could see, I brushed the algae out and helped with some retained scutes that were really thick, and I just caught him the other day basking, all dried up, and managed to get this pic. I'd never seen his shell like this until this moment, and it freaked me out, it doesn't look right, the coloration, the spots? Some of the scutes can be seen shedding off, but that doesn't seem completely right, either. The shell isn't soft, doesn't have any smell, he's been eating well and behaving normally. Is it fungus? And in that case -- betadine??? Thank you in advance.
Attachments
20180517_174101 (1).jpg
mathias
 
Posts: 1
Joined: May 21, 2018
Gender: Male

Post Posted: Mon May 21, 2018 10:20 pm   Re: The dreaded question: Fungus?

Welcome to the forum!

Yeah, looks like fungus. My opinion, get some silver sulfadiazine cream. Don't start using it until he starts shedding scutes and the fungus will be a bit more exposed. Stay on top of monitoring the shell to make sure there are no retained scutes.
User avatar
steve
Site Admin
 
Posts: 31430
Joined: Apr 11, 2005
Location: New York, NY
Gender: Male


Return to General Care Discussion

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 43 guests