General Care Discussion :: Treating Wasabee's damaged shell

[WASABEE]

Hi, just to give a bit of a background..
I live in Vietnam, i was given a 1 month old Res turtle to look after and he is now 3 year old. It is not easy to find a vet here even harder to find a reptile vet so I'm looking for some advice please..
Wasabee has a very good appetite and is energetic, has good colour.
I have him in a 150gal with a above basking. He has a 150w exoterra uvb heat lamp, the large sunsun canister filter (5 basket) a hang filter with uv bulb. I test his water daily (nitrate, nitrite and pH) the nitrate is not perfect between 10 to 15ppm). He is fed Reptomin sticks, a small amount ( less than half his head) everyday. I remove his waste every morning by vacuum approx 2 gal and replace with 24-48 hours water.
I get him out everyday to exercise for 30mins after I give him a clean and place povidone on his wounds. He gets a mealworm as a treat probably a little too often, every second day. He doesn't eat veggies, so he is given aquarium plants. Floating lettuce and a few others that I checked were ok for him to eat. He has cuttlefish in his talk always for him to eat.
Water temples about 22 Celsius and basking between 30 and 35 c, the area is large enough for him to pick a spot.
I have been treating a wound approx 4mm on his shell for past 3 weeks plus a few white spots, but they do not appear to be getting better. i just don't know what else to do or if i should i be concerned.... I am looking for some advice.. fyi.. wound does not smell or seen any sign of blood it also doesn't look or feel soft, but that is hard to tell.

[steve]

It's hard to know what caused the wound. It looks like the top layer is gone, exposing a bone layer. I would guess most vets would debride the area, but it's hard to tell whats going on from the picture. But there is usually no home-treatment... it's best to continue to look for veterinary help. Check with local wildlife/herp orgs and even colleges with veterinary departments. Good luck!

[WASABEE]

Thank you for your reply and well wishes..
The wound was caused by a knife. Months ago, I wanted to get him checked out by a vet, but could not find one, so I was recommended to get a local guy who has many turtles and knows a lot about Res turtle.
Unfortunately this was his treatment to scratch his shell he said it looked like fungas and then told me to treat it with saline and iodine. That was about 6 weeks ago, the scute actually fell off about 3 weeks later when all scutes fell off.. since then I have noticed the mark getting lighter in colour. I'm just wondering if I should be applying silver sulfadiazine or just stick to iodine? I feel I must keep on top of it, until I find a vet.. Thanks again for your help.

[WASABEE]

Another photo

[steve]

I would try to keep the water as clean as possible. Hopefully the damage does not spread. If the bone layer comes off, that might be a good thing as it will help build up a scar layer. This is why some vets will debride the area.

[WASABEE]

Thank you for your advice, I have been keeping his tank is clean, and keep an eye on the scar, so far it hasn't changed size or texture, still hard and clean. Thank you for your support.. cheers..