General Care Discussion :: How's my turtle look?

[Goldicus]

This is Jadeite.
He's less than 6 months old, but growing fast! (I fear maybe too fast). The water is quite hard here but I treat it to remove chlorine and add some algae killer as well. Water temperature goes from 28 to 34 c (probably too warm) as I keep his aquarium on my balcony in the Bangkok sun. PH is kept at around 7.9. I've bought him a few plants to help keep the water healthy but he eats EVERYTHING. I also bought two guppies for him (he ate one, and I saved the other by giving it to a friend). I feed him ReptoMin pellets twice a day, along with a few mealworms a few times per week. I sometimes give him cooked chicken or pig liver and he LOOOOVVVVEEESSS it. Anyway I attached some photos for you guys to critique. He has some white marks on his carapace near the neck, and a few black spots on his plastron. Does he look healthy? I'm hoping it's from water hardness and not shell rot. Thanks! BTW if you're wondering where the turf went on his basking platform, he was trying to eat that too so I took it out XD

[steve]

Definitely growing too fast, you need to cut down the food/pellets. Cut out the mealworms too. If Jadeite has a huge appetite, try adding in some veggies into the diet. Not sure what algae killer you're using, but skip it for now. Temps are way too high, you should try to find a way to control or limit it. The black spots on the plastron are normal, and will get darker/bigger. Hard to tell whats going on with the carapace from the pictures. Make sure you take out the smaller bits of rock or remove them all. As for the basking area, they make some smaller ones out of resin that you can place anywhere in the water. Welcome to the forum!

[Goldicus]

Definitely growing too fast, you need to cut down the food/pellets. Cut out the mealworms too. If Jadeite has a huge appetite, try adding in some veggies into the diet. Not sure what algae killer you're using, but skip it for now. Temps are way too high, you should try to find a way to control or limit it. The black spots on the plastron are normal, and will get darker/bigger. Hard to tell whats going on with the carapace from the pictures. Make sure you take out the smaller bits of rock or remove them all. As for the basking area, they make some smaller ones out of resin that you can place anywhere in the water. Welcome to the forum!

Thanks so much for your input! Sometimes I add ice to cool it down but it's not really cost effective or convenient. I suppose when I buy him a new tank, I'll find a place for it indoors. As for the rocks, I've thought about replacing them with sand but I'm not sure if he'll try eating that too!

[steve]

You can definitely try sand, as it can even look better. Just keep in mind to use either regular-uncolored play sand or pool filter sand and rinse it out. Make sure the filter inlet is not too close or it will clog. If your turtle wants to eat it, then you will have to remove it. It can happen but not normally.

[Goldicus]

I'll try that, thanks again. I crop zoomed and resized the picture of the whitish coloration on his carapace so you can see more easily.

[steve]

It's not shell rot and I don't think its fungus. It could either be from hard water (calcium/mineral build up) or possible some "bacterial scoring". Both should eventually shed. Do you have a picture of it when it's dry?