Hello all! As you guessed i have some questions about my babies.... For my sons 3rd birthday we thought to would be a great idea to get him four baby red ears because he is VERY in to the ninja turtles right now. (Since it is illegal nation wide to buy or sell turtles smaller than 4" we had to go out of town to find some.) So we had grandma purchase some for us through a local zoo where she lives. They were all Quarter dollar size or smaller when we got them. The guy who sold them to her was (is) a complete idiot and told her that we didnt need to do anything for them just give them lost of sunlight and give the four of them a tiny piece of frozen bloodworms a day and regular tap water to change there tank with! After two of the four died i quickly figuered out that something was very wrong. So we made a trip to the locally owed pet store where we buy our fish and asked for help. Up until then we had the poor things in a small plastic aquarium that you can buy at the carnival after you win gold fish. They quickly pointed out that was our biggest mistake. (At that point we had only had them for two weeks). They set us up with a 10 gallon tank to start with, esu reptile slimline fixture w/ desert lamp, esu reptile heat light &reflector dome w/clamp, 60 watt sungol neodymium daylight lamp, a small zoo med turtle dock, penn-plax cascade 300 internal filter, instant De Chlor for the water and optional sand. We chose not to geta thermomiter just then to see if we could get the two to live first(why spend more money that what we have to if they were going to die anyway). They did point out that that was the very minimal they could survive off of, concidering all we did wrong in the begining it was a big improvement. We change thier water every four to five days and feed them frozen blood worms twice a day and romane lettice every two to four. One turtle was too sick to save and the other, Mikey, is still alive and is growing huge. Two weeks ago grandma came for a visit and brought three more turtles to replace the ones that had died. (she felt bad because we had kept telling my son that his turtles were "hidding", thats why he couldnt find all four. smart kid, knows how to count to ten, knew something wasnt right) Since we had the tank set up right and Mikey was thriving in his new home we figuered that it was okay. Ralf died without any warning a week and a half later, haddent showen any signs of being sick and ate his share of food the day before.
Finally to my question, two more are now, i think, sick. They havent eatten in a few of days and their eyes are shut. I see them struggling to open them but they just cant. It doesnt look like anything is covering their eyes, like the other ones who died before they got the proper housing. They do have white spots on varies parts of thier body. They were very active when we got them but now the only time they swim is when Mikey pushes them in the water. Even then they quickly swim to the floating rock to dry off. We have had Mikey now for two and a half months and his almost doubled his size and looks and acts very healthy. What are we doing wrong with the others? Is it too late to save them? What should i do?
P.s. My son rarely handles them if at all. When he does he is completly supervised and he washes his hands extremly well before and after. There is no way he can reach in the aquarium to touch them when we are not watching because the tank is kept where he can still see them but not low enough to touch.
