Hi Everyone, I'm new to this forum and am so thankful to have found it. I am so worried about my Kame (pronounced Kah-meh) who we believe has RI. He's 3 yrs old and about 3.5 inches in diameter. We think he stopped eating about a month ago and has lost at least half of his body weight. He used to sink to the bottom of the tank when we put him in water, but now he just floats sort of off-balance.
We just took him to the vet today and had x-rays taken and two injections, one for anti-biotics and second for calcium. Tonite we tried to feed him more anti-biotics orally but had a really hard time getting him to open his mouth. Had to use a toothpick to force his mouth open. I'm so afraid that this a-b feeding ordeal is causing him too much stress - then to make matters worse, it looks like he ended up spitting it back out instead of swallowing it down. He also started bubbling at the mouth and nose.
Are there any of you out there that have had your RES survive an RI? If so, how long does it take before you see improvement in their health after the initial injection of anti-biotics?
I also have two little ones (about 1.5-2 inches in diameter) that might have caught RI too. After Kame stopped eating, so did they. Would this be a behavioral thing rather than actual physical? Do they mimic each other's behaviors (i.e. stop eating and bask more)? They do swim about, and usually want to rest near or on top of Kame, and they seem to look healthy. But they close their eyes more often than they used to, and they won't eat (my biggest concern). The vet today said that I didn't need to separate them, but I don't trust this vet too much. What do you think?
And do you have any pointers on how to open their mouths easier for anti-biotics feeding and making sure that they swallow it instead of spitting it up?
Your advice is most appreciated. And in case you're wondering, the water is now 84F and they were in a 30 gal tank, but now moved to a 10 gal tank and I have a basking rock, but not heated. Instead, I am keeping the air warm using a halogen lamp (Is this ok?). The halogen lamp is very warm, but I don't know the exact temp.
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