Urgent Care :: HELP! Nasty Skin Issue With Baby Sideneck

[sansbacon]

Hi guys, my baby Pink Belly has what looks like a fungus or bacteria on its skin only. It doesn't look like any of the other images of skin fungus that I've seen on here or elsewhere. In fact, I can't seem to find ANYTHING that matches what this little guy has on its skin.

Does anyone have an idea of what this is? Thanks.

[steve]

Do you have any before pics? Is the 'fungus' loose or wispy?

[sansbacon]

No before pics, unfortunately.

And it's pretty loose-- it actually wipes off fairly easily. I've been lightly applying Betadine on what looks like the infected area with a Q-tip, and it wipes off like it's dead skin after a sunburn. I't's also nearly invisible when he's fully dry after spending some time basking. Could it possibly be that he's just shedding? I've read that these guys shed more than the average turtle, but that's usually in reference to their shells.

Thanks,
Chris

[steve]

Shedding skin is thin and wispy in the water. It's good that it comes off easily maybe use something like a cotton ball to see if you can get more off.

[sansbacon]

I can see what appears to be some shedding on the top of his head when he's in the water. I'm able to see where the peeling is progressing, so I'm positive it's not fungus on the head.

So it'd be okay to remove anything that wipes off easily? I didn't want to expose the skin underneath just in case it was blistered, but the skin doesn't seem to be irritated or discolored once it's exposed. I'm still applying betadine over the "affected" areas just in case there is some kind of infection, but I'll try to remove a little more each day and see where it goes from there.

Thanks for your suggestion; I'll keep this updated as it progresses.

[steve]

I think going about this slowly and carefully is the right way. There are also aquarium antifungals like Maroxy you can add to the water (used in a small setup) but it's not something I've tried.

[sansbacon]

Just wanted post a quick update...

At this point, I'm certain it's just shedding, thankfully. I haven't used the Betadine for a few days now because I wanted to see if anything was growing in the areas where I'd already removed the dead skin. And so far so good. No regrowth, no spreading, nothing. And she just released a hilarious looking head shed the other day in the tank, and I wish I had my phone nearby when it happened because it looked like a ghost in the shape of her head swimming around.

So it seems that these types of turtles just shed a TON, and some of the shedding just so happens to be horrifying in appearance. If anything changes, I'll make sure to post another update. Thanks again for helping me it, Steve

Here are few pics that I just took today. As you can see, there's a stark contrast between the pictures in the OP compared to this one.




Here you can see where some of the skin on his neck was partially removed:

[steve]

She looks great! I guess she just needed a little assist