General Care Discussion :: Our turtle Died and need HELP!

Taking care of your turtle's overall health.

Post Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2018 6:04 am   Our turtle Died and need HELP!

Just got a male red eared slider turtle for 1 day and he died. My teenage son has been wanting one for 6 months. So we researched a TON and asked a ton of questions to turtle owners!!! Before purchasing a turtle...we got the tank setup including light, filter, heater, treated the water, put in a basking rock, made sure the water was the right height and temperature, and made sure we had a big enough tank. We wanted to make sure everything was good before introducing a turtle to his new environment. We went with rescuing a turtle from our local animal shelter (teenager, but don't know how old...I know he wasn't a baby and he wasn't an adult). We live 5 minutes from the shelter and got him home and in the tank right away. We noticed he wasn't active right away and we thought he was just adjusting or scared. It made me nervous how inactive he was and so I was checking on him every hour. He spent most of his time on the basking rock and wouldn't eat. He was fanning a lot, hissing a lot with his neck out, had peeling skin on his neck, mucus bubbles that would come from his mouth off and on, and when we put him in the water briefly (I didn't want him to get to hot) he couldn't get back up on his rock. So we got a ramp for him and he would just laid on the rock. I made such to turn the light off that night so he wouldn't get too hot. I didn't know I could become so attached to him in 1 day. My son was at a soccer game when he passed and it was the hardest thing to tell him when he got home. I've been bawling because I'm so upset and my son is beyond sad.

WHAT DID WE DO WRONG??? Of course we want to get another turtle, but I'm SOOO nervous now. I don't want the same thing to happen. Should we not have gone with a rescue turtle? If not a rescue turtle...where is the best place to purchase a new turtle? Do you think he could have been sick before we got him? Could we have stressed him out to much? Was he overheated being on the rock to long? Should we not have gone with a red eared slider? What should we look for when purchasing our next turtle? So many questions. I'm guessing everything we did and trying to find out what we did wrong.

Beyond sad!
We loved him...much love to Turbo the Turtle
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Post Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2018 10:42 am   Re: Our turtle Died and need HELP!

Sorry to hear about your loss. Something very unusual happened... are you sure you mean he was "fanning" a lot? What were his water temps? What's his filter like? As for where to get turtles... recuses would be the best place for RES, though a lot of people just get them from pet stores.
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Post Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2018 11:36 am   Re: Our turtle Died and need HELP!

Im assuming it was male part fanning. It looked like a piece of black poop trying to come out, but would retract back in. Water temp 78. Filter is Zilla Aquatic Reptile Internal Filter Size 20. In thinking back, watching you tube videos and reading online...I’m wondering if he had an RI. I didn’t know the signs of a ri. We thought he was say hi...he would open his mouth with his neck stretched out and then closes it (like a super big yawn) and would do it again. The last two hours he was doing it constantly. When we put him in the water when we first got home he was swim weird. Almost sideways like he was trying to move pass something in his way. He was swimming weird and was trying to get back on the rock and couldn’t. We helped him up and he stayed there and never back in the water himself after that. I noticed the mucus bubbles at the shelter. Could that have been a sign of RI. If it is should I contact them and let them know so they can keep an eye on the other turtle that was in the same tank. It’s RI contagious and could the other turtle get it? Was my water temp too low and caused him to go into shock and get sick. Thanks for all your help!!
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Post Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2018 2:23 am   Re: Our turtle Died and need HELP!

Sounds like fanning, but its not something they would do a lot... so it's pretty odd. Yawning alone is not a symptom of anything really. His listing could be a sign of it, but I'm not sure how the shelter would miss any of the symptoms. Do they keep a lot of other reptiles? RI could be contagious.
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Post Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2018 4:53 pm   Re: Our turtle Died and need HELP!

So does it sound like I have a good filter? How’s my water temp? What else should I check before getting a new turtle? I called the animal
shelter and the other 3 turtles have all been adopted out. It sounds like they don’t get turtles often. They don’t have a vet on hand. They mostly have dogs and cats, there was a bunny, a couple birds, a guinea pig and just the turtles that’s got adopted out. The lady that watched over them didn’t know much about turtles. Sounds like they don’t get many in. I looked on google today and they are rated as 3.3. A lot of the negative comments posted against them are from people that have volunteered there. It’s too bad. I’m trying to look online for the best place to get our new turtle. Thank again for all your help. If you have any other suggestions let me know. I’ll take any advice!!
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Post Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2018 10:20 pm   Re: Our turtle Died and need HELP!

I don't know if the filter is good enough without knowing how much water is in your tank, but an internal filter is usually pretty inadequate. There will definitely be places to get RES, craigslist comes to mind, but I think thats more like a last resort.
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Post Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2018 12:42 pm   Re: Our turtle Died and need HELP!

What filter do you recommend? What temperature should I keep the water? Instead of treated tap water is there something else I can use?
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Post Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2018 1:19 pm   Re: Our turtle Died and need HELP!

How much water and the size of turtle factors into the filter recommendation. Water temps around 76F is fine. Usually tap water is fine, but you should also use activated carbon in the filter.
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