Urgent Care :: Dead tissue?

[txnatruong]

How big is your turtle? 4-5 inches
How long have you had it? 4-5 years

What is the water temperature? 75 (kept in tub with basking light)
Did you use a thermometer? No
Are you using a water heater? No
How much water is in there? 2 inches
Are you using any filtration? Change daily

What is the basking temperature? Not sure
Is there a basking light? Yes
Is there a UVB light? Natural sunlight

What have you been trying to feed it? Pellets, lettuce, carnivore care, dried shrimp, tuna (in water)
When was the last time your turtle ate? A month and a half ago

Have you read the Basic Care section? Yes
Have you searched the forums for similar situations? Yes

Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms? Still not eating, sunken eyes

I was inspecting my turtle, Bulbasaur, today and noticed this coming out of his tail. I used a q tip to touch it and this came out. Is this necrotic/dead tissue? He had a penile prolapse at the end of October and I brought him into the vet to see if everything was alright since he was bleeding a bit. My dad was able to push the penis back into Bulbasaur and when I went to the vet, he also did the same and prescribed me Tribrissen to prevent infections. When the vet pushed Bulbasaur’s penis in, he started bleeding but after a day it stopped. I don’t think this vet was very experienced with turtles so I found another one who is currently seeing all of my turtles now. Bulbasaur was fine until mid December where he stopped eating and became lethargic. Fast forward to now, Bulbasaur has lost about 67 grams and is still not eating. I’ve been to the vet (a better one) twice this month for him and he is currently on Fenbendazole and Fortaz. I am to force feed him every 2-3 days with carnivore care. He is able to defecate but it has mostly just been very runny and no actual chunks.

Update: I just added some warm water for him and these black/gray pieces came out of him. I definitely think they’re pieces of his penis.
I’ve emailed these pictures to my vet but am still waiting for a reply so I thought I would also ask on here.

[steve]

Hard to know... has he exposed his penis since the injury?

[txnatruong]

No, I haven’t seen it at all since his prolapse. Then again, he never really fanned it before the incident. :/

[litefoot]

Bulbasaur is going threw a lot , from other post mid January with parasites , not eating , worms, de-worming and now hearing about this other/recent problem from the end of October into December for the first time , in a different post . Which may be directly related to all going on , more likely is related due to complications of an continuing issue . The prolapse problem and penis bleeding. Only mention of anything it that area in other post was that vet verified it was a male , no mention of the prolapse/ bleeding problem ? Please make sure this new vet has all information from October on Bulbasaur especially all the different drugs he's been on . Lot of drugs in a short time for a turtle from two different vets. Normally with de worming drugs you can still tell it's a worm when it's passed in his poop. At times even vomit up whole or part worms. Photo's you provided show tissue maybe of worms and or Bulbasaur coming out even whole worms. But with this older problem ( prolapse/bleeding) unknown until today something could be causing a blockage if penis got an infection in the cloacal area and the worms are decaying in him and some finally able to pass out now. Too hard to tell from photo could be that or penis infected and tissue from that , make sure the new vet has all info he/she needs to know all. We/I too here would like to help but we also need all the information , just trying to help Bulbasaur. Hearing today he has now been in distressed since October , he is suffering , please give all info to this new vet ! Bulbasaur is a captive living animal under your care needing you to do your part by giving all info to this new vet , even to others trying to help !

PS: if penis is necrotic it can be amputated and Bulbasaur can do well once the de worming is completed.

[txnatruong]

My new vet knows all about the prolapse in October and also the Tribrissen that Bulbasaur was on. He checked Bulbasaur and didn’t say anything else about it. I am still waiting for a reply back but I most likely won’t get one until Monday/ Tuesday.

[litefoot]

[quote="txnatruong"]My new vet knows all about the prolapse in October and also the Tribrissen that Bulbasaur was on. He checked Bulbasaur and didn’t say anything else about it.

That's good he knows. A "Herp Vet" I assume , not explaining what he checked is very rare , a regular vet would be quiet . Did he say will be running test on a sample you didn't see him take and have info later ? Did he scope Bulbasaur ? Any test ? Did he take any samples of the tissue or any stool ?

When he see's photos you emailed may want to test the tissue if a Herp Vet ( save them for him ) and recheck Bulbasaur or take his own samples to test.

Let's hope it's decaying worm's and not tissue from the penis when prolapsed or cloacal organ damage.

[txnatruong]

Yes, my new vet is a herp vet. The other vet that I went to said that he sees turtles, but after seeing him treat Bulbasaur like that I went and found a better vet for him. My current vet asked for a stool sample and because Bulbasaur was not defecating at the time, I brought the vet a stool sample from my other turtles since they were housed together. I saved the tissue just in case and am still waiting for a reply. He scoped Bulbasaur’s entire body and checked his skin as well. He says that Bulbasaur was shedding a bit and that his shell still had some scutes stuck on the edges but overall he was okay.