Urgent Care :: Turtle is sick? - Please Help!

[byc605]

Hey Everyone,

I am some what new to this forum. This is probably my third or fourth post.

One of my turtles has been basking excessively recently. Seems to be basking all day and only goes into the water when it is scared. WHen he basks his eyes seems to be closed all the time with a small crust at the back corner of both eyes, and has to be rubbed off before he can open them. But his eyes are not swollen. He also does not have mucus comiing out of his nose but his Mouth??? It looks like a beard as it is all around his mouth. It looks like skin shedding but white mucus that sticks to his mouth even when in the water. He also doesn't eat from my hand anymore, like he just doesn't have the energy or doesn't want too. He will only eat if i drop the pellet into the water and if he sees it. Although I have been feeding him more just incase he is sick, so he has more energy. He still eats everything so his apetitite hasn't gone down, he just doesn't beg. He still swims normally when he is in the water, just doesn't swim up to me to beg.

I am afraid its RI but i wanted your opinions just incase any of you have the same problem.

Is there any remedies or things i could do or buy from the local pet store before having to visit the Vet?
Because I am leaving for Spring Break, and so my room mate will be taking care of them, but he does not know anything besides how many pellets to feed a day.

Should I raise the water temperature? Is there vitamin A supplements i could buy?
Should i Seperate my turtles immediatly? Because i only have a 2.5 gallon fish tank on hand, but i have no extra water heater or basking light/UVB.

I have two turtles and the other one is perfectly fine. ACts normally and still very active. I got both turtles from my gf from CHina Town, and the turtle that is sick now had a sinking problem before but he got better and now this. I've had both turtles since Late Novemeber.

Turtle Size - 1.5-2 inches
Tank - 20L
Basking Temp 90-92
Water Temp 82
UVA and UVB
Food - Reptomin Pellets and Just last week Romaine Lettuce
(Started acting funny just last week)
Water is filled 1/2-3/4 way up.
Fluval 3plus Internal Filter

Please any advice or input would be great!

Please let me know if you guys need more info. I tried taking a picture but he won't swim towards me and is always facing the other direction.
Thank you!

[megcornell]

Honestly your best bet is to get to the vets before spring break so the antibiotics have a chance to start working ASAP. Because turtles are so good at hiding their symptoms it's likely your turtle has been battling this a while, so the longer you wait, the more advanced the infection gets and the harder it is to treat it.

I would say separate the turtles as soon as possible but it doesn't really sound like you've got a good option to put the other turtle in, especially if the caregiver for your spring break isn't too knowledgeable about turtle care. I'd get twice the antibiotics and treat the second guy just to be sure.

Unfortunately there aren't really any OTC cures for RIs. Your water temp is as high as you can raise it for baby turtles. The best thing you can do is get to a vet and ensure that the ill guy gets the meds he needs. Also do everything you can to ensure he keeps eating.

[byc605]

Good News!

I was able to schedual an appointment with a nerby herp tomorrow before i leave for break Friday. I was suprised that the checkup is only $60 as many of you have mentioned checkups being 100+. But hopefully with the proper medication he will make it out alright. Lets just hope its not too late.
I hope my room mate will be able to administer the medication properly as he will be the one taking care of them while I am gone.

Thanks everyone

[RyanJ]

Maybe see if your roommate can accompany you to the appointment, it would be good for him to see how to administer them in person.

[byc605]

Hey Everyone,

So I brought in my turtle to the vet today and they gave me medication. Although he prescribed me something different from what i've read on here. Almost all threads I have read, they were prescribed Baytril. The herp i went to prescribed Tazicef Ceftazidime. Does anyone know what this is and if its going to work the same? He also diluted it 1:5...is he suppose to do this? I have hatchlings that are about 6months maybe? The turtle weighed in at 16 grams? He also gave him a vitamin A injection.

Anyways any inputs would be great! Thanks!

[TheComputerGremlin]

I'm sure it is a fine antibiotic, though I don't know much about turtle antibiotics at this point. However, I'm sure it's fine that he diluted it because your turtles are so small. He probably took the dosage for a 16 gram turtle. And you are lucky because some herp vets won't treat hatchlings because it's hard to get the dosage correct.

The main thing I wanted to comment on was watch out for that vitamin A injection. A lot of turtles become sick and die from that injection, rather than their infection. Tell your roommate to keep close watch on the turtle.

[byc605]

What do I have to watch for in terms of turtles getting sick from Vitamin A injections? I believe he gave him .5ml? But I am not sure.

ALSO....MY GF injected that one turtle AGAIN after I brought him home from the vet. She had mistaken him for the other turtle in my tank. SOOOO Can a turtle overdose on Antibiotics?! Because the doctor said to inject them once every 72 hours....and he just got two injections in maybe 2-3 hours. Please Help!

Thanks!

[TheComputerGremlin]

In humans, if you take too much antibiotics, it usually only results in digestive problems, like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. So it's possible that your turtle may experience these things. Be ready to clean your tank if it happens. But otherwise, I don't think 2 doses of antibiotics will injure your turtle seriously. Be careful about treating the right one from now on, though!

Search the forums for vitamin A shots, you'll see lots of posts about them. I'm not sure of exactly what the problems are because I haven't had a sick turtle so far, and I'm about to leave my work, so I can't search the forums myself right now!

[megcornell]

I wouldn't normally condone this, but perhaps you can mark the "healthy" guys shell with a little sharpie so you can tell the difference if they're that hard to discern. Just a little black dot on a scute would make things perfectly clear and that way you know each got medicated once, not one getting medicated twice

I'm glad you got the ill one into the vets before break, that extra time on the antibiotics will hopefully do wonders for him. Be sure and give the drugs the full course of the prescription. It's easy to stop once the turtle starts looking better, but he might not be totally better. With such slow metabolic rates it takes a long time to get fully cured.

[marisa]

The drug is a good one. Follow the vet's instructions. I'd separate him if possible and keep him warm.

[byc605]

Hey Guys,

So today I got the bad news that my little guy passed away today. My room mate had told me that it was doing much better the past two days but wasn't moving anymore as of last night, and today when he came back from work he found him in the water floating sideways with his head dangling underwater. ::sigh::

On the better side of things..The other turtle seems to be back to normal, I just hope he won't pass away all of a sudden like my other one.

Thanks everyone for all your help/inputs!

[RyanJ]

Sorry man, you did your best. It's always hard to lose a pet.