Urgent Care :: Help! My poor turtle has shell rot!

[norma]

We've had Norma for a few years. Lately she's been very lethargic. I know that it a sign that something is wrong, but the color of her eyes was good, and she looked great.

She's already a dark shade of green, so it was very hard to notice the darkness around the bottom of the inner scutes on her back. My husband noticed it, and immediately started to press on it to see if it was soft, and ended up puncturing one of the spot. She started bleeding.

We didn't want to put her back into her tank that he had just cleaned, as the filter (not even a year old Fluvall 120) seems to have pumped junk back into the water, even though he'd just cleaned it. We didn't want to risk more bacteria.

We've made an appointment with a vet, but it's not until tomorrow. In the time being, we have her in the bathtub with her heater, making sure the water stays clean.

Is there anything you can even do for shell rot? Are we doing the right thing by keeping her out of her tank? What can we do? I feel awful for her!

[SpotsMama]

You are doing right to take her out of the tank for the time being. The treatment for shell rot is lots of dry docking. Dry docking is where the turtle is kept in a dry container of some sort, only going into the water for a limited amount of time daily to eat and drink.

I had to dry dock my turtle once for a shell condition and here's how I did it. I used a 50 gallon rubber maid tub from Lowe's (cost around $17). I put towels on the bottom to make it soft and give him the ability to hide if he wanted to. I kept the lid on the container as long as he was in it and, after a little flailing about at first, he would always wind up going to sleep because the container was dark. I'd take him out and put him in his aquarium (with clean water) for an hour a couple of times a day so he could eat and drink.

If you haven't already, clean the shell thoroughly. Get some Hibiclense at someplace like Walgreen's. It's an antiseptic handwash for people. Dilute it to half strength with water. Wash the shell with it very gently, using a wet paper towel. Rinse thoroughly. Be careful not to get any of the solution on her face or head. She'll be slippery and won't want you to be washing her, so hold her careful so you don't drop her. After the shell wash, let her dry thoroughly then put a little antibiotic salve on the punctured spot. Then put her in dry dock.

And yes, shell rot is treatable. It's more or less difficult to treat depending on the severity. The big danger is bacteria getting into the bloodstream and causing sepsis, or blood poisoning, which is difficult to treat.

Good luck at the vet's. Let us know how it goes.

[norma]

Thank you so much! this helps a lot!

[jozzep]

Hope you get you ur turtle back in shape...
Good luck

[norma]

Update: Took Norma tot he vet. Confirmed that it is bacterial shell rot and not fungal. Been keeping her dry, washing her with mild antibacterial soap, applying Neosporin, with the occasional time for feeding/drinking.

Vet gave us a rinse to use 2x a day, said we should see results in a few days.

Still not eating well, I think she's a little freaked out not being in her tank and such. Hopefully that will pass soon. Seems to take to pellets better than fresh greens, though.

Got her a new filter, hoepfully it works better than the Fluval that we had. Bought a Rena this time.

Again, thanks for your advice!

[norma]

New Update:

WAs showing signs of more energey yesterday, but today, has hardly moved.

Tried feeding her, wouldn't so much as smell the food, let alone eat it.

Looks dead, but very slightly moves when I pick her up.

Crying while I write this.

Can she die from shell rot? The vet said it wasn't even a bad case! More mild than many other she's seen.

[SpotsMama]

Shell rot can be fatal but only when it's advanced. If the infection breaks through the shell and infects the blood, it can cause sepsis which usually is fatal.

It's quite possible that something else is wrong. Turtles are susceptible to all sorts of illnesses just like people. Respiritory infection is common. Symptoms are lethargy, poor appetite, swollen or irritated eyes, breathing with the mouth open or frequent yawning, mucus around the nose or mouth, difficulty submerging or swimming lopsided. But if it isn't RI it could be something else.

I's so sorry she's having a hard time. Keep her warm (temps in the mid 80's - don't want to overdo it) and clean and avoid stress (don't pick her up unless it's necessary). When you feed her, you can offer things she normally only gets for treats - tuna, boiled chicken, shrimp for example.

Good luck. Please keep us informed.

[norma]

If those are the symptoms for a respiritory problem, that's definitely not it. The only two symptoms of the ones you listed that she is showing are lethargy and poor appetite.

What are signs of sepsis?

[SpotsMama]

Extreme lethargy, no appetite, pink or red flush to the skin, perhaps also showing through the shell. There's a photo on this link - scroll down until you get to the paragraph on septicemia:

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/medinjuries.htm

[norma]

Is there anything more we can do for her at this point? She looks nearly dead already. are there antibiotics or something she can take?

What I don't get is there was a red tint in the cracks between her scutes all along, but the vet didn't say anything. This website you gave me says that's a sure sign of sepsis. Is it too late?

[SpotsMama]

The treatment is antibiotics. All you can do in addition to what you are doing is get her to a qualified vet as soon as possible.

I have seen photos of turtles on here where the line between the scutes on the plastron was a pinkish color but there wasn't anything wrong with the turtle. Is the red on your turtle on her carapace?

Good luck. I'll keep you and your turtle in my thoughts.

[norma]

She died. Thanks for all your advice, though.

[SpotsMama]

How sad! I'm so very sorry for your loss. It's hard to lose a dear pet.

[steve]

I'm sorry to hear about Norma

[jozzep]

I find it mind blowing that a VET wasn't able to help your turtle!!How useless is that?!
I always PERSONALLY treated my turtles for any issue they had.If i didn't know how, i spent hours on the internet studying,diagnosing, and even finding injectable meds that were necessary to cure them.My actions have been called "unethical" by some on here, but my turtles are alive and healthy to date.

Vets can study their whole lives, but if they don't have the instinct to diagnose your turtle properly,well,this is what happens
So sorry for your loss..........