Urgent Care :: Turtle Shell Issue.......

[trunks2kawaii@me.com]

Hi, I am relatively new to turtles (have only had them since this summer and they have only been indoors for 2 months), and one of them has a bit of gross-ness occurring on his shell and I am looking for advice on what I can do to help him.

How big is your turtle? ~5 inches
How long have you had it? 6 months

What is the water temperature? Room temp (~75F)
Did you use a thermometer? No
Are you using a water heater? No
How much water is in there? ~6 gal
Are you using a water conditioner? no
Are you using any filtration? Yes (not sure of the brand, but it cleans up well)

What is the basking temperature? ~90F
Is there a basking light? Yes
Is there a basking platform that is easy to climb on? Yes
What kind is it or what is it made out of? Smooth rock for climbing out which leads to smooth plastic for basking
Is there a UVB light? not sure, but pretty sure no (my mom bought everything and set it up)

What have you been trying to feed it? Turtle pellets and lettuce with the occasional green beans and carrots
When was the last time your turtle ate? yesterday

How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? submerged part ~3 ft x 2 ft, dry part ~2 ft x 1.5 ft
Is the tank near a window? yes
Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity? No (just occasional walkthroughs 3-4x daily)

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

Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms? No, but my other turtle is fine as of right now

One of the scutes just all of a sudden up and peeled clear off the shell tonight. There was no real warning about this happening, he was fine about 6 hours earlier. The area under where the scute was is whitish and there is a bit of brown next to it.
The first turtle is the one that has the shell issue (Kreacher), the other one is the one that is currently ok (Winky).








Now that I am looking at Kreacher (especially from the underside), he doesn't look so good. I hadn't noticed the fungus like growth on his underside because he was behaving normally (and still does) with the exception of his shell peeling apart. The chipping on the edge of his shell was there when we bought him and so was the small chink on the top side in the bottom parts of the pictures. I'm thinking some kind of shell rot is going on. What can I do to try and help him out?

Winky still looks as she did the day we got her (she is ~4 inches). I would like to keep her that way.

[steve]

Any smells and softness around the area? It's hard to tell since there are scutes shedding and some algae, both covering what's underneath. There does look to be some fungus, either a highly serious case that is causing other infections, or there is an ongoing bacterial infection, possibly shell rot. There are also several red spots, pits in both turtles... I think both need to see a good herp vet at this point. I would start dry docking and examine their shells when dry. Their setup also sounds inadequate, I'm not sure how it can be addressed with the information provided.

[trunks2kawaii@me.com]

he doesn't have any smell and it's not soft, just not the same shell texture.
i'll dry dock tomorrow and see what there is to see

i greatly underestimated the size of our indoor setup. it is actually a preformed pond type of thing, it has 2 levels and after looking at your 'basic setup' chart, it is larger than both a rubbermaid container and a long glass aquarium (we have one of those, but wanted more room for them to swim). Our lamp produces heat (UVB). Both turtles spend substantial time basking (her more than him, if undisturbed they will sit still for hours, if disturbed they climb right back up within minutes).

[steve]

Do a very light scrub with a brand new and soft tooth brush. If you're willing, use some diluted Hibiclens and use that instead of just water. It'll get a little sudsy, but just rinse it off and then dry dock.