Urgent Care :: Head seams inflamed along the "red ears"

[KevinG]

Hello, my turtles head seams inflamed around the red stripes. I have two turtles, they are sisters. The other turtles head does not look like this.

How big is your turtle? About 6"
How long have you had it? Since it was the size of a quarter

What is the water temperature? 73 degrees F
Did you use a thermometer? yes, digital on all the time with a temp alert
Are you using a water heater? Yes
How much water is in there? 75 gallon tank, filled to about 4 inches from the top
Are you using a water conditioner? When I put new water in, yes
Are you using any filtration? Yes, Rena XP3

What is the basking temperature? Not sure, turtle keeps knocking down the temp probe and I haven't checked lately
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? Its a premade plexi one with a ramp then they come back to a higher ramp
Is there a UVB light? The bulb is a uva and uvb, but it's over a year old now and should probably be replaced. Both turtles use the same equipment, but are in seperate tanks.

What have you been trying to feed it? I alternate, greens (red leaf or grean leaf) and pellets every day. Then cuttle bone once or twice a week.
When was the last time your turtle ate? Today

How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? 75 gallon
Is the tank near a window? Between two sliding glass doors, but there is an over hang outside.
Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity? Somewhat, it's in the living room and has always been in there. But it's just me here.

Have you read the Basic Care section? Yes
Have you searched the forums for similar situations? Yes, think its ear abscess
Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms? No, but she may seam a little sluggish

I tried my best to get good photos but it was really tough.











All images here:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v210/ ... 012-29-10/

[steve]

It looks normal to me... can you post a pic of the other turtle?

[Linus]

I can't quite see the inflamation you talk about in the pictures, but this may help: (bottom of the page in the link)

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

I'm not saying they have that, but it may help.

[KevinG]

I searched yesterday for ear abscess and she does not have that. Ear abscess is along the side of the head, in the center. Tee's inflammation is right where the red stripe is on the head, and the entire length of the red stripe. This is significantly higher on the head then an ear abscess. I tried my very best to get some good pictures of this, but these where the best I could get. I took her to a vet last night and the vet was not 100% sure what was going on, but she definitely agreed there was inflammation. I was happy to learn that the vet owns a res too, so she at least has personal experience with them. I'm taking Tee back in there this morning to have her put under so the vet can look inside her mouth to get a better idea of what's going on. Hopefully nothing major and Tee will be ok. I'll keep my fingers crossed and keep you guys updated.

[steve]

Do you mean the areas circled? It still looks fairly normal to me. I don't know if putting her under is a good idea, as I've heard it is a tricky procedure with reptiles.

[marisa]

Your RES looks like she may have the beginning of an ear abcess on her left side---this is particularly noticeable to me in the very first pic and slightly so in the third pic. I don't really notice any raised area on her right side in those pics.

Why does the vet feel the need to anaesthetize your turtle to know what's going on?

[KevinG]

Thanks for your replies. From photos I've seen of ear abscess, my turtle does not have that. She looks perfectly normal in the ear area and where a normal ear abscess forms. Steve, you got it right. The areas you have circled (where the red is) is exactly where the inflammation is. Here's the vets report:

Needed to put the turtle under because Tee would not really expose her head in the 15 or 20 minutes we sat with her so the vet could try to see the area
The turtle physiology of this area is a sinus cavity
Material from this area removed with a small needle has a high white blood cell count
Respiratory areas typically have a high blood cell count though (the lining of any respiratory region) so these findings seam normal
No signs of toxic cells (white blood cells damaged from fighting an infection)
No signs of bacterial infection

She did a full head to toe (or tail in the turtles case ) exam and found no issues with Tee. Because there where no big red flags showing something major is wrong, she recommended I just keep an eye on her for now and we'll go from there. Although you guys really can't see it in the pictures, the area Steve circled is swollen. I do a good job of looking at my turtles often head to tail specifically to monitor their health and condition. So I know my turtles well and this swelling is recent (about a week) and new. But I was glad there where no red flags and I'll just keep an eye on here.

One thing that could have caused this is the condition of her tank. I got separated and divorced this year. I left the townhouse in March and just moved back in here in early November. For that time period my ex wife took care of the turtles and she is not good at it. The tanks had a lot of algae and a lot of the fake rocks that are hollow had tons of debris in them that was most likely bacteria loaded. The filters also didn't get cleaned as much as they need to. So anyway, I spent all of yesterday scraping the algae off the tank, removing everything from the tank, and cleaning the filter. The fake rocks will not be going back in, along with the fake plants that Tee was chewing on. I'm also almost done with the new piping to get the bottom flow plumbing in place that has worked great in my other turtles tank to keep the bottom of the tank super clean and nice. So I hope with all these changes she'll get better.

Once she's in there a little bit and acclimated I'll start on even more stuff to improve her environment. I'm going to make some changes to here basking area as well to try and promote her to bask more (she's never basked as much as Chris). I may also make some temporary curtains for her tank because she has always been more skittish than Chris and she may like the privacy. Then the big project starts, an above tank basking area that will be the full size of the tank minus the opening between the lower and upper sections.

[bradmeisel]

I'm glad she seems ok. Good luck with your future endeavors.