Urgent Care :: blueish green stuff on shell

[Bethie]

I know this looks long but most is just answers to the suggested questions...
My turtle is about 5 inches long and i have had him for about 2 years i have been keeping the water temp at 75 with a heater I have him in a 20 gallon tank (which i know is too small but i am working on getting a bigger one) and i only fill it 1/2 to 3/4 full becasue when i got him he had just been in a fight he still can't swim well, and never floats. I do use a waste degrader and anti chlorine drops of somekind. I have a wisper (i think its called that) filter for 30 gallons. I have been feeding my turtle dry pellets and some red squishy squares that claim to be aquatic turtle food. He has a floating platform and a reptisun basking light that stays on for 8 hours per day. So thats the backround.

I noticed some large peices of shell on the bottom of his tank a few days ago, and someone told me that this is normal, but then i was reading on another site that you should not be able to see the sheding shell. The worst part is that around the edges of his shell there are flaps of shell coming off with blueish green stuff growing under it, i tried to lift up the flaking peices to clean it out and my turtle hissed like it hurt him so i stopped. I am worried becasue it looks like parts of his shell have been eaten away. The edges of his shell are looking more and more scalloped and no pictures i have seen look like this. Also everything talking about shell rot says white, brown, or black squishy stuff is present. I am worried that i am not taking care of him right and i hate thinking i am hurting him. but i don't know what to do. I have tried to find a vet to take him to but there are none within a few hours from my house.

[fishandcandy]

Did you check in the vet sticky and search online for herp vets in your area?
If his scutes are shedding (his shell) it will come off in big flakes in the shape of each scute, so you will see those.
How blue is it? Can you take pics? Could it be algae?
I've stuck my fingernail under my turt's loose scutes to see if they were ready to pop off (saved me from picking them out of the tank) but there was never anything but more shell underneath and he never acted like it hurt him.
Do you have a UVB light?
Is he behaving normal otherwise?
What temp is his basking spot?

On another note- At his age he's more into veggies, so try offering him some romaine or red-leaf lettuce.

[marisa]

I wondering if the blue-green could be algae as well...You can see scutes on the bottom of the tank when a turtle sheds. (Skin shedding is not supposed to be that noticeable--is that what you're thinking of?)

A picture of the shell dry would really help...

To take care of him right he needs a bigger tank and a better filter for starters...Consider even a 50-gallon Rubbermaid storage container to keep him in temporarily until you get a bigger tank (or buy a stock tank, which is meant to hold water).

With the size he is, the size of the tank he's in and the smaller filter he has, I'm guessing that his water needs frequent changing and the tank needs frequent cleaning. Poor water quality will eventually cause shell and health problems.