Urgent Care :: Bad news about Siobhan (long)

[megcornell]

Oh, that is sad, I'm so very sorry to hear that, let us know what they find. Siobhan was quite a trooper to fight as long as he did. I am so relieved that Sheba wasn't exposed to the parasites too. You were so dedicated to Siobhan, I hope when you're ready some other lucky turtle will get to experience what a great turtle mother you are.

[BullDog]

I'm sorry to hear that. Whatever it turns out it was, you gave him the best life any turtle could ask for, and I think you were both lucky you found each other.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Kristin, I noticed that the skin between Siobhan's toes was quite yellow and his stripes were yellow. I wonder if this color was a symptom of a liver problem like yellow skin is in a person. Had his colors changed any while you had him?

It's funny that you mentioned that his skin was yellow, because a few weeks back when I took him out to examine him, I was wondering about that myself. I knew he wasn't as "green" as Sheba, but attributed the yellow-ishness to him just being younger/different than Sheba. Afterall, he also had a red stripe on his forehead too which Sheba doesn't have. So I just figured that was his normal coloring. His skin did get slightly lighter as he grew, but again, I just figured that was him "getting older" and that it might just be normal for him.

I think I am still going to recommend that Sheba be examined & maybe a stool sample analyzed just to make sure she didn't somehow contract this same parasite even though they didn't cohabit the same tank.

[mkoby]

Kristin I am so sorry! I just got the news. I haven't been online that much. If there is anything you need, please call.

[Zarjulius & Miaomiao]

That's terrible, I'm really sorry. For what it's worth, I do hope the vet's discovery will lead to better treatment of turtles in the future, although I'm certain that in this case everything that could be done, was done.

[george]

Kristin... sorry to hear about the death of Siobhan. You certainly did EVERYTHING possible to give that little turtle the best chance of survival. So far I have been been extremely fortunate and have not had any turtles die since three weeks after the rescue. I am keeping my fingers crossed. The only problem I've encountered was mentioned in the update post by Kyle (neck infections due to rapid growth spurts). I am sorry for your loss, but at the same time feel inspired by the level of care the hatchlings are receiving from such a wide variety of concerned people. It reinforces my faith in humanity.

[grey goose]

I'm so sorry you lost the little guy. Since it was in the liver, I'm wondering if it was the river he was dumped into that caused it. The Schuylkill is certainly not the cleanest river in the northeast. In fact it consistently rates at the bottom.......

[industrial_girl_2000]

Thanks to everyone for all your nice words! It's been hard dealing with Siobhan's loss and I couldn't even bring myself to clean out his tank until yesterday afternoon. I took a gallon of bleach and bleached EVERYTHING in his tank and let his plastic plant, rocks, basking platform, heater, and filter just soak in bleach for 8 hours.

I took a sample of Sheba's poop to the vet this morning for analyzation (just in case), and they will let me know later today.

In the meantime, the Vet did tell me this morning that they still haven't identified the parasite in Siobhan's stool, but one thing they did identify was that his stool had protazoa in it. If I recall correctly from my Biology class days, Protazoa are one-cell organisms that materialize in rotting things (like standing water with rotting food or vegetation). So my theory is that before George picked up the babies in the Philly river, I think Siobhan's tank where he lived must have been filthy (and more than likely severely overcrowded) for weeks at a time.

Turtles' bodies are designed to be able to tolerate eating things in ponds/rivers filled with bacterial nasties like salmonella/botulism/staph (lots of things they eat in ponds are 1/2 rotted by the time they get them), but in nature, the water/conditions are always changing due to rain being added & water flowing in/out (rather than being in stagnant water in captivity & sitting in their own poop & rotting food), so I can only imagine how bad the conditions must have been in order to destroy his liver to that extent as the bacteria just continued to grow out of control.

In the meantime, I have BLEACHED & converted Siobhan's empty tank to a new, upgraded lovely aquatic frog home for Prog, who loves the extra space (I even bought wallpaper & polished river stones for the tank). In addition, Prog's old 2-gal fishbowl became an upgraded home for Aji (Betta fish), complete with Siobhan's little plastic vine plant & colorful glass stones on the bottom.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Good news, everyone! The Vet called me last night to tell me that Sheba's stool sample analysis was normal. No protazoa, no weird parasites in her stool.

FYI: Vet still can't identify the weird parasite that Siobhan had, and are actually going to send it in for scientific analysis. I'll keep y'all updated.

[SpotsMama]

What a relief about Sheba! I was so good of you to keep them separated.

[4Lancer4]

Sorry to hear for your loss, but at least they can now find out what it is. I'm curious about what you did with the guppies since the doc told you to destroy them. Anyways I'm sorry for your loss, since the picture showed your Siobhan's so colorful. I guess you can't always judge the turtle by its shell. Once again I'm very sorry for your loss and I wish this could have ended in a much happier way. Take Care

[industrial_girl_2000]

Sorry to hear for your loss, but at least they can now find out what it is. I'm curious about what you did with the guppies since the doc told you to destroy them. Anyways I'm sorry for your loss, since the picture showed your Siobhan's so colorful. I guess you can't always judge the turtle by its shell. Once again I'm very sorry for your loss and I wish this could have ended in a much happier way. Take Care

Thanks for the nice post!

Actually, the guppies got rinsed & thrown in with my aquatic clawed frog. Reason I decided to keep them for Prog: Prog has been eating the guppies the entire time I had Siobhan. I would take one guppy out of Siobhan's tank about once a week & toss in with Prog who was happy to dispose of it for me because they were (quite frankly) taking over Siobhan's tank. So even though Prog did not live in the same tank with Siobhan, he did eat the guppies from Siobhan's tank. Prolly wasn't the smartest thing to do at the time, but the guppies were taking over and Prog kept eyeing them hungrily (tanks were right next to each other).

Reason I kept the guppies for Prog is because Prog is actually way more like a fish than a turtle so if he was eating the fish the whole time & is a "carrier", chances are he himself will never be "infected" (I did a lot of reading the week after Siobhan died regarding amphibians & diseases). As a result, these guppies are Prog's "private stash" and they will never be shared with any other animal. If there is an overpopulation, I will just take out the extra guppies & dispose of them.

[Tilted]

I am catching this thread late... is there any update on what killed Siobhan?

[4Lancer4]

Prog sounds cool! I saw a bunch of crabs today at the fish store. They looked so cool floating on their island. Too bad they costed 500 bucks for one =( I also saw some frogs which resembled prog (I saw what prog looks like in your other post) So i asked the stores clerk about them. Turns out I learn more from this forum than from the petstore guys!

[industrial_girl_2000]

I am catching this thread late... is there any update on what killed Siobhan?

Nothing else yet, but I'll keep y'all posted. Vet said they want to analyze the parasite they found a little more since it was very odd.