Urgent Care :: Basking a lot(pics attached) URGENT UPDATE! ANY ADVICE.

[marisa]

Maybe she just likes that position.

Do you mean the piece that has the screen on it? I use a toothbrush to scrub of whatever collects there.

[Muirner]

i mean the elbow that the tubing connects to, that takes the water to the filter.

[marisa]

I use a flexible brush to get out as much as possible.

[Muirner]

Good advice, i'll see what i can do! thanks marisa! I figure if all fails, i'll just empty the tubing that goes into the XP3, and then put the flex brush in. this should work... Reprime and good to go!

[steve]

When I clean my XP tubes, I take them apart and drop a fishing weight down with some string attached. Then I wrap some paper towel around the string and pull it through. It gets gross, but it gets it very clean.

[Muirner]

wow, great idea... i never thought of that, and it sounds like that will be my way to clean it.

[Hoooneylynn]

hey, with all that talk about eyelids earlier in this post, has anyone noticed if their turt can "see" through their eyelids? Sometimes when Karlyns sleeping, I'll wave my hand at her and she opens her eyes... I dont make noise, and its not like she can feel the air when I wave my hand. Even when I approach her tank and her lights are off she does it. I thought maybe she could notice the light change as I approach it... like when we close our eyes and can "see" when the light goes on or off...but thats not it either. She must be able to see it.

[marisa]

Their eyelids are thin enough so that they can see movement when they're shut. That's why they can appear to be sleeping, yet will dive into the water if approached. Seeing movement through the eyelid enables them to quickly slide into the water at the approach of a perceived predator.

[Hoooneylynn]

Thats what I thought

[Muirner]

In a few of my "high res" pics, you can see their eye through the skin, i'll see if i can pick which one out good.

[marisa]

I had a RES that would move his eyeballs around under the lid as he "looked" around. It's a little freaky to see. Someone recently posted a pic of their RES with closed eyes and I could faintly see the pupil behind the lid.

[Muirner]

Hey marisa, i came home to feed my turtles today, and of course, Mary Kate was doing her thing. Today it was she was putting little to no effort (so it seemed) into trying to eat. She tried and did eat, but it seemed she wasnt able to exert a whole lot of effort. any ideas?

[marisa]

Don't really know, given what you wrote. Did she eat all the food she was given? Has she repeatedly been given the same food? If so, could she just be a little tired of it? Perhaps she's just not that hungry today. See if she continues to behave like that or of any other unusual behavior develops.

[Muirner]

Will do. She did this to the only food she consistantly eats, krill. I know it's not the best diet but right now it's how she's eating. Sometimes shrimp hardly pellots. I went to look for the eye drops today, and that was a no go. We'll see what i can do tomorow.

[Muirner]

ok, so i think Mary Kate isnt doing better, but worse. Today i went to feed her, and over the past few days she's seemed lazy about eating, maybe even weak? Well today i turned her around on her dock to let her eat and not have to worry about floating around, and she just ignored the food. Then she slowly made her way to the edge and kinda "slid" off, and just floated to the bottom. Not minding what she brushed on the way down, or what happened.

Then on the bottom of the tank she was acting hmm confused? She would "hop" and not swim, over and over, and when she did "swim" it was lazy, and then she'd just fall back to the bottom. After watching this for say 20 minutes (she only "hopped" about 4-5 times, but never swam) i felt horrible, and i picked her up, to find that her right "hand" was like stuck to her face, and she was doing nothing about it. Upon inspection i found that it looks a little swolen.

All day i've been wondering about her, i'm looking for those eye drops but to no avail, i'll be back out on the hunt again tomorow. Also she's not displaying anyother odd symptoms. I even bumped the water temp up to 79-80 to try to help her, i dont know what else to do.


http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o111/Muirner/Turtles/100_0904-1.jpg the url is the large version of the photo.

Advice please?