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Hello,
I have two turtles in a 10 gallon tank. It's usually filled up half way with water so about 5 gallons of water in the tank. Both turtles are about a year old and two inches in size. Both seem very happy and active but one has white spots on his shell. It started out as one spot and now covers exactly half of the shell. The condition has persisted for over three months now and does not appear to be getting any better. I have shell conditioner which I got at the pet store. I use it once a week on their shell but it does not appear to help. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

I've included pictures and other info below:
How big is your turtle? 2 inches
How long have you had it? one year

What is the water temperature? 78 degrees
Did you use a thermometer? yes
Are you using a water heater? yes
How much water is in there? 5 gallons
Are you using a water conditioner? No
Are you using any filtration? Yes

What is the basking temperature? not sure
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? Halogen
Is there a UVB light? Not sure

What have you been trying to feed it? Pellets
When was the last time your turtle ate? Today

How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? 10 gallon
Is the tank near a window? No
Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity? Yes

Have you read the Basic Care section? Yes
Have you searched the forums for similar situations? No

Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms? No

It looks like shell fungus. You need to make some habitat upgrades, they need a bigger tank (10 gallons per inch of shell) and UVB for basking. UVB is crucial for healthy shell and growth. Clean water is also important, having a too crowded tank can overwhelm a filter and cause dirty water. Also, two inches seems pretty small for a year old turtle. How much are you feeding them?

Yep! Your need the, all too familiar, up grade. Larger tank, filter, heater, lighting etc. In the mean time you need to attend to the shell. Make sure he is basking under 91 degree light with uvb. Clean water and shell meds.

Your turtle has a classic shell fungus infection. It won't stop growing until the habitat is upgraded. My turtle went through exactly the same thing. His habitat needed improvements in just about every area because I didn't know until I found this site what it takes to make a healthy turtle habitat. Once I made the upgrades and treated his shell for the infection, it cleared up, but it took months.

Here's a link that describes a good basic setup:

http://www.redearslider.com/startup.html

The tank needs to be much much larger and you should read up on lighting for turtles. They require both heat lights and UVB lights over their basking area or their shells and bones will get weak and they will develop shell infections.

Turtles have to bask at frequent intervals under good light to give their shells a chance to thoroughly dry out (top and bottom) and to give them a chance to bask under good UVB light. Constant moisture and poor water quality are what causes shell fungus infection. What motivates turtles to get up and bask is the heat from the heat light bulb over the basking area. How much do your turtles bask?

On the shell conditioner, it sounds like a good idea but in reality it's unhealthy for a turtle shell. Shells have pores and need to "breath". The shell conditioner is oil based and clogs the pores, which adds to the problems over the long term.

In addition, you need to take a look at turtle nuitrition. At one year, most turtles are around 4" long so yours are growing very slowly. On nuitrition, here's a link on the basics. Compare it to what your turtles are getting and if you have any questions, ask away:

http://www.redearslider.com/index_nutrition.html


Back to the shell situation - in addition to upgrading the habitat, your turtle's shell needs treatment. Since the fugus is pretty extensive, you should take him to see a vet to get some advice on treatment. In addition, here's what another good site has to say about treating shell fungus. This is from Austin's Turtle Page:

"Listed below is a regimen that I have followed in treating shell problems and has yielded great results. Keep in mind that shell injuries will take months and sometimes years to get back to looking normal if the possibility exists. It takes weeks before the shell will look like it's getting better. While treating, you are not looking for signs of healing or repair - you are looking to ensure that it is not spreading.

Clean infected areas thoroughly with a strong, undiluted betadine, iodine or Nolvasan solution. Let the turtle air dry in a warm setting for about 45 minutes.

Apply a generous coating of Silvadene cream. Work into problem areas.

Leave the turtle dry and warm, ensuring that you do not over-heat, for 18-21 hours each day.

The next day, scrub entire shell with a one of the previously mentioned solutions, using a soft-bristled toothbrush

Place them into fresh, clean water. Let them swim, drink and eat for approximately 1 - 1 ½ hours.

Repeat procedure from Step 1.

This treatment performed daily or twice daily, depending on your time allocation, has been successful in as few as 8-10 days but in more extreme cases can take a few weeks. It is difficult to tell success right away, so it is often discouraging. It is, however, quite effective and you will begin to see small improvement (in most cases) in only a few weeks."

Silvadene cream is also known as silver sulfadiazine or SSD cream. You have to get it from a vet. It's very effective.

Thank you for the feedback. To answer some of your questions:
I feed them one pellet a day. I was feeding them two since they beg so much but now I'm back to one. They bask on average an hour a day but they often get scared and jump back into the water whenever I get up off the couch. Now, I put a place mat over each corner of the tank when I turn the heat lamp on. Then they usually bask until I take the place mats away. Here is a pic of their tank. I'm going to go with a bigger tank, get a UVB lamp, and take the little one with the spots to the vet. Thank you again for the help.

The water looks nice and sparkly clean. Cute little turtles too.

Why don't you check the temperature on the basking platform. It should be around 88 to 90 degrees - 10 degrees warmer than the water. The basking temp needs to be at least 10 degrees warmer to motivate the turtles to get up and bask. If it's cooler than 88 or 90 degrees, then consider moving the light fixture to the end of the tank over the basking platform (or it might be easier to move the basking platform to be under the light) so the basking platform will be warmer. When you get everything all setup in their upgraded habitat you'll position both light bulbs (heat and UVB) so they shine down on the basking platform.

On the feeding, you can safely feed them quite a bit more. Here's a link with some cute photos of a little turtle showing how to measure the amount of pellets to feed.

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11368

You can also put a a piece of cuttlebone in the tank (you can get cuttlebone in the bird section of the pet store.) This is a real good source of calcium for them and also keeps their "beaks" trim. You should pry the hard the hard, semi translucent backing off the cuttlebone before feeding it to the turtles as it isn't digestible. You can leave it in the tank (along with the lettuce) for the turtles to nibble on as they feel like it.

If you don't like to feed your turtles in the tank because it makes the tank messy (and this would be more an issue with a smaller tank) then you can feed them in a separate container. Lots of people do this to keep their tanks cleaner.


In addition, go ahead and supplement their diet with green leafy vegetables (but not iceberg lettuce since it's poor nuitritionally and not spinich since it contains something not good for turtles called oxilates). They can also have other veggies like a little carrot, bell pepper, sweet potato, blueberries, tomato, apple peel, etc once or twice a week. They can also have freeze dried crickets, earthworms, a little boiled chicken, or some live feeder fish (like rosie red minnows) once a month.