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How big is your turtle? 3 in.
How long have you had it? 3 months

What is the water temperature? 76-78
Did you use a thermometer? Yes
Are you using a water heater? Yes
How much water is in there? Almost full 30 g tank
Are you using a water conditioner? Yes
Are you using any filtration? Yes

What is the basking temperature? high 80-low 90
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? Egg Crate
Is there a UVB light? Yes

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

How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? 30 g
Is the tank near a window? No
Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity? Sometimes

Have you read the Basic Care section? Yes
Have you searched the forums for similar situations? Yes

Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms? No

Below is posting of my turtle's shell problem...... as you can see, there's an area with an unusual look to it. Can anyone confirm to me if this is a major shell problem such as shell rot or is this part of the scuting/shedding stage? He shedded a scute off of that area before the unusual shell mark appeared...... it doesn't feel too soft and it doesn't smell bad....please any answers will do some good......thanks in advance.

That does NOT look like regular shedding to me at all.

I cannot however, confirm what it is.

To me, it looks like shell rot. Regular scute shedding should reveal a good new shell.

What is your turtle's food and feeding schedule like?

I'm not familiar with shell conditions, but I'm sure some others can help you here.

Hmm, it looks like a damaged scute that has some mineral deposits on it. I'm guessing that the shell below wasn't ready for the scute to come off. Did you help it along at all? Remember to always let nature take its course and do the shedding.

If it were shell rot, it would have a soft part to it and it would be stinky, which you said it was neither, so I'm going to tentatively rule out shell rot.

I would think that your next step would be either to see a vet to rule out infection (which I might recommend doing) and to basically just let the shell heal and eventually a new scute will replace it. You should bump up the vitamin E for the next few months, as well as the cuttlebone. Also make sure your UVB bulb is current (they should be replaced every 6-8 months).

Kemul wrote:To me, it looks like shell rot. Regular scute shedding should reveal a good new shell.

What is your turtle's food and feeding schedule like?

I'm not familiar with shell conditions, but I'm sure some others can help you here.

Thanks for responding..... I have a feeling it isnt regular scuting either. My turtle feeds on greens every other day and in between its turtle pellets and once in awhile shrimp...... also, i try not to overfeed him as well.....

TheComputerGremlin wrote:Hmm, it looks like a damaged scute that has some mineral deposits on it. I'm guessing that the shell below wasn't ready for the scute to come off. Did you help it along at all? Remember to always let nature take its course and do the shedding.

If it were shell rot, it would have a soft part to it and it would be stinky, which you said it was neither, so I'm going to tentatively rule out shell rot.

I would think that your next step would be either to see a vet to rule out infection (which I might recommend doing) and to basically just let the shell heal and eventually a new scute will replace it. You should bump up the vitamin E for the next few months, as well as the cuttlebone. Also make sure your UVB bulb is current (they should be replaced every 6-8 months).

Well, the shell doesn't feel too soft and does not smell as I mentioned, also, the scute came off by itself. Just noticed it today and thought to myself that it may not be normal to look like that.

What do you recommend in order to keep the shell to heal and which vitamin E until a new scute replaces it? Also, the UVB has been used for only 3 months so im assuming its still in good condition......

It looks like scarring from a bad case of shell rot to me.

Are you sure he's only 3 inches? He looks much bigger in those pictures... well, his scutes look larger than the average 3 inch turtle's would.

hcha,

I think you need to start offering greens and cuttlebone daily. Pellets are fine
every other day. I think besides vitamin E, calcium will help with generating
healthy shell (and bones of course).

Yes, go to a vet when you're in doubt or after everything else fails

Thats a deffinate case of shell rot, well its was shell rot. Thats the after math but the shell rot is gone now. It will take a pretty many sheddings for the. shell to look normal again. Also your turtle is going through shedding now though and it had shell rot underneath it.

Also that turtle is wild caught i dunno if you caught it or bought it. You can tell because its shell has iron oxide staining(the brown staining) from high amounts of iron in soils, and only wild turtles get that after this shed the turtle will go back to normal.

So with that being said, it being a wild turtle that turtle could have had shell rot from the wild and not under your care but I dont think you noticed the shell rot because the shell is stained and you wouldnt notice.

Painteds4life wrote:Thats a deffinate case of shell rot, well its was shell rot. Thats the after math but the shell rot is gone now. It will take a pretty many sheddings for the. shell to look normal again. Also your turtle is going through shedding now though and it had shell rot underneath it.

Also that turtle is wild caught i dunno if you caught it or bought it. You can tell because its shell has iron oxide staining(the brown staining) from high amounts of iron in soils, and only wild turtles get that after this shed the turtle will go back to normal.

So with that being said, it being a wild turtle that turtle could have had shell rot from the wild and not under your care but I dont think you noticed the shell rot because the shell is stained and you wouldnt notice.

Actually I dont know if it's wild, but as you mentioned it could have been from the wild since I've only gotten it from a neighbor 3 months ago cuz he was moving and did not want it anymore, however I dont know how he got it..... and believe I've done my research before even considering taking this turtle from him and have gotten just about everything it needs to give it a decent habitat. The brown stainings had always been there since I've had it..... i wish i would have knew about it....thanks for the reply. It gave me a better idea of what im looking at.....

Kemul wrote:hcha,

I think you need to start offering greens and cuttlebone daily. Pellets are fine
every other day. I think besides vitamin E, calcium will help with generating
healthy shell (and bones of course).

Yes, go to a vet when you're in doubt or after everything else fails

Greens will definitely be a daily thing for him, and cuttlebone is givin now. Thanks for the suggestion.....

megcornell wrote:It looks like scarring from a bad case of shell rot to me.

Are you sure he's only 3 inches? He looks much bigger in those pictures... well, his scutes look larger than the average 3 inch turtle's would.

OKay, I just measured him again he's 3.5 inches.....

hcha wrote:The brown stainings had always been there since I've had it..... i wish i would have knew about it....thanks for the reply. It gave me a better idea of what im looking at.....

Its called iron oxide staining, they get the stain when theres high amount iron in the water. Turtles that live near farms get it from runoff. Once Your turtle sheds those scutes he should look normal. They cant get those stains in captive care so thats why you see a turtle with that stain it had to come from the wild.


Heres same staining on a Painted



After shedding.

Painteds4life,

Thats a good photo. Is that ur painted? Is so, how long did it take until the total transformation was complete?

I had him 4-5months and then he just shed and his scutes took like 3 days for them all to come off.

Yep thats mine, i think all my e. painteds but 3 are wc and thats a maybe, the one petstore doesnt obey laws really well. Not allowed to sell native species of Pa, but they get in e. painteds like once a year. People bring in turtles and they buy them from them and resell them or they dont know what there actually selling they just write sliders on the tank. Even though the guy said painted when i bought the one.

So I bought my 5 easterns from them and two had iron oxide staining. They look exactly like the painteds that live in a stream that goes through farm land. Always stained brown. The stream actually splits in two before the farm the other stream goes through a meadow and the painteds there have no staining.