Urgent Care :: Health Concern

[Raphael]

My brother and I inherited two young RES Turtles about a month ago from a friend who bought them and didn't have time to take care of them. One of the turtles has unfortunately passed away and the other one seems to be rather ill, however we haven't been able to determine why.

Here are more details on the size and conditions:

The turtle is about 10cm in length
We've had the turtle for just over a month
The water temperature is between 23 and 26 degrees Celsius according to the water thermometer
We do not have a water heater installed
The tank dimensions are about 50cm x 30cm x 25cm and the tank has been filled up to about two thirds
We have a filter on permanently and we clean the tank once a week, after which we also use a blue colored water cleanser
The basking temperature is between 27 and 30 degrees Celsius under the basking light and is easily reachable
There is also a separate UVB light
We feed it about 2 - 3 pellets of Tetrafauna ReptoMin daily at 4pm, however the last time it ate was about 4 days ago
We keep the turtle in our office and we have an air conditioner on most of the day also
We live in a small town in Thailand and have no access to reptile vets

Symptoms:

Since the passing of its friend it has honestly seemed kind of depressed
It lacks energy and almost never swims anymore (where it used to be in the water all the time and only get out to sleep)
It recently looked like the turtle may have been shedding
It seems to still have healthy, bright colors
It has refused to eat for almost a week
Once during this past week we're certain we heard the turtle sneeze (seriously)
It seems to sometimes look like it's choking or gagging

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, we want this little dude to survive and grow old.

[Kurtni]

Welcome to the site! Sorry you're having trouble.

That's a pretty big fluctuation in temperature... you want to keep the temperature at a steady 26 degrees for a baby. That may be a big part of your problem as body temperature affects everything a turtle does especially digestion and eating. The basking temperature also needs to be warmer, around 32 degrees, especially if the air conditioner is running all day.

You do not need to use water conditioner.

The sneezing/choking could be a sign of a respiratory infection, but without access to a vet I don't know what you can do for that. As far as the not eating goes, have you tried live prey like worms or feeder fish, or soaking the pellets in tuna juice?

Also, once you get this little guy healthy, he'll need a bigger tank.

[Raphael]

Hi Kurtni

Thanks a lot for your response and advice!

We'll do all we can do correct and stabilize the water and air temperature and definitely try the trick of dipping the pellets in tuna juice (that's handy so let's hope it works)

We hope to have the little dude recovered soon, and we'll look at getting a bigger tank as soon as he is!

[steve]

How's he doing?