Urgent Care :: White spots on shell + white gunk in water

[kasax]

Greetings,

I have read a lot about possible causes for white spots, but I want to have an expert opinion on this. I'm also going to go to the bet on Monday.
Our RES has had some kind of white gunk floating in the water for a while. I thought it was just gunk and I wasn't worried, as I change the water weekly.

However, I noticed a LOT of white spots on the shell. They are pretty much everywhere but they are also very small.

Here is a pic of both the dots and the water itself (it does look dirty. That was before cleanup).

Shell:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/716/img0626vj.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/44 ... 25bzu.jpg/
Water:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/69 ... 29bpd.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/39/img0628bra.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/137/img0627m.jpg/

You can see how the white gunk thing is actually getting stuck on the filter's walls.

I have him out of the water for now until I figure out what this is.

He has a 40 gallon tank with both UVA and UVB and an awesome basking platform that he uses a lot.
Water is always at 70-80 F.

I am worried that this might be something worse than just mineral deposits.

Thanks for your time!

[steve]

It's tough to tell what those spots are. Can you scratch it off with your fingernail?

[kasax]

The spots do seem to come off. They are also in some parts of the basking area. I am a little more relieved.

[steve]

How big is he?

[kasax]

He is about 6 inches.

[SquidSox]

ok idk about the shell spots however the water gunk looks like something I used to get in my very first turtle tank. Idk exactly what it is but it's caused from poor filtration. As soon as I got a better filter the stuff stopped showing up. Is your tank near a window? Someone mentioned that to me when I had that issue. That sunlight helps the biowaste breed all types of slime and algae and stuff and without proper filtration it only gets worse. Try use some vinigar and a soft brush to remove the spots from the shell and basking dock. Also upgrade your filtration and move the tank if it is near a window that gets direct sunlight.
Hope all is well and your turtle is fine. Let me know what the vet says I'm always curious for info from professionals so I know what to do if it happens to me