Urgent Care :: 20 year old RES stopped basking, change in behavior

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Post Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2026 1:06 am   20 year old RES stopped basking, change in behavior

I have 2 RES, one of them is named Muddy who is about ~23 years old. For the last 20 years, my RES have been doing well, until I noticed Muddy stopped basking for a month up to now. Muddy used to love basking almost to the point where I was worried she was over-basking. For all their life, we've only put around 2 inches high water which I know isn't the right proper setup, but we've been afraid to increase the water since they've been living this way all their life. Typically their head/neck extends out of the water, but Muddy's head has been submerged under the water a lot now to the point where I noticed algae on her head which never happened before. She also seems less active.
Muddy has always ate normally 1x/week on Reptomin pellets and always had a big appetite. On 7/11, she ate less than half and ate very slowly which was concerning. We took her to the vet on 7/13, the vet wanted to trial the antibiotic ceftazidime injections 0.25ml every 3 days. (Syringes are pre-filled and kept frozen and then thawed before administering). We did the 2nd dose on 7/16. But today 7/19, Muddy did not eat at all, which is very worrisome because this has never happened before. We were told the antibiotic shouldn't affect her appetite. So now I am very worried and don't know what's wrong. When we were at the vet, the vet was saying the bloodwork and x-ray could be done, but they can't tell a lot of answers, so he wanted to try the antibiotic. The vet only said that bloodwork shows kidney failure? And x-ray would show the lungs and if there are eggs. He said CT scan would be the most telling but it is $5k, ugh.

Some background info: we have a heat lamp and UVB lamp, no swollen eyes, no nasal discharge, Muddy had a big bowel movement on 7/13 during the drive to the vet. Muddy is 1.27kg, ~5.5 inches in length. We do not notice any weight loss, but I'm sure there will be since she did not eat today.

I would love some advice on what to do, and if there are any insight to what might be wrong with my Muddy? :( I will continue the antibiotics for now (wonder if I should stop at any given point if there's no improvement?) but it worries me that she didn't eat at all for the first time in like 23 years. I feel like taking her to another vet for a second opinion.
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Post Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2026 8:00 am   Re: 20 year old RES stopped basking, change in behavior

I think a blood test could tell what kind of possible infections there may be. If I recall, lack of appetite is possible from those injections and is another layer of stress. How is the other turtle doing and are they kept together?
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