Urgent Care :: baby res with red eye!

[tiny_turtle]

my baby res has a red eye. her/his eye has been like this for a couple of days now . when he/she closes it it is all pinkish redish and sometimes it opens and clothes its mouth when its out of the water too. is this gasping??. and he/she would have the other eye closed all the time (no unusual colours just closed). i did some research and learned they could get irritated eyes from chlorinated water so i went and bought a filter and a whole new tank today. now it has the other eye opened a little bit and opened all the time when he/she is out of the water. it wasnt very active before and now he/she seems to be doing a lot better there.... but i have another baby res too and its totally fine no symptoms or anything ....

i have pictures of everything just to be safe....


THIS IS MY TURTLE


THIS IS THEIR TANK TILL THEY GET A LITTLE BIGGER


THIS IS THEIR FOOD


THIS IS THE WATER CONDITIONER THAT I USED




help!

[sonyj]

The eye looks very swollen. Combined with the fact that you said she had some open mouth breathing, it could be a sign of RI (respiratory infection). You should probably separate the two turtles so it doesn't spread. Bump the water temp up to around 81-82 (normal is 78 degrees with the basking temp at least ten degrees higher or 88-90 degrees) to kick in her natural immune system. And I would get her an appointment to a herp vet as soon as you can.

One other thing to try, you can place a little cod live oil on the eyelid (apply with a q-tip). This may help if it's not RI, but if the little one doesn't improve, you will want to see a vet. The earlier illness is caught the better off she'll be.

By the way, why is there so little water in the tank? Are they having trouble swimming as well? RES are aquatic turtles and under normal circumstances their tank should be filled as high as you can without giving them room to escape. If the little turtle that's sick is weak then you may want to leave the water level low until she re-coops, but then I'd fill the tank up and provide them a much better quality of life. It is hard to maintain accurate temps and water quality with the smaller the amount of water in their habitat. Check out the photo gallery section for some great setup ideas.

[tiny_turtle]

they dont have truoble swimming thats all that they do pretty much i dont have it filled higher because i dont have any money right now to get a higher basking rock so i can fill it all they way up

[sonyj]

I forgot to ask, is the little one with the swollen eye active (swimming/ moving around) or does it seem lethargic? Also, is she eating?

[tiny_turtle]

yes they both eat and i try to be careful not to feed them too much and the sick one foes swim around and is active

[sonyj]

If she's still active and eating, that's a good sign. Try either some eye drops that you can buy at the pet store (I'm sorry but I'm not sure of the exact name) or try getting some cod liver oil for the eye. If either of these things don't work, I would take her to a vet as soon as you can.

Good luck and keep us informed.

[tiny_turtle]

thank you i will do

[steve]

Swollen eyes can be a result of dirty water, an injury or Vitamin A defficency.

Those drops are the Zoo Med brand. It seems to be working well for those who tried it. While you're picking it up, get a fully submersible water heater and set the thermostat to around 82 like Sonja said... do everything else she said too Pick up 2 or 3 thermometers as well to monitor water/basking temps.

I'm not sure what's in those eye drops, but the cod liver oil has a lot Vitamin A.

Here's a link to help you find a vet in case the drops don't work. http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=370

[marisa]

How is the turtle doing?

[tiny_turtle]

well i took th elittle guy to the vet today and he said because it was a lack of vitamin A and he gave me eye drops for him for 10 days and he also gave him a vitamin A shot and suggusted me to go pick up some blood worms for him too which i will do after the holiday tomorrow. Im quite glad its not RI i think i would have died. anyway we go back for a check up next week!

[steve]

Did you try the Zoo Med drops and the cod liver oil? I checked the drops and they do contain a lot of Vit A and supposedly some medication. Keep us updated!

[Jessica313]

good job bringing him to the vet!!

a lot of people dont do that when they should and end up sad =(

keep us posted on how the little guy is doing

[marisa]

Hope he recovers quickly. Try including some foods containing beta carotene in his diet (pumpkin, squash, carrots, etc.)---he can convert the beta carotene to Vit A. It's safer than having Vitamin A shots.

Let us know how he's doing.

[tiny_turtle]

WELL! the drops the vet gave me are working great! i have only been giving them to the little turtle (crush like from finding nemo) and his eye looks MUCH better =) and i got some blood worms for them today too

[tiny_turtle]

well its been 4 days after the vet and his eye looks abetter but he wont open his other eye. it dosent look swollen but he dosent open it. and i cant get him to eat anything

ahhh!


-_-