Urgent Care :: Pink lines on shells

[ssfligg]

Hey everyone,, I'm new to this so bear with me.. I have 2 red eared sliders and I just got done cleaning the tank and notice on the bottoms of each of their shells they have these pink lines.. Im not sure if this needs a vet visit.. or what's going on.. any help would be greatly appreciated:
Oscar and Sheldon are about 18 months old and they are currently in a 29 gallon tank being upgraded in a few months... I'm not sure their sex yet.. They get the turtle food from PetLand. otherwise they are very healthy turtles.

[grey goose]

I could be wrong, but that turtle looks awfully large for only 18 months....
Red lines like that could be an early sign of septicemia, plus pic #1, although blurry, looks like the carapace and plastron are separating...it could be the way the pic was taken but it just don't look right to me. I'd take them to the vet just to be on the safe side.

[steve]

They look huge to me as well. There is also pyramiding, a symptom of excessive of protein in their diet. My RES sometimes has little of pink at the seams but that top picture is worrisome. She's a bit wet, so it might not be an accurate look at it.

Are there any other symptoms or recent illnesses?

[ssfligg]

There are no other symptoms,, yeah the top picture is awful. s/he was wet and just taken out of the tank,, I feed them twice daily.. is that too much? I had one to the vet a few weeks ago and he said that s/he looked healthy.

[steve]

How big where they when you got them?

If they started out at 1" when you got them, then they should be around 3". Are you offering them veggies?[/quote]

[ssfligg]

They were about the size of a half dollar,,, we were just guessing on their age.. could they be older?
they get lettuce every now and then.. what can i do make sure they are ok

[grey goose]

We need more info. Go to the sticky at the top of this forum and answer all the questions......

[Jessica313]

goin from the size of a half dollar, to the size they are now.. in 18 months. seems INSANE.. i have had my turtle for 2 years and he has grown about an inch per year

[ssfligg]

How big is your turtle? they are around 7 inches long
How long have you had it? I think we got them around june of 05 so my age may be off, I'm not 100 precent sure though

What is the water temperature? around 78
Are you using a water heater? yes
How much water is in there? about 10 inches of water
Are you using a water conditioner? each time i change the water
Are you using any filtration? the zoo med 501

What is the basking temperature? around 82
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? it's a plastic one that suction cups to the side
Is there a UVB light? yes

What have you been trying to feed it? they eat nutrafin max, turtle gammarus pellets
When was the last time your turtle ate? just this morning

How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? 29 gallon soon to be 55
Is the tank near a window? no
Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity? yes
yes
Have you read the Basic Care section?
Have you searched the forums for similar situations? yes

Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms? nothing unusual, they eat well, they both bask and they are very active and swim around

[JNZBCBnLIL]

I'm new to all of this as well but I will say that you should probably cut back their food (because of the pyramiding) do you feed them each a head size every other day? or daily? I read on the site that once they are a year old they need to be fed every other day. Overfeeding can lead to a lot of problems. (p.s. I know the begging is insane and irresistable! I'm having to deal with that myself! it's haaard! ) I found that offering romaine lettuce ,or any veggie on the list under basic care, every day helps because you can never feed enough veggies and if they like that particular veggie, they'll turn to that when they don't have the pellets! They're like bottomless pits! Also if you have 2 7inch turtles-- 29 gallons is way too small and even 55 gallons is too small! as big as they are now you would need a 140 gallon tank or pond (10 gallons per inch) and depending on whether they are male or female you may need even more space then that! Females can get up to 12 inches- and from the looks of it you may have a female on your hands because the claws are very short!!

You say you had gone to a vet and were told the turtles were fine? was this problem occuring when you took them then? is that a sore on your turtles right arm?

I'd recommend reading the basic care if you have not already!

[ssfligg]

Yeah I know I feed them way to much.. I'm going to cut back and see if that helps.. I am in the process of upgrading the tanks when I can afford it. The one turtle does have a little wound that I'm treating, so you think they might be girls??
I do have an appt tomorrow to get them both checked out.. I have tons of questions to make sure my babies are ok...
thanks for the imput everyone I will keep you posted

[JNZBCBnLIL]

You may have females- I'll let the experts or atleast more experienced on the site comment on that! I just know from seein pics that males that are that size have crazy long claws! Ask the vet about the sex of your turts tomorrow- he or she will be the expert to ask! I hope your babies are okay! Good luck!

[ssfligg]

Ok,, sheldon and oscar had their Dr. visit today and they did a culture on the pink stuff on the shell and it's some kind of percipitate from the water building up on the shells... I am going to take a water sample to Pet Smart and get an analysis done.. so I'm glad it's not septicemia... it sure scared me.. I don't want to lose my babies!!
Thanks everyone for your replies.. I will keep you updated on the situation

[cam722]

Well that's good news..

[steve]

Just a reminder, a petstore can only do a test for the basic stuff, which you can test yourself with a kit. If it is a precipitate, then you don't have an answer to what it is. It also appears to be building at the seams, so if it is being absorbed into the shell, wouldn't it appear under a wider scope? If it is building on the outside of the shells, does it only appear in the seams?

Wouldn't a culture take time to develop? I'm not into biology/chemistry like some people here, but don't you need to give it time to grow?