General Care Discussion :: turtle backside floating

[Harbinger]

Hello all,
I noticed that my res has his backside floating in the water and started shedding a lot more than usual, in whitish patches. Don't know why is that. Took it to the vet, she told me to change his diet first and raise the temperature, cause she suspected that its connected with the food and the weather being cold here and told me to wait one week on the new diet. I dry dock it now most of the time, but have only a normal light, not a uv one. Bought a water heater too, the last one broke and didn't have for a while. I try to keep the water temp at 27 degrees. The tank is a 40 gallon one, the turtle is 5 inch in shell length. I now feed it with JBL pellets, dry fish and lettuce. It has an appetite, but sometimes find it difficult to reach the food right:( My question is-can I do something else to help the turtle with while I wait for the new temperature to work? A better lighting(uv) or turtle elixir for the water, higher temp of the water... could they help?
Thanks in advance and best regards

[steve]

How old is the turtle? Can you post a picture of the white patches when the shell is dry? How much water is in the tank?

I recall people speculated that a floating backside might be related to gas, though that is a pretty wild guess.

[Harbinger]

The tank is full as it can without allowing escape possibilities, 3/4 full, its an open tank. Don't know the age, the turtle was a surprise present...a present for which I haven't planned. I have to get a bigger tank, but these days im quite short of the money needed:(
I have read the same about bloating, don't know if its true. But the vet seemed to be right, with the new diet including greens, it returned its liveliness, and now attains better balance with the feet...the floating is gone. With the drydocking and one acriflavine course, the white skin-thick patches started to fall off revealing a healthy layer of skin beneath it. I also take it outside in a plastic pond for a couple of hours each day to get some sunshine, now that the stormy weather is gone. If the white patches return, ill write again and send some pics.
Thank you for taking your time to answer me=)

[steve]

Glad to hear about the recovery