General Care Discussion :: Turtle just died...Idk why. Please help.

[chelsealou002]

I have been having two RES for about 2 months now.
Their tank is key inside, they are in a ten gallon tank. The water is only filled about 1/3 of the way.
The temp of the tank is about 75-77degrees F
They have a light that I turn off at night and turn on during the day.
I feed them twice a day with the little pellets, sometimes dried shrimp.
I clean their tank every 2 weeks, sometimes every week depending on how dirty it is.
I use tap water when I clean the tank.
I cleaned the tank yesterday and this morning I woke up and one of my turtles was dead. He was laying on the bottom of the tank, nothing bodily wrong with him.
I thought it was the temp at first because I do have a heater in the water and a light. but the temp is lower then 80. Could I be over feeding? I'm not sure how much to feed them. Also the turtle who is still alive won't eat now. and he is swimming kinda slow but still active (maybe he is grieving?)
I'm not sure what happened/ I've been trying my best to care for them but I keep getting mixed instructions.
I'm coming here to get some advice from people who actually have turtles. Please Please help. I'm hysterically upset.

[steve]

Sorry to hear about your loss. The other turtle is not grieving, but will notice the absence of his tankmate. Turtles are good at hiding illnesses, so it's not always easy to make an accurate diagnosis. Hatchlings are often ill when they reach a new owner, it's just part of whole turtle farming business/pet trade.

Moving forward, I'd keep the water a little warmer for now (78-80F) and check there is nothing in the tank that can be a hazard... either eating something (gravel) or getting stuck (filter).

What kind of light does he have? How much are you feeding? Any previous symptoms for either turtle?

[chelsealou002]

I'm not sure about the type of light...it was something the lady at the pet store suggested I buy. I'm going to look into getting a different light though and seeing exactly what I have. What are your suggestions for a light?
At the beginning they were each eating like 10 pellets a day 5 at each feeding. I uped the feeding because they always act like they are starving. Looking back now though I think I was def over feeding them. How much should I feed him? The one that is still alive is about almost 2 months. He hasn't eaten all day today and its making me super worried.
I had just cleaned the tank last night too when it happened. Could that have something to do with it?
The only thing that slightly alarmed me was that both of them have a flexible shell by the tail. The whole shell is hard, but right by the tail bends a bit. Online it said this was because of malnutrition, aka when I started feeding them even more.

[steve]

Shells of hatchlings will be slightly pliable. Can you post a picture of the setup? The amount of pellets should be roughly 2/3 of their head size. As for what happened, cleaning would probably not have caused this. What kind of pellets are you using? Do you have a UVB light in addition to a basking light?

[chelsealou002]

This is my current set up:


The set up was different when the turtle died though. I don't have a picture of that but the water was not up very high and the only basking area they had was the little castle. They would both get up there a lot though so I thought it to be fine.

The food they got was this:



I had stopped feeding them the "baby" food once they ran out of that. Was it too soon to stop feeding them the baby version?
I also give them the dried shrimp from time to time.

They were/have been shedding a lot too. So much Ive been having to change the water more often then usual.
He is onlyy about 2 month old and he is this big (2 inches):

[chelsealou002]

They have both always been very active too. Thats why I don't get what happened

[steve]

From the thickness of the seams, the turtle is getting way too much food. There is little difference between baby/adult food.

[chelsealou002]

About how much should I be feeding him a day? Should I be feeding him other things besides the pellets?

[steve]

Yes, pellet amounts should maybe be about 1/2 the size of his head. Be conservative and feed less if you're not sure. You can introduce lots of different veggies, just search the site/forum for ideas.