General Care Discussion :: Shell discoloration

[Jax]

Hi everyone, I own two RES and they have both been fully grown for a while now. However, there is still often scutes shed around the tank and my larger turtle's shell is discolored. Is it recommended I bring him to the vet? I attached a picture of him, please take a look.

Thank you!

[steve]

Looks like she has a bit of fungus. Also, you should remove gravel substrate. Welcome to the site!

[Jax]

Looks like she has a bit of fungus. Also, you should remove gravel substrate. Welcome to the site!

Is fungus something I can take care of own my own? The gravel has also never been a problem for them, neither has ever eaten any or had problems with it in the past. Do you still recommend removing it? If I did remove it, should I just leave the glass base uncovered? Thanks for your help, Steve.

[steve]

The best medication is called silver sulfadiazine cream. If you live in the US, then you will need a prescription though some have found it online. You will need to make sure the turtle habitat is correct ... that the turtles can bask for hours a day and the water is properly filtered. If this fungus comes back, it is very difficult to get rid of.

How about you leave the tank bottom bare and see if they poop any out? I leave mine bare, but a lot of people like to use sand, which is easier to clean than gravel and looks great.

[redfalcon]

I dont know if its skin discolouration but it seem her shell is different in colour with my male res, is it normal or something wrong? And my male res will always cling to me when i let them out from their tank... i hope its normal.

[steve]

It sounds normal to me. The male will eventually become darker/grayer though (skin and shell coloring).

[redfalcon]

Ahh.... their shell will not have same colour/pattern? Btw... happy new year steve

[steve]

Yea, even some of the stripes go away and become spots. Happy new year to you too!

[unclejoe]

Just wanna say your turtles are gorgeous.
We had three females and one male wild RES in the pond behind our house, and all four had different colored shells and markings on their shells and even the stripes on their heads were individually different. We had one female RES (Maggie) her markings on her shell looked like oak wood. They were gorgeous markings when they weren't covered in Moss..lol (Turtles were wild not pets)