Urgent Care :: SHELLS TURNING BROWN, PLEASE HELP!

[Koaru_chan]

I have two turtles (Kaede and Shinobu) who are about 2 and 1/2 months old. (I've had them for two months) Two days ago I started noticing the top (not the bottom of their shells) are turning brown around the edges. Also, today, new development, they won't touch their food. Not even the blood-worm drop we gave them. I'm very worried.
Does anyone know what this is, or what causes it?

We have a UV light, a night light and a heat lamp... We have a medium filter... They're fairly small.. about 2 inches each (I didn't find out about the 4 inches law until after I bought my turtles.. street vendor in china town... long story...) Thier tank is huge, plenty of basking space and water enough for them to practice for the olympics. They also have an island...

We keep the turtles on the counter in the kitchen... Far away from any windows. It's just my and my husband and the cats and the turtles....

We feed them turtle pellets, and turtle cubes and blood worms.
I got them some crickets and guppies as a present to see how they liked it... Could this be something from contracted from the guppies? They gobbled down their blood worm drop this morning, so this is the first time I've noticed refusal to eat.

Please help! These are my little babies and I don't want to loose them!

[steve]

Do you have any pictures? Are you able to scratch the brown color off with a fingernail? Are the shells on the turtles hard and are there any odors coming from the turtles? What else have you been feeding them?

[Koaru_chan]

Their shells still seem hard. The brown stuff comes off if we really work at it... afraid to do so, since I was reading someone's post about accidentally pulling off a piece of her turtle's shell. They do have a little bit of an odor..... and I just listed everything we've fed them. I didn't learn about feeding them veggies until tonight reading this site..... Neither the care book we bought nor the people at the pet store who sold us the supplies said anything about vegetables...

[Koaru_chan]

Also, Shinobu's rear legs look kind of fuzzy and white on the backs... Almost as if they were shedding... Here shell top has more dark splotches, too.....
She was tempted to nibble on the blood worms, though....
Kaede's shell doesn't look as bad and her legs aren't as fuzzy but she wouldn't touch her worms...

[fishandcandy]

Post pics if you can. This may be normal shedding/growth related changes, but it's hard to guess.
Do they have a regular "reptile" odor or something stronger?

[Koaru_chan]

When I woke up this morning BOTH turtles are very fuzzy looking and listless. Especially Shinobu, who seems to have attached herself to the filter..... They are just sitting at the bottom of the tank in the water...
they are still alive because they respond when I move but they don't want food.

[cam722]

Ok, I'm not sure if you've posted this anywhere else in the forum, but what is your setup like and the water/basking temperatures?

[marisa]

What are "turtle cubes?" They're not tubifex worms, are they? The diet you've been feeding them is very imbalanced. What do their eyes look like--are they swollen at all? What do you mean by "fuzzy looking?"

You said their tank is "huge"---how big is it? If you can keep it on a kitchen counter, it doesn't sound that big. Is the UV light an actual UVB light?

Pictures of the shells dry would help us to see what you're talking about...

[Koaru_chan]

Oh YAY! We took Kaede and Shinobu in after work today... They just have algae growing on them from being in a warm tank and the extra protien from the food left in the water.... We got some drops for the water, and they recommended feeding the turtles in a different area than the tank that we keep them.
We also got a thermometer. The tank is at 80 degrees. It is 3 gallons of water on one side and a bunch of rocks on the other for plenty of basking space.

[confuzed16]

When you brought them to the vet...how much appox. did it cost for the dr. to see the turtle? I'm calling a vet today for mine and I'm just curious as what to expect price wise.

[TNTurtles]

mine was 43 for just the visit and then a couple dollars for the medicine

[confuzed16]

awesome thanks so much. Tai has an appointment today at 4. Hope all goes well.

[sarah]

How did things go with Tai???

[confuzed16]

things went well. The dr. said that he didn't seem to have an infection. Seemed as if he just had a lack Vit. A. So she gave him a shot with Vit. A, D, and something to hydrate him a bit since he hadn't been eating. Since his eyes were swollen looking, she gave me some antibiotic drops to put in them twice a day for 7-10 days, and I'm going back on Friday to see if she can help reopen his eyes so he can see again. Hopefully once he can see again, he will start to eat and he will get better. I'm just happy she didn't have even worse news for me. Seems like he should get better as long as I keep an eye on him.

[TurtleMama]

What are "turtle cubes?" They're not tubifex worms, are they? The diet you've been feeding them is very imbalanced. What do their eyes look like--are they swollen at all? What do you mean by "fuzzy looking?"

You said their tank is "huge"---how big is it? If you can keep it on a kitchen counter, it doesn't sound that big. Is the UV light an actual UVB light?

Pictures of the shells dry would help us to see what you're talking about...

Can you please explain what is specifically problematic about tubifex worms? I was actually feeding them to fish in the tank on occasion, but upon reading this post I am wondering what issues they might have. I am thinking that they may have been a source for a worm infestation, and now I wonder if they are also a bad food item?

thank you