Urgent Care :: DIAHREA

[H15A5H1]

I think my 3inch RES has been having diahrea.

This morning, the water in his tank was murky and filled with tiny flake-like pieces of his droppings everywhere. at first, i thought the filter cartridge exploded; but this afternoon i was just looking at him, and a stream of flake-like (as in fish flakes) droppings came out of him. i do not feed my turtle fish flakes. only mazuri pellets and some vegetables

can someone help me determine what is wrong with my turtle, what could hav caused it, and how i can help him get better??

thanks~

[TNTurtles]

ive heard eating too much fruits or veggies can cause diarrhea

[sonyj]

What kinds of veggies/fruits and how much have you fed recently?

[marisa]

Welcome. What amount of veggies does he get when you do feed him? If it's a lot, cut back, skip the fruit (if you do feed him any).

[H15A5H1]

the only thing i give him is mazuri pellets and some spinach. wen we feed him veggies, he probably gets 2 or 3 leaves worth

[sonyj]

You should never feed your turtle spinach. It's high in oxalic acid and prevents/blocks them from absorbing the calcium in his diet. Instead of spinach, he should be getting a variety of veggies, especially green leafy ones like red-leaf lettuce, green-leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, dandelion leaves etc.

It doesn't sound like it's too many veggies causing this. Maybe the spinach didn't agree with his stomach. I'm not sure what else it could be. Read the feeding list under the feeding section and try a few items of there and see how he does. He should be getting veggies daily and pellets every other day if he's over 6 months to 1year.

I know sometimes my turtle poops like this and it's usually after a large amount of lettuce. Later on he's fine. I'd keep an eye on him and try to get him on a balanced diet of a variety of veggies (see feeding list) and pellets.

[H15A5H1]

ok. i think i found the problem. he has since deficated again, and i noticed small white pieces (recognizable as rice) scattered all over the tank. turns out, my uncle admitted to me that he has been feeding my turtle RICE while i was out! Could this have caused my turtle's unhappy stomach? I'm pretty sure rice should never be fed to a turtle...

[jenaero]

That would probably be it. Has he promised he won't do it again?

[steve]

I find people feeding snacks to my turtles all the time. It's almost irresistible for them I'd leave a bowl of lettuce for people to use and tell them the pellets and treats are off limits... unless they want to help clean the filters

[marisa]

No, rice is not for turts. If it was cooked I'd be a little surprised that it didn't bind your turtle up (make him constipated). Your uncle just fed the rice dried? Has your uncle fed him anything else that he forgot to tell you about?

[H15A5H1]

he has promised to never do it again. he thought that turtles could eat rice because wen he was in taiwan, the turtles in the ponds eat rice and bread. after i told him how bad it was, he felt really guilty. i believe he only fed my turtle cooked rice that was refrigerated.

*UPDATE

my turtle has not been having diahrea anymore. his tank looks clean, and has no signs of it.

[sonyj]

That's good to hear.