Urgent Care :: What's wrong and what do I do?

[daredevilgirl013]

Last night I noticed that Michelangelo was going to the bathroom and he had long strands of white stuff coming out. It is solid so to speak but it isn't in a tube form, more like ribbon. My guppy was eating whatever came out.

I woke up this morning and Michelangelo still has the stuff coming out. And it seems like last night he may have went more because there are white strands (that are flat and again look like a piece of ribbon) in his tank)

What's causing this? I know he ate a lot of cuttle bone yesterday but that wouldn't cause things to look like ribbon? Also what do I do about the piece that doesn't seem to want to come out?

How big is your turtle? 2.5
How long have you had it? almost a year at the end of august

What is the water temperature? 74
Are you using a water heater? yes
How much water is in there? 18 gallons
Are you using a water conditioner? yes aquatize
Are you using any filtration? yes a tetra whisper power filter for a 60 gallon tank

What is the basking temperature? 85
Is there a basking light? yes
Is there a basking platform that is easy to climb on? yes
Is there a UVB light? yes

What have you been trying to feed it? hatchling pellets (those are getting scare right now) with some Hikari Turtle Pellets (he gets just enough to fit inside his head) Cuttlebone, and also some dead shrimp once in a while
When was the last time your turtle ate? last night (not going to feed him this morning till I know what's going on)

How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? 20 gallons
Is the tank near a window? to the side of a curtained window that is closed and the curtains are closed
Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity? no it's in my bedroom

Have you read the Basic Care section? yes
Have you searched the forums for similar situations? yes

Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms? he acts normal, and he ate last night before he did this, right after he ate is when he started to poop white strands that looked like ribbon.

[daredevilgirl013]

Update: He pushed out the rest of the white stuff. I don't see anymore coming out of him. I still won't feed him this morning until I know what is going on.

[sonyj]

It almost sounds like some kind of worms but I'm no expert here. Hopefully someone else will know for sure.

[daredevilgirl013]

I figured if they were worms they would be moving and they aren't. I tried to grab some pictures so I'll see if I post those up..but my minnow kept trying to eat whatever this stuff is.

[daredevilgirl013]

Here are some pictures


The white stuff here is beside him next to the rock.


The white stuff is by his foot.

Then in this last one my minnow is eating whatever it is as you can see it coming from the turtle. So while the turtle is pushing whatever this is out..my minnow is eating it...

[daredevilgirl013]

I'm going to go ahead and feed him a little bit and put some more cuttlebone in as he ate it all. He's begging for food and I know he's hungry because I feed him in the morning as well. So I'll just give him a little bit to try and make him happy as he doesn't have anymore white stuff hanging out.

[steve]

It could be worms/parasites or it could be something he couldn't digest. If you want to make sure you should get a sample examined...

Since you keep fish in there with Mikey, its very possible he could have worms.

[daredevilgirl013]

All of his stool is gone. The fish ate it all. If he has worms what do you give them to get rid of that?

[marisa]

The type of medication would depend on the type of worm/parasite. There is no one medication that works on them all. I would take a stool sample in to a herp vet to find out if your turtle has worms and what they are (you'll need to bring a stool sample; check with the vet's office about this).

If it is some sort of parasite and the fish ate the stool, your turtle and fish will just recontaminate each other being in the same tank and eating each other's waste...

[RESCHIU]

Mickey's situation kinda remind me of my turtle, except it's a yellowish droplet, my turtle always drop this yellowish dropplet right after he eats(very tiny, maybe just 3mm), it stays in shape but when I touch it or scoop it out with the fish net, it quickly dissolved, do any of you have same situation like this?
is it going to harm my turtle?

last time I took him to the vet around February the dr. checked and said he has no worm or parasite though....but this situation happens even before then...

[marisa]

I've never noticed this with any of my turtles.

Your turtle expels this droplet whenever he eats? Have you changed the diet at all to see if he still does this? Did you mention it to your vet when s/he saw your turtle in February? It doesn't sound like it will harm your turtle, although if you haven't, asking the vet about it would be a good thing.

I remember your turtle. How is his MBD?

[RESCHIU]

hum, I'll see if I can get a picture of it, the dropple comes right out shortly after he eats, and no I didn't change much on his diet, still eating food sticks and vegetable occasionally, but it happens everytime he eats, at first I thought it's diarrhea, and there's no way i can give to my Dr. for poop sample because it dissove so easily. I just saw someone posted this whittish thing might be concentrated Uric acid, do you think it might be it?

Thank you Marisa for caring about my turtle, recently his discolored belly isn't doing too good, last week, a big chunk of his plastron fell off(since it's dry due to the basking), so there's a large dent under his belly now, it looks so painful, it's still hard underneath, but 1/3 of his plastrons were gone, so I took him to another vet, he told me my turtle doesn't seems to have MBD, because my turtle just shed off a nice layer coat on his top shell(look so pretty now), he had me go home, stop any treatment(including SSD, and vitamin), and return to him this weekend so he can take a sample from my turtle's belly and find out what's causing this 'rotten' situation on his belly. I just hope everything will be ok, he's still eats and being active though...

[marisa]

Let us know what the vet says about the plastron.

I'd try some different foods (healthy ones, of course) and see if that changes anything. It doesn't sound like urates to me. I'd get an opinion from your vet as to what it could be...