Turtle shell has weird marks

[victurtle]

Hi all
I have had my turtle since Feb 2010 and in the last few weeks his shell has gone weird well what I think is weirs anyway Can any one please tell me what this may be

he eats well water temp is about 26 has a uv Lamp and dock and when its sunny I take him out wheni can to catch some rays




Thanks heaps Kirsten

[JAS101]

it could be anything id jump onto > Australian Freshwater Turtles
and ask , but more info is needed . like what are u feeding it and how often .

[oreo1]

dont they "shed" their shell? i know they dont actually shed it but perhaps growing new layers?

[-Peter]

It could be a number of things. pretty hard to tell from the pics. Things that come to mind are, to high water temps, possible shell rot or fungal growth. I'd be looking at a trip to the vet.

[victurtle]

HI Guys He gets feeb feeder fish or turtle block and red meat every three days

cheers

[XKiller]

do u give him UV at all?

[Kitah]

- What type of UVB are you using? (turtles have high UVB requirements. Also, check that your light mentions it has UVB- not all 'reptile' lights have UVB, many only have UVA which isn't adequate).
- Are you giving the turtle any other sources of calcium? Red meat will have very little calcium, and so will the turtle blocks. At the moment it sounds as though your main source of calcium is in the feeder fish, which may not be sufficient if he doesn't get many of them.
- Is the basking area heated at all? if there isn't a sufficient temperature difference between the water and the basking dock, turtles often won't bask (they bask to warm up, so the basking dock needs to be warmer than the water)
- Does the turtle actually bask/dry its shell out completely quite regularly
- What kind of filtration do you have, and in what size tank? e.g. an internal filter or external canister filter, flow rate of the filter, volume of the tank
- How often do you do water changes in the tank

I'd be inclined to think it may be shell rot or fungral growth as peter said. it is definitely not normal shedding. Your best bet would be to take him to a reptile vet to get checked out, and they can also help you with husbandry issues if you have any.

Also just as a note, those commercial 'turtle blocks' aren't a great feed source for captive turtles- you'd be best to stick with what they eat in the wild (fish, invertebrates and other aquatic organisms, vegetation etc)

[JAS101]

what state are u in ? vic ?

[victurtle]

What type of UVB are you using? NEC T10 - I got it from Vic Harry at Vic reptiles. he said that was all i needed , I know I still need to get a basking lamp

Food answer - I give him more feeder fish than any thing else I dont ike the turtle blocks either

- Does the turtle actually bask/dry its shell out completely quite regularly - Not as far as I know every have caught him every now and then on his dock

- What kind of filtration do you have, and in what size tank? - ans = an internal filter 700 ltr a hour, volume of water in tank is 50 liters

How often do you do water changes in the tank ans = every week

what other calcium sources can I give him


thanks for your help

[victurtle]

Werribee

[Kitah]

A basking light to warm the basking area would be rather important now, as it is cooling down- chances are that a lot of the time his water is warmer than the air at the moment, so he doesn't want to leave the water- he has no incentive to bask and dry out, which is essential to main a healthy shell.

How big is the turtle? a 50 litre doesn't sound like much... Turtles produce huge amounts of waste, so often need very high filtration (With good biological filtration) and the smaller the volume of water, the more rapidly toxic substances from the turtles faeces, food debris etc. can build up. Typically external canister filters do the best job at filtering turtle tanks (so do sump filters) as they have a much larger volume so you can pack a heap of filter media in there, particularly biological media like ceramic rings- the biological media allows good bacterial growth on them, and these bacteria convert ammonia from wastes, breakdown products etc to less toxic nitrites, and then again to even more benign nitrates. Nitrates do still build up in the tank and can reach toxic levels so you still need to do regular partial water changes even with a powerful filter. The best way to monitor these is to buy test kits- they have them for a huge assortment of things- I use the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate test kits. Look up 'cycling fish tanks' and it will explain the process to you

When you do the water changes, do you change all of the water, or only a percentage of it? if so, about how much do you change?

For calcium, I often give my boy cuttlefish (the same type you give to birds)- just use a sharp knife to get the hard back off it and put chunks in the tank. My shortneck would just periodically eat bits of it. He also has access to fish and shrimp for a calcium source.


I'd kind of be inclined to think that it may be a water quality issue thats causing you problems, and probably the lack of effective basking (his/her shell isn't drying out sufficiently and regularly enough). Try posting on the other site listed above, those guys really know their stuff and may be able to help you out as well. I may be completely on the wrong track with what I've said, its kind of hard when you can't see the animal etc. I would still recommend a trip to a reptile vet if possible.

[victurtle]

Its all good i took him down to Vic reptiles today and had matt have a look at him, he said he is just changing his shell and also needs to dry out a bit Matt said and agrees with you on the basking lamp So I bought him one and got some river rock to make a basking station so he drys out abit too


Thanks heaps K

[JAS101]

whos vic reptiles ?

[victurtle]

Victorian reptiles in hoppers crossing Every vet and even the vet university told me to take him there