Three weeks ago, after reading up on the eastern spiny soft shell turtle, I tried to set up the ideal situation for the 3 month old baby I bought. He was to share an established 30g with 5 rainbow fish and a BN pleco, with a raised sandbox just at the right height for him. His carapace immediately got white spots, and a thin layer peeled off, but with pimafix, salt, and a UVB light, he seemed to recover well. He seemed to be eating well, baby turtle pellets, small earthworms, and clean tubifex worms. After 2 weeks, I did switch out a hang off the back filter with a new Eheim canister, and an established sponge filter, waiting a week to switch the off the back filter with the sponge filter. His death occurred a week after adding the canister filter, and a day after switching from the hang on the back to the sponge filter. The fish all seem fine, and the water parameters are good. One night he was searching for and scarfing up his portion of tubifex worms, the next day he stayed in his sand box, just lifting his nose out of the water, and wouldn't come out to eat. The next day, he ventured out, but it turned out that he was just floating around because he was dying. Finally, after a couple hours his mouth opened and he didn't move anymore.
I am so sad! I was really looking forward to twenty years with this guy.
Any ideas about why he might have died? I know that sometimes tubifex worms can be a problem, but I have never had a problem with my fish eating the tubifex worms I get. He and the fish seemed to ignore each other. No clashes. He seemed happy. I was wondering if the UVB works through the glass lid, but since his skin improved, I figured it must be okay. Hmmm

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