Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a few red ear hatchlings well more like 2 inchers but one of them is getting this fuzzy stuff on his back legs its not shedding skin so its got me worried. i asked a few people and was told to put some aquarium salt in the tank. i read the directions on the salt and added what the 55 gal called for this was like 2 weeks ago and there is no improvement. i have 5 small turtles in this 55 gal tank and am verry anal about keeping the water clean i have a magnum 220 and a large wisper filter that sits in the tank. and have the water temp at 76-78. all the turtles seem otherwise active helthy and happy but this fuzzy stuff has realy got me worried. does any one have any idea what this is and how i can get rid of it? thanks,
mike

Could be normal shedding. My little res has the same issue but it goes away after a while. As hes growing this is normal. Temp at 78 is ok but the higher the temp may also promote this.

I would not add any of that salt material though.....

Good luck...

Iwould have a vet check it out if at all possible so you
don't have an epidemic on your hands.

In the meantime, Buy some Betadine from any store like walmart,
etc. A couple of times a day take an old tooth brush and
GENTLY wash the turtle being very careful not to get it in his
eyes or mouth. You can even soak his legs a few minutes. Rinse him well and then dry dock him for about 20 minutes. It sounds
like a fungus but to be sure I would recommend a vet visit.

I wash my turtles shells this way once every few months to kill
anything lurking around.

Keep us updated.
Linda

thanks for the replies i will try this. i would have allready taken him to the vet but i moved way out in to the sticks and it takes me 2 hours to the closest pet store there is a shelter near by but they told me straight up they have no experience with reptiles. i will def try this as i know it is not an algea by looking at it. if anyone else has any info its all helpfull.
thanks again,
mike

Fungus is usually fuzzy looking.
I wouldn't add salt to the tank water, I'd drain it all & do a thorough tank cleaning instead.
If the turtles themselves are fuzzy one way to clear this up when it's just a superficial problem is to soak the turtles in shallow saltwater (small plastic container works well for this) for half an hour or so, then dry dock them for another half hour to an hour. Do it daily for about a week & it should totally clear up.
If it becomes more than a superficial problem what I just said won't work but if this just started it's worth a shot before you see a vet.
-----
PHRatz

i got some betadine and am using that. what kind of salt water should i soak him in like aquarium salt or epsom salt? thanks for the help.

mike

>>i got some betadine and am using that. what kind of salt water should i soak him in like aquarium salt or epsom salt? thanks for the help.
>>
>>mike

Aquarium salt would probably be better.. I did this treatment a dozen years or so ago.. didn't have aquarium salt so I just used plain table salt. May not have been the best to use but it worked. Frankly I think forcing them to dry out every day & stay dry for a while helped more than anything.
Let us know how it goes.
-----
PHRatz