Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi
i left my res with family while i went off to war in iraq. its been 6 months and while on leave to the states i was amazed to find him much bigger than i thought he'd be. his tail is huge in my opinion... could this be a sign of some health issue? also i was surprised to see algae on his shell. my family says they changed the water and cleaned the tank every two weeks so i dont know what could be causing the algae growth. is it safe for his shell? is it natural? how should his shell be cleaned if at all? any help would be appreciated.

well,algae isn't nessecarily(sp?) bad.i use a toothbrush to remove it whenever i see it.i believe that it is just a place for bacteria to grow.i understand that mouthwash(listerine)makes a good remover.
as far as the tail goes... i assume that he is about 4-5 inches?then his tail will be about 1.5-2 in long with a width of about .5in +/- at the base.
congrats on making it back & thank you!
jeff w

I agree with Jeff on the algea and I'd like to thank you too!

The algae isnt a major concern and i personally like the look of it ... i dunno its cool to me...
i just mainly wanted to say congrats on your return and thank you.
i have a few extremely close freinds who still havent returned but i know r fine as i keep in contact with their families... but i've heard some crazy stories and just wanna say thanks.

hi...thanks for the info
unfortunatley i'm still in iraq...i was just home for leave.
i have six months left and i cant wait to get back home to my family and my buddy.
take care and thanks again for the support
d