Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i bought my g/f 2 res for her b-day, and they seem fine. lately though, one has been rubbing his shell back and forth on the bottom of their basking area (they have one of those little islands w/ the 2 palm trees that're held down by suction cups) well, the scratching and rubbing is cute to watch him down, but today we noticed a dull kinda blackish spot on his shell, looks kinda like a bruise on a person would...did he rub his shell down? or is there something wrong w/ him?? thanks.

Red Eared Sliders and other turtles can develop fuzzy gray and white patches that are fungal growths. One of the major causes of this is poor water quality and a improper basking area. Make sure you have a good full spectrum or UVB Light bulb and heat lamp that gives off some good heat. Turtles need this for the prevention of fungal infections. Another important thing is a basking area. Your Red Eared Slider Will need some sort of land mass to completely dry itself to prevent shell problems and respiratory infections.

ACRIFLAVAN, is available at most pet stores and will often eradicate fungal infections when it's added to water. I also recommend Hagen Sulfa bath and Betadine. If you choose to use Betadine, apply a small amount to a toothbrush and scrub the turtles shell. Once the Betadine is covering the infected areas, let it stay on in a dry area for 20 minutes. Repeat this process twice daily for 2 weeks. Make sure you do not get it in the turtles eye's. If this happens, please rinse the res ASAP.

You really should get your turtles out of that "death bowl" (what those containers are known as). They are unsuitable for turtles--the water gets dirty almost immediately and they are too small to allow a temperature gradient. Getting a minimum 20-gallon tank/container (allow 10 gallons of tank per inch of shell length) would allow you to create a proper set-up for them, including a heater, lighting, filter, etc. as well as maintaining better water quality. At the very least, what they're in now will encourage shell problems.

Sorry if I misunderstood, but just reread your post and it's unclear to me what you have him in (read it quickly and when I saw the words palm trees, a lagoon immediately came to mind). It sounds like something is going on with the shell, though.