Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I picked up my turtle today from the pet store and he is in the tank gasping/yawning. My question is will he make it until the morning??/ There are no vets open at 7:30 at night here. The tank is a ten gallon tank with a biomed filter, basking lamp, basking rock, the water temp is 82 and the air temp in the tank is 80, and th water is crystal clean. Is there any way to help him or ease his suffering? Is he suffering? Please advise I feel awful not knowing what to do.

Ps he is only about 3 inches in size, if that helps any

well first of all.. the turtle should definitely be in a larger tank... the 'rule of thumb' is 10 gallons of water per inch of turtle which means that your turtle should AT LEAST be in a 30 gallon tank.

but more importantly is the fact that it 'sounds' to me like your turtle has a Respiratory Infection. the best thing you can do right now is dry dock the turtle in a warm area for a few hours... then place him back into the water (making sure the water is warmer than normaly (probably around the mid 80's)... the higher temps help the turtles immune system kick in, and will also make the turtle more comfortable.

but definitely first thing in the morning you should take your turtle to the vet because the vet can give it some medicine to help it. you may also want to take a 'poop' sample (if the turtle has pooped) and have the vet check that for additional diseases and other things that turtles can have.

i hope this helps
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~ Evie

Pets:
RIP 0.1.0 German Shepherd {Dusty}
0.1.0 German Shepherd/Collie mix {Shadoe}
0.0.2 RES turtles {Booger & Snot}
1.0.0 African Clawed Frog {Bingo}
0.0.2 Snail {Gary & Larry}