Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I took in an african sideneck turtle a while back, he was living in some guys sink :/

Anyway, while doing a water change today we noticed small brown to black worms in the water, almost leach like, any thoughts?

He seems to be doing well, in a 75 gallon w/ basking spot under his heat light, UV, water heater, filter all that good stuff. Eats well (mostly aquatic turtle diet, w/ some treats), active little guy, we have him in the living room he is so full of personality!

We put a couple in a jar, will try to get pics/video latter, but wanted to hop on here while I had a sec

If I cant figure it out I'll try to get a "fecal" done on some of his water to see if that will help w/ ID

Thanks!
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hanging out under heat lights burns up my brain cells!!

How is the stool? Most worms I have come across are rather noodle-like in colour. The brown/black colouration may be stool contamination; if it's black, it could mean digested blood.

The turtle is likely wild caught, though I'm definately no authority on the US import scene. This might be one of the few cases to justify the "shot-gun" deworming approach with GI specific antiparasitic drugs. I know I did so with the few wild caught animals I have imported.

Nevertheless, a fecal is always a good idea. A large proportion of parasites that you will see in wild caught (or outdoor kept) herps require an intermediate host to reproduce/become reinfective. Most of these infestations are thus self-limiting. This is not to say that your animal will be parasite free over time, but that if he's doing well now, the problem will likely decrease over time.

So with a lot said about nothing, no, I cannot ID your turtle's parasites. The photo might help me narrow it to a family for you but the fecal will be most revealing.

Ian

from researching I think it may be some sort of fluke. If I was working in a clinic again I would run a fecal to be sure, but i think I'll just give a general dewormer and keep up on water changes. If hes like most herps as long as his husbandry is good a few natural parasites will not hurt. and not to brag, but outside of a pond in Fla or back in Africa, this guy has the LIFE!
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hanging out under heat lights burns up my brain cells!!

Small leeches can be visually differentiated from flukes by their external body structure. Leeches are a type of annelid and therefore their bodies are composed of fine segments or small concentric rings like an earthworm. Flukes have a basically a completely smooth external layer with no fine segment structure.

Kelly