shclbc
New Member
Hi all, hoping to ask for anyone with RI or impaction experience for advice… so sorry in advance for the very long post!!
age of my turtle: 8
sex: female
tank parameters: 4x2x2’, 120g, reptisun 10.0 t5HO uvb (16” away), splash proof halogen flood light (15” away), fluval 407 canister filter and fluval 207 canister filter, play sand & river stone substrate, water temp 79 degrees F, basking spot temp 92 degrees F
Here goes: on July 10th when I was doing a tank change & switching from pool filter sand to kids play sand, she was in a different container than usual & flipped on her back for less than 5 minutes before I checked on her and flipped her back over. I put her back in her water pretty soon after that and she opened her mouth super wide before going onto her basking spot all night. She spent at least 12 hours up there and then went in the water and seemed fine, ate all her food and didn’t open her mouth again. I brought her to the vet anyway a day after and he concluded she aspirated and got X-rays to check for signs of pneumonia or impactions & didn’t see any abnormalities (we got 4 different angles). She isn’t showing any major signs of illness OTHER than the semi-weekly open mouth breathing underwater that I notice she does for about 15-30 seconds every few days… (she doesn’t have red or puffy eyes, lethargy, loss of appetite, or super unusual behaviour, isn’t floating on one side) but she does seem to pace a lot and has been basking more than usual (about 2.5-3hrs a day, usual is 1.5-2hrs). She also has an open cloaca and I saw a piece of her plastic plant in her poop. So I removed all the plastic plants in her tank & started quarantining live plants for her. She had never eaten the deco before, just slept on it and rearranged it, but I started introducing a lot more greens recently so she might’ve got confused and I feel absolutely horrible thinking I caused an impaction. I didn’t notice any open mouth breathing for a week or two, then July 26th it started again. I brought her back to the vet, we tried treating for possible respiratory infection with antibiotic injections. August 11th Im still noticing open mouth breathing so I booked an appointment on the 16th for an endoscopy to check for impaction. (Im thinking the plastic turf in her basking spot, which I plan to switch for rock slate, and her plastic plants wouldn’t show up in the X-rays earlier?) I’m feeling VERY anxious about putting her under anesthesia and im hoping someone can reassure me that im doing the right thing. The vet and I seem to be confused with her symptoms, her bloodwork & X-rays look fine. Both her and I have had a stressful couple months
So sorry again for the long message, if you’ve read this long I give u a big warm hug because I need one actually
age of my turtle: 8
sex: female
tank parameters: 4x2x2’, 120g, reptisun 10.0 t5HO uvb (16” away), splash proof halogen flood light (15” away), fluval 407 canister filter and fluval 207 canister filter, play sand & river stone substrate, water temp 79 degrees F, basking spot temp 92 degrees F
Here goes: on July 10th when I was doing a tank change & switching from pool filter sand to kids play sand, she was in a different container than usual & flipped on her back for less than 5 minutes before I checked on her and flipped her back over. I put her back in her water pretty soon after that and she opened her mouth super wide before going onto her basking spot all night. She spent at least 12 hours up there and then went in the water and seemed fine, ate all her food and didn’t open her mouth again. I brought her to the vet anyway a day after and he concluded she aspirated and got X-rays to check for signs of pneumonia or impactions & didn’t see any abnormalities (we got 4 different angles). She isn’t showing any major signs of illness OTHER than the semi-weekly open mouth breathing underwater that I notice she does for about 15-30 seconds every few days… (she doesn’t have red or puffy eyes, lethargy, loss of appetite, or super unusual behaviour, isn’t floating on one side) but she does seem to pace a lot and has been basking more than usual (about 2.5-3hrs a day, usual is 1.5-2hrs). She also has an open cloaca and I saw a piece of her plastic plant in her poop. So I removed all the plastic plants in her tank & started quarantining live plants for her. She had never eaten the deco before, just slept on it and rearranged it, but I started introducing a lot more greens recently so she might’ve got confused and I feel absolutely horrible thinking I caused an impaction. I didn’t notice any open mouth breathing for a week or two, then July 26th it started again. I brought her back to the vet, we tried treating for possible respiratory infection with antibiotic injections. August 11th Im still noticing open mouth breathing so I booked an appointment on the 16th for an endoscopy to check for impaction. (Im thinking the plastic turf in her basking spot, which I plan to switch for rock slate, and her plastic plants wouldn’t show up in the X-rays earlier?) I’m feeling VERY anxious about putting her under anesthesia and im hoping someone can reassure me that im doing the right thing. The vet and I seem to be confused with her symptoms, her bloodwork & X-rays look fine. Both her and I have had a stressful couple months
So sorry again for the long message, if you’ve read this long I give u a big warm hug because I need one actually
