Help can’t get rid of shell fungus!

[Sarah71894]

so I need help trying to figure out what I’m doing wrong or if anything at all lol torts are doing great eat a lot. But I’ve still noticed a tiny bit of shell rot still. Now I got the cream and everything put it on 2-3 times a week so far. I’m just confused as to what’s causing it? My substrate is dry on the top as it should be and semi damp to the touch if you were to put your finger in it. Temps are good they’re about 74-83 degrees Humidity is never below 60% but I’ve also noticed it’s very hard to keep that balance. The substrate I used is organic topsoil ,coco husk, repi bark with the orchid moss. Any help on what could be the cause? Should I completely change substrate?

 

[Yossarian]

Can you please show us pictures of the fungus please.

 

[Sarah71894]

Can you please show us pictures of the fungus please.

 

[Tom]

View attachment 322724

I don't see any fungus there.

Yes, I would change all the substrate. No soil, and no moss. Use 3-4 inches of orchid bark (aka: repti-bark). Coco coir is safe, but messy. Keep the lower layers damp and the upper layers dry.

Temps in the 70s are too low. You need 80s, all the time, day and night. Same with humidity. At least 80% all the time. You'll need a closed chamber for this and your heat should be on a thermostat.

 

[Sarah71894]

I don't see any fungus there.

Yes, I would change all the substrate. No soil, and no moss. Use 3-4 inches of orchid bark (aka: repti-bark). Coco coir is safe, but messy. Keep the lower layers damp and the upper layers dry.

Temps in the 70s are too low. You need 80s, all the time, day and night. Same with humidity. At least 80% all the time. You'll need a closed chamber for this and your heat should be on a thermostat.

So you’re saying just use repti bark and that’s it?

 

[Sarah71894]

I don't see any fungus there.

Yes, I would change all the substrate. No soil, and no moss. Use 3-4 inches of orchid bark (aka: repti-bark). Coco coir is safe, but messy. Keep the lower layers damp and the upper layers dry.

Temps in the 70s are too low. You need 80s, all the time, day and night. Same with humidity. At least 80% all the time. You'll need a closed chamber for this and your heat should be on a thermostat.

What about the spots on the plastron?

 

[Tom]

So you’re saying just use repti bark and that’s it?

Correct.

What about the spots on the plastron?

What spots? I see a normal plastron. I don't see any fungal infection. If you are referring to the patterning, that is normal.

I pulled this pic of the magical inter webs machine. This is a fungal infection of a RF plastron:

 

[zovick]

What about the spots on the plastron?

It does not have any shell fungus on the plastron that I can see. Tom said the same thing in post #4. Which spots do you think might be shell rot or fungus?

The plastron actually looks like that of a healthy young tortoise with nice, even, new growth lines.

 

[Sarah71894]

Correct.

What spots? I see a normal plastron. I don't see any fungal infection. If you are referring to the patterning, that is normal.

Okay well that makes me feel better. I’m new to this so I’m still learning. As far as the “spots” I’ll attach a photo and circle them but I just never noticed them ever before which is why I got a little worried it was a fungus of some sort.

 

[Yossarian]

This is why I asked for a picture. To the uninitiated everything looks like trouble.

The lighter spots you circled are normal pigmentation and the darkers spots are also but the reason they look odd is because this is where the yolk sac was attached and it leaves a sort of scar after it heals and takes a while for it to become less noticeable.

Nothing to worry about here.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I also see no shell fungus.
Keep in mind that shell fungus is easy to stop. But the damaged area will not look much better for a while.
And also, shell fungus and shell rot are two different issues, treated two very different ways.
You have neither.