Jacques, the Eastern Mud Turtle

[Moozillion]

Thank you, MissMarg[emoji2][emoji173]️
Thank you, orv! You are so very kind! [emoji2][emoji173]️
Thank you, Carol![emoji2][emoji173]️
Thank you, Jay![emoji2][emoji173]️

 

[KarenSoCal]

Glad you updated us, but so sorry Jacques is sick again! Is there any possibility she was reinfected from her tank? Could this organism live in water or something you use in her tank?
I know those of us who have aquariums have to be so careful re' cross contamination.
Just a thought...

 

[JoesMum]

We’re done at the vet’s. I’m still in their parking lot, actually. As we sort of expected, Jacques’ white blood cell count is very high again. Also some inflammatory cells like the first time. We saw the partner instead of the vet we saw before just because the appointment was available. Very personable young woman, and seems very keen on Chelonia in general. She feels the Baytril has been used enough and is changing Jacques to a drug in the cephalosporin class, but I’ve already forgotten the name of the drug. She’ll stay at the vet a week, get her injections, some more Motrin. They’ll reassess at the end of the week.
I feel optimistic, and am glad I brought her in. [emoji2][emoji106]

Fingers crossed for a good outcome Bea. Hugs!

Don’t overfeed the shrimp while Jacques is away. You need to protect the water quality. A very tiny amount of food is all that’s needed for them. Can the vet do a water test for you?

 

[Moozillion]

Glad you updated us, but so sorry Jacques is sick again! Is there any possibility she was reinfected from her tank? Could this organism live in water or something you use in her tank?
I know those of us who have aquariums have to be so careful re' cross contamination.
Just a thought...

I hadn’t thought of that since they don’t really inhale the water.

 

[Moozillion]

Fingers crossed for a good outcome Bea. Hugs!

Don’t overfeed the shrimp while Jacques is away. You need to protect the water quality. A very tiny amount of food is all that’s needed for them. Can the vet do a water test for you?

I’ll ask! Thanks, Linda!

 

[Bee62]

We’re done at the vet’s. I’m still in their parking lot, actually. As we sort of expected, Jacques’ white blood cell count is very high again. Also some inflammatory cells like the first time. We saw the partner instead of the vet we saw before just because the appointment was available. Very personable young woman, and seems very keen on Chelonia in general. She feels the Baytril has been used enough and is changing Jacques to a drug in the cephalosporin class, but I’ve already forgotten the name of the drug. She’ll stay at the vet a week, get her injections, some more Motrin. They’ll reassess at the end of the week.
I feel optimistic, and am glad I brought her in. [emoji2][emoji106]

All fingers, feet, paws and claws are crossed for a speedy recovery of Jaques.

 

[Moozillion]

All fingers, feet, paws and claws are crossed for a speedy recovery of Jaques.

Thank you, Bee!

 

[Moozillion]

I called the vet hospital this morning because I had some uncertainty about this new (to me) vet. Since it's Saturday, only one of them is in, and it's her! She and I had a great conversation and I asked bunches of questions. She still doesn't think it's the pneumonia recurrence since Jacques is floating and swimming evenly- not tilting like she was before. She DOES think it's a "respiratory issue," but not frank pneumonia. In the course of our conversation, the topic of X-rays was mentioned. She said that they can't always tell much on X-rays in turtles because of the shell, but they CAN see the lungs pretty well since they're located high up. She said that X-rays could help with figuring things out, so they'll take X-rays today and get back with me.

I asked her about checking the tank water and she said that's not something they do a lot, but she would call the vet school and see what their ideas are.

Once again, I was VERY pleased with another doc at this practice! She did not get huffy or defensive when I was asking questions, and is willing to look at lots of options, including consult with the vet school!

 

[Becca267]

I love it when vets are will to search for soluntions when they dont have an answer. An old vet of ours was so proud he came up with an alternative solintion to our cats chronic constipation problem when traditional solutions didnt work. He had posted on a vet message board and got a bunch of things we could try.

Yay for good vet! Fingers crossed for Jacques speedy recovery.

 

[mark1]

I think most bacteria that causes pneumonia in turtles is usually present in all their environments all the time , also in the turtles themselves , just waiting for an opportunity ......... I've had sick turtles in groups where they were the only one to get sick .......... not that their aren't some really contagious pathogens ..... if it's a concern you could treat the tank with some fish Cipro , you'd lose your biological filtration and have to start from scratch , I also don't know how your shrimp would handle it .......

 

[Moozillion]

I think most bacteria that causes pneumonia in turtles is usually present in all their environments all the time , also in the turtles themselves , just waiting for an opportunity ......... I've had sick turtles in groups where they were the only one to get sick .......... not that their aren't some really contagious pathogens ..... if it's a concern you could treat the tank with some fish Cipro , you'd lose your biological filtration and have to start from scratch , I also don't know how your shrimp would handle it .......

Thanks, mark1. I don't know that I'm really all that concerned about the water in my tank, but another member brought it up, and I'm willing to be open minded! I want to pursue ANY reasonable possibility that could help her recover.

 

[SteveW]

I have no data to support this, but I run UV sterilization on all my aquatics. I believe they are designed to control algae, but it seems reasonable that they might help.

Best of luck to you and Jacques

 

[Markw84]

I have no data to support this, but I run UV sterilization on all my aquatics. I believe they are designed to control algae, but it seems reasonable that they might help.

Best of luck to you and Jacques

These are frequently used for sterilization. I run them on my pond as a sterilizer to kill bacteria present and help prevent any disease spread. You do have to have it sized correctly as you need a bit more exposure to the UVC to sterilize as opposed to just destroying free algae.

 

[SteveW]

That would follow. With filters and the UV I typically double what is recommended for fish. Turtles pack quite the ‘bio load’ if you know what I mean.

 

[CarolM]

I called the vet hospital this morning because I had some uncertainty about this new (to me) vet. Since it's Saturday, only one of them is in, and it's her! She and I had a great conversation and I asked bunches of questions. She still doesn't think it's the pneumonia recurrence since Jacques is floating and swimming evenly- not tilting like she was before. She DOES think it's a "respiratory issue," but not frank pneumonia. In the course of our conversation, the topic of X-rays was mentioned. She said that they can't always tell much on X-rays in turtles because of the shell, but they CAN see the lungs pretty well since they're located high up. She said that X-rays could help with figuring things out, so they'll take X-rays today and get back with me.

I asked her about checking the tank water and she said that's not something they do a lot, but she would call the vet school and see what their ideas are.

Once again, I was VERY pleased with another doc at this practice! She did not get huffy or defensive when I was asking questions, and is willing to look at lots of options, including consult with the vet school!

They do sound good. So nice that they are there for you.

 

[Kenno]

I called the vet hospital this morning because I had some uncertainty about this new (to me) vet. Since it's Saturday, only one of them is in, and it's her! She and I had a great conversation and I asked bunches of questions. She still doesn't think it's the pneumonia recurrence since Jacques is floating and swimming evenly- not tilting like she was before. She DOES think it's a "respiratory issue," but not frank pneumonia. In the course of our conversation, the topic of X-rays was mentioned. She said that they can't always tell much on X-rays in turtles because of the shell, but they CAN see the lungs pretty well since they're located high up. She said that X-rays could help with figuring things out, so they'll take X-rays today and get back with me.

I asked her about checking the tank water and she said that's not something they do a lot, but she would call the vet school and see what their ideas are.

Once again, I was VERY pleased with another doc at this practice! She did not get huffy or defensive when I was asking questions, and is willing to look at lots of options, including consult with the vet school!

It sounds like you’re all in good hands!

 

[Pearly]

I hate it that Jacques is sick enough to require hospital stay but relieved to know you have the people who can care for her competently. Hang in there Bea!

 

[Pearly]

One more thing, petco and petsmart will test your tank water for free. I think any aquatic store would. The big box stores use strip tests which I’m not too crazy about. Smaller specialty aquatic stores may have the whole spectrum fresh water test kits and you’d learn about the ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, ph, hardness ect. Before i had my test kits I’d take a sample to petsmart and I think all they tested for was ammonia, a maybe nitrites? Don’t recall for sure. At any rate I’m keeping fingers crossed for you and Jacques[emoji173]️[emoji217]

 

[Moozillion]

One more thing, petco and petsmart will test your tank water for free. I think any aquatic store would. The big box stores use strip tests which I’m not too crazy about. Smaller specialty aquatic stores may have the whole spectrum fresh water test kits and you’d learn about the ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, ph, hardness ect. Before i had my test kits I’d take a sample to petsmart and I think all they tested for was ammonia, a maybe nitrites? Don’t recall for sure. At any rate I’m keeping fingers crossed for you and Jacques[emoji173]️[emoji217]

I use the API Master Test Kit to check my water when I clean the tank. The ammonia and nitrites are always zero; my nitrates have been very low since I got rid of the sand substrate. The ph and hardness stay pretty stable.[emoji2][emoji106]

 

[Moozillion]

I have no data to support this, but I run UV sterilization on all my aquatics. I believe they are designed to control algae, but it seems reasonable that they might help.

Best of luck to you and Jacques

Thanks bunches, SteveW.[emoji2][emoji173]️
I didn’t know if the UV sterilization really made that much difference or if it was necessary, but I’ll be looking at it now!