Possible emergency: tortoise might have fungus on shell

[Marker9898]

My Russian tortoise, Boris, has a mark on his shell that looks like fungus. It has been developing over a couple of weeks; I only started to notice it in the past three days. I posted these photos to Reddit and overwhelming people said it was fungus or mold. I was recommended to treat the spot with betadine via a toothbrush, scrubbed on the spot daily. A person told me it could take 1-4 weeks of these treatments for the shell to heal. I post this here to ask: is this mark fungus, and do you agree with the recommended treatment? We have called vets, by the way, but it will be a while (possibly two weeks) till we can see them. Thanks
Here are the photos:

 

[wellington]

Possibly but I don't agree with treatment. Just buy over the counter athletes foot cream and apply daily washing it off with water before applying. Betadine can kill tissue if used too much.
You'd also be better to stay here for the best advice and ways to fix things.
A vet is not needed and most know little to nothing about tortoises and can make things worse.

 

[Marker9898]

Do you have a brand in mind? How long would I have to apply this cream? How much would I apply? As for the betadine I had people swear by it, that it is safe and can be used for tortoises. So thats interesting

Edited to also ask how can I improve the overall quality of his shell? If you look at the photos his shell has a lot of scars, bumps etc. He had these before I started taking care of him, which was around August of last year. I give him calcium twice a week, a high quality uvb light, and soaks three times a week, but yet his shell still looks scaly and neglected.

 

[wellington]

The betadine can be used. However, it can kill good skin and shell cells if used too much.
Any athletes foot cream, much safer. Apply just a small amount to cover the area of the fungus. Wash with water and dry the area before each application. Treat until the fungus is gone and then I would do a few days to a week more just to be safe it's all gone.
The shell condition is what it is because he likely was wild caught and the shells are ruff looking.

 

[wellington]

You can google betadine, can it kill skin cells. I wouldn't use it unless it was the only option.
If you want to use it once then do so. I wouldn't use it daily.
There really is no reason to use it when the cream I suggested will work if it is a fungus. If its not a fungus the cream won't hurt anything.

 

[Marker9898]

Thanks for the help. I won't risk using the betadine. Also, I know you said any cream is fine but is this athlete's foot cream ok? It contains 1% clotrimazole which I have read is most important for treating the fungus. Just want to make sure I don't end up hurting my tortoise. Again, thanks.

 

[Tom]

My Russian tortoise, Boris, has a mark on his shell that looks like fungus. It has been developing over a couple of weeks; I only started to notice it in the past three days. I posted these photos to Reddit and overwhelming people said it was fungus or mold. I was recommended to treat the spot with betadine via a toothbrush, scrubbed on the spot daily. A person told me it could take 1-4 weeks of these treatments for the shell to heal. I post this here to ask: is this mark fungus, and do you agree with the recommended treatment? We have called vets, by the way, but it will be a while (possibly two weeks) till we can see them. Thanks
Here are the photos:View attachment 344730View attachment 344731

They don't just randomly get fungus growing on the carapace. Fungus, aka: shell rot, happens on the plastron when they are kept too wet all the time. Russians almost never get shell rot. It is much more common in red foot tortoises. When Russians do get it, it would be on the plastron, not the carapace. I'm not so sure this is shell rot. The pics are blurry wen I zoom in on them. Have you tried to scrub the area with a toothbrush during a soak? It looks like leftover adhesive from a price tag or something.

How are you heating this tortoise? Are you using a halogen bulb, or one of those "intense reptile spot lights"?

Are you using a CHE for night heat?

What are your four temperatures? Warm side, cool side, basking area directly under the lamp and overnight low?

What size and type enclosure?

What substrate? Is it damp or wet? Dry?

What type of UV bulb? Mercury vapor bulb(all-in-one), cfl, long tube? How long do you run the UV daily?

Can we see the enclosure?

The way to use betadine is to use it once to clean and disinfect the area. Then switch to the Lotrimin after that. Betadine kills everything. If you use it continually, it will kill the cells that are trying to heal the area.

 

[Marker9898]

They don't just randomly get fungus growing on the carapace. Fungus, aka: shell rot, happens on the plastron when they are kept too wet all the time. Russians almost never get shell rot. It is much more common in red foot tortoises. When Russians do get it, it would be on the plastron, not the carapace. I'm not so sure this is shell rot. The pics are blurry wen I zoom in on them. Have you tried to scrub the area with a toothbrush during a soak? It looks like leftover adhesive from a price tag or something.

How are you heating this tortoise? Are you using a halogen bulb, or one of those "intense reptile spot lights"?

Are you using a CHE for night heat?

What are your four temperatures? Warm side, cool side, basking area directly under the lamp and overnight low?

What size and type enclosure?

What substrate? Is it damp or wet? Dry?

What type of UV bulb? Mercury vapor bulb(all-in-one), cfl, long tube? How long do you run the UV daily?

Can we see the enclosure?

The way to use betadine is to use it once to clean and disinfect the area. Then switch to the Lotrimin after that. Betadine kills everything. If you use it continually, it will kill the cells that are trying to heal the area.

Ok you have a lot of questions so I will format it like this:
1. I have tried to gently scrap away at the mark, to no avail. I believe it is something imbedded in the shell like fungus
2. I am using a 125w flood bulb that was made for heating, such as for restaurants and chicken coops. For uvb I am using an Arcadia florescent t5 tube with a reflector that runs in the middle of the enclosure
3. No CHE
4. Warm side is around late 70s to late 80s, cool side around mid 70s, basking light can get to the 100s, and finally overnight can get to around 68 at its lowest but usually remains 74. All of these temps are in Fahrenheit
5. Enclosure is open-top wooden table, around 6x3
6. Substrate is coconut coir and usually dry. I find it hard to keep it humid. To compensate for this I give him three soaks of week
7. In number 2 I described what type of uvb light I use. I keep it on from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm. Too much? I keep the heat lamp on for the same amount
8. Enclosure is very big so it’s hard to capture. This is one side of it, showing the heat lamp and one half of the uvb light (also it was taken at night)

 

[TammyJ]

I don't think it's fungus either. How long has it been there? It looks like sticky tape residue, as was said here before. And I think you have a low humidity issue, from what I can see of your open enclosure. What humidity can there be?

 

[Tom]

Ok you have a lot of questions so I will format it like this:
1. I have tried to gently scrap away at the mark, to no avail. I believe it is something imbedded in the shell like fungus
2. I am using a 125w flood bulb that was made for heating, such as for restaurants and chicken coops. For uvb I am using an Arcadia florescent t5 tube with a reflector that runs in the middle of the enclosure
3. No CHE
4. Warm side is around late 70s to late 80s, cool side around mid 70s, basking light can get to the 100s, and finally overnight can get to around 68 at its lowest but usually remains 74. All of these temps are in Fahrenheit
5. Enclosure is open-top wooden table, around 6x3
6. Substrate is coconut coir and usually dry. I find it hard to keep it humid. To compensate for this I give him three soaks of week
7. In number 2 I described what type of uvb light I use. I keep it on from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm. Too much? I keep the heat lamp on for the same amount
8. Enclosure is very big so it’s hard to capture. This is one side of it, showing the heat lamp and one half of the uvb light (also it was taken at night)

All of those parameters sound excellent. I don't see any issues there. I'd remove the little guard wires from your heat lamp fixture, and raise the fixture to get the basking temperature down to 95-100. The UV tube only needs to be on for about 2-3 hours mid day. I would add some LED lighting to brighten things up. I'd keep the coir damp and hand pack it. You will have to regularly dump water into it to replace the evaporation.

If it is fungus, the betadine once, followed by the lotrimin for a few days will clear it up. It its not fungus, that treatment will do no harm.

 

[Yvonne G]

Not too many people have seen what new keratin growing UNDER an old shell injury looks like, so you've been given different opinions.

Here's MY opinion, after having run a turtle/tortoise rescue for many , many years, and having seen quite a few damaged shells growing new keratin.

What you see is brand spankin' new keratin after the old, dead damage has flaked off. DON'T use Betadyne on it as it inhibits the growth of white blood cells. There is NO treatment required.

New keratin doesn't look like the existing shell because it has grown all at once under the dead shell, not in increments like the original shell grew. It grew like a scab grows over your skinned knee. Then when it has covered the dead spot the old damaged shell pops off. There may be more spots to come.

 

[Marker9898]

Not too many people have seen what new keratin growing UNDER an old shell injury looks like, so you've been given different opinions.

Here's MY opinion, after having run a turtle/tortoise rescue for many , many years, and having seen quite a few damaged shells growing new keratin.

What you see is brand spankin' new keratin after the old, dead damage has flaked off. DON'T use Betadyne on it as it inhibits the growth of white blood cells. There is NO treatment required.

New keratin doesn't look like the existing shell because it has grown all at once under the dead shell, not in increments like the original shell grew. It grew like a scab grows over your skinned knee. Then when it has covered the dead spot the old damaged shell pops off. There may be more spots to come.

Betadine is a no, but what about the athletes foot cream? If it is just as you said, would the cream harm the growth? I want to use something just in case.
Also this spot used to be closed. It at first was a little bump on his shell. Now it’s opened to this. I honestly don’t know what it is. If it’s growth why would it open up his shell? If it’s fungus where would he have gotten it? Enclosure is not too humid or moist.

 

[Marker9898]

I don't think it's fungus either. How long has it been there? It looks like sticky tape residue, as was said here before. And I think you have a low humidity issue, from what I can see of your open enclosure. What humidity can there be?

Humidity at this moment is 24%, but that’s by only one end of his enclosure. I’ve tried adding cups of water to his substrate but it’s takes literal buckets to make it even remotely moist, and by then end of day it’s dried out anyway. I said I try to compensate by giving him three soaks a week; this enough?
As for the thing it’s been there for a few weeks. I only started to notice it recently. Like I’ve said before it used to be a little scar he had before, then over the course of several weeks I noticed through my camera roll it slowly developed into what it is now.

 

[Marker9898]

All of those parameters sound excellent. I don't see any issues there. I'd remove the little guard wires from your heat lamp fixture, and raise the fixture to get the basking temperature down to 95-100. The UV tube only needs to be on for about 2-3 hours mid day. I would add some LED lighting to brighten things up. I'd keep the coir damp and hand pack it. You will have to regularly dump water into it to replace the evaporation.

If it is fungus, the betadine once, followed by the lotrimin for a few days will clear it up. It its not fungus, that treatment will do no harm.

Is there a reason you want to remove the guard wires? I have it there for safety, in case it falls

 

[wellington]

If it were me getting all the different info I would treat it with the athletes foot cream no betadine.
If it's a fungus then it will get fixed if it's not then no harm done.
No real need to remove the wire cage from bulb. However you should make sure the light can't fall. That wire cage won't protect much.