Possible Fungus ?(photos and info included)

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aezarien

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I apologize for the short introduction and the length of this post but I'm kind of worried so if nobody minds I am going to just jump right in here. This is Pablo. From what I have looked up I believe he/she is a Painted turtle. We obtained him when he wandered into our yard about a week ago. He is very friendly and seems to have taken the transition pretty well. I am not an expert but I believe he may have a fungus due to not basking an appropriate amount of time. He also has some marks on his back that I have been wondering about. I have posted photos below.

pablo.jpg


He/She lives here:

pablosaquarium.jpg


It's a 30 gallon tank with ten gallons of water in it being filtered by a 40 gallon tetra pump filter. The lamp is an exo-terra + glow with a 100 watt exo-terra uv bulb. There is a zoo-med floating dock and the substrate is some of the bigger aquarium gravel you can get (temporary arrangement until we can replace it with a chunkier substrate.

The water temperature stays between 75 and 80 degrees and is currently at 76. We use county water which oddly enough consistently tests at a neutral PH. We test PH everyday and remove part of the water and add new every few days to keep the PH as consistent as possible. We use sera aquatan to condition the water. We bought a smaller tank today for feeding him in order to keep the water fresher.

He is eating about ten sera raffy p pellets twice a day and four or five sera raffy I dried anchovies and ant eggs. He has a few Elodea plants floating in there as well. I was told they loved them but I have never seen the turtle eat them. He sure does like to sleep with them though. He has had like a total of five worms in the last week and the girls put two grasshoppers in there which I do not see any longer but can not confirm he ate.

He appears to want to be at his basking spot but he only gets up there for a few moments and then dives back into the water. I tested his basking spot with an oven thermometer (not a meat thermometer but one you actually set inside the oven) and it appears to be reading at 100 degrees, maybe a tad bit higher. I moved his light over until I got a reading that looked closer to being between 80 and 90 degrees. I'm thinking that this has been the root of the problem if indeed there is one so I suppose my first question is: Is 100-110 degrees too high and will that prevent them from basking for an appropriate amount of time? I have left the light on pretty much 24/7 because he hasn't been on his floaty much and I didn't want to turn it off and him just be shy and want to bask while we were sleeping.

My second concern is mainly confirming that this is indeed a fungus and maybe seeing if anyone knows how far progressed it is. We soaked him in the zoo-med sulfa dip today for the entire three hours and per the directions put him in his tank after a 1/2 water change.

I apologize for the crumby photos. I haven't quite mastered the aquarium snaps yet and used an 800 iso. The fuzzy stuff looks more like maybe.. slimy mud when he is out of water in the heavier spots. In the lighter affected areas you can not see it at all. When I first thought he might have the fungus I put some aquarium salt in his water. I described it as "like the ick that fish get" to the pet shop and was told that he may just be developing a slime coat due to the PH being off and that the salt was really bad for him (conflicting information?) so I changed his water. Even after making sure the PH is right (it has been about five days) the fuzzy stuff is getting thicker.

fungus1.jpg


fungus2.jpg


fungus3.jpg


And last but not least, here is a photo of the marks on the back of his shell. Could this possibly be shedding or is it something else?
marks.jpg


If you made it this far, I really appreciate you taking the time to read it all. I apologize again for the length but I wanted to make sure I provided as much information as possible. I've never had a turtle as a pet before so I am mainly going by what the local pet shop told me to use/do and what I have read on the internet. I am mainly concerned about the fuzzy stuff because it's the only thing I know to be concerned about. The more information I can get about other things I may need to be concerned about the better but any little hints, tips, and ideas will definitely be appreciated.

Thanks!
-Tina
 

egyptiandan

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Hi Tina,
You have a female Eastern Painted turtle, Chrysemys picta picta.
She does have a fungus problem. Painted turtles are one of the shyest basking turtles, so you might need to cover the front so she can't see you.
To treat the fungus you need to buy some Methylene blue from the petshop. Go by the directions on the bottle and soak her for 5 to 10 minutes in just enough water to cover the top of her shell. After that take her out and keep her out of the water for an hour. Than rinse her off and place her back in the aquarium. Do this once a day until the fungus is gone.
Now for the lights, you need to leave the lights on for only 14 to 16 hours a day. Having the lights on 24/7 is causing her stress and not helping the fungus.
Hard to say if that's an infection on the shell or the start of shedding. The Methylene blue should help with that too.
Here's a good caresheet for Painted turtles http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/chrysemyscare.htm

Danny
 

aezarien

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Thanks for all of the great information. I do have a small bottle of methylene blue hanging around that I use as a microscopic stain but there is no telling what the concentration is and it is about five or six years old.

We have tried all morning to secure some methylene blue. It is not available on the shelf here. Apparently the FDA pulled it and now the only thing available is methylene green for fish tanks and sulfa dips. We tried calling around to the local vets and by law they can not dispense it without diagnosing the fungal infection. So.. she is on her way to the vet right now. Hopefully by the end of the day the problem will be solved.

I did turn her light out last night and when I turned it on this morning she got up on her dock and basked for at least twenty minutes which is an improvement.

Anyway.... when I know something I will leave an update.

Thanks again!
-Tina
 

aezarien

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Well, Pablo (yeah, maybe a name change is in order) took her first trip to the vet this afternoon. The vet scraped a sample and looked at it under the microscope. He said he can not find any evidence of fungus or bacteria and that it looks like skin cells that are sloughing off due to prolonged periods in the water without basking. He did however send us home with Resortin ointment and said we should try to get as much of the skin off as we could gently remove before applying a thin coat. Resortin contains the antibacterial agent Neomycin which is found in Neosporin but Resortin only contains 2.5mg. It also has Thiostrepton which is another antibiotic, Nystatin which is useful for a variety of fungal infections, and Triamcinolone acetonide, a corticosteroid for inflammation. We are also working out some way to give Miss Pablo a little privacy. I'm guessing that has all the bases covered for the moment. I'm going to take a stab at this and I'll let everyone know how it turns out. Thanks so much for the support!

-Tina
 

aezarien

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Just stopped by to say that Pablo is doing great and all evidence of the white fuzzy is gone. She is eating well and basking regularly and I have nothing else to really report. Thanks for your advice. I'm so relived that she is better now!

-Tina


aezarien said:
Well, Pablo (yeah, maybe a name change is in order) took her first trip to the vet this afternoon. The vet scraped a sample and looked at it under the microscope. He said he can not find any evidence of fungus or bacteria and that it looks like skin cells that are sloughing off due to prolonged periods in the water without basking. He did however send us home with Resortin ointment and said we should try to get as much of the skin off as we could gently remove before applying a thin coat. Resortin contains the antibacterial agent Neomycin which is found in Neosporin but Resortin only contains 2.5mg. It also has Thiostrepton which is another antibiotic, Nystatin which is useful for a variety of fungal infections, and Triamcinolone acetonide, a corticosteroid for inflammation. We are also working out some way to give Miss Pablo a little privacy. I'm guessing that has all the bases covered for the moment. I'm going to take a stab at this and I'll let everyone know how it turns out. Thanks so much for the support!

-Tina
 

Crazy1

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aezarien said:
Just stopped by to say that Pablo is doing great and all evidence of the white fuzzy is gone. She is eating well and basking regularly and I have nothing else to really report. Thanks for your advice. I'm so relived that she is better now!
-Tina

Tina so nice to hear Miss Pablo is doing great. This is really great new to report. Don't hesitate to ask any questions and we would love to see pics of Miss Pablo. She is a beautiful turtle. Congratulations on the great work you did to get her healthy and happy.
 
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