Hello, everyone! First time here, so if I do anything wrong please just poke me in the face and I'll edit my post. I'll start by the less immediate problem: I have two false map turtles, both male and they both have shell rot. Their a little over eight years old (I got them when they were just newborns) and they live in a 52cmx25.5cmx29cm tank. Water temperature is... I have no clue, actually, its just normal tap water, usually about 13-17 ºC. They've had shell rot for about 3 months now and I've gone to the vet before; I've been putting extra vitamins in their water -- large concentrations of vit A and D3 with smaller concentrations of B1, B2, B6, C, D and E. They both get at least an hour of direct sunlight each day and no, I don't have a UV lamp yet (I've only recently discovered that those are a good idea to use on the basking area, even though sunlight is plentiful in this corner of the globe). They have a varied diet -- I usually feed them those small shrimps or gamarus or whatever their really called; but I also given them lettuce, carrots, small slices of ham, bananas and apples (all of this is cut up into small pieces of course or I just let them nibble at it). I even feed them flies on occasion when I happen to catch one. They got better and the spreading of the shell rot stopped, though they were forced to spend a couple of weeks at a friend's place while I was out and he didn't clean their aquarium, so they worsened. Now, their skin still keeps shedding in large quantities, their scuts are also pealing off (various layers of the same areas are coming off), old scars are darkening and developing new holes and spots and the actual body colours you could see through the scuts are a lot more pronounced. They still have good appetites and are very lively. I think that getting them back into a habitat that's cleaned twice a week and keeping up with the sunlight exposure and vitamin treatments will get them back on the road, but is there anything else I should do to speed up the process, like applying cut ointment on their shells like the vet told me to at the beginning of their treatment? Now for the more pressing matter: Today, I decided to clean out my turtle tank and everything in it (turtles not included) with bleach instead of just hot water. It was a recommendation from a friend of mine. Anyway, from what I ended up discovering in my research, I made two (apparently) big mistakes -- I didn't just use regular bleach, I used Cif Bleach (apparently I'm not supposed to use anything but normal bleach and this product is supposed to have a bunch more stuff in it) and I also used it in exaggerated quantities (not sure how much, about 1/15 of the mixture must have been bleach). Now, no matter how many times I try to wash out everything (with both cold and hot water), the smell simply won't go away. Its most noticeable in the aquarium gravel and the filter's sponge. I'm pretty sure that if I'd stick my turtles in that, they wouldn't be having their daily meal the next day. My question is, what should I do to make their home livable again? I'm leaving everything out in the open outside overnight right now and I'm planning on washing everything again in the morning just one more time. Would that work or should I make room in my schedule for 3 hours of non-stop washing and scrubbing... again?
Temps wise, your water basking temps should range from 23-28c. Food wise I would give them more leafy greens, I'll look up a list later when I'm more coherent. As for cif bleach, what exactly is it because I've never heard of that here in the US.
I know this was from october, but figured I'd give you an answer about the bleach problem so you know. What you needed was sodium thiosulfate to neutralize the chlorine in the bleach. Exact numbers I can't give you, but that is what will neutralize bleach.
That's odd because sodium thiosulfate is sometimes used IN bleach. I'm a geek I love learning new things.
Oh...well that's what we used at our wet lab in college and at Mystic Aquarium to neutralize the pre release tank for rescue and rehab.
Hi everyone, I hope I am in the right section. I have pair of turtle. Male turtle is fine. but from last three days female one is not eating anything or not even moving. It is alive that I know. Should I have to consult any specialist? Waiting for your suggestions. Thanks in advance.
You should start a new thread and let us know what your set up is like.. the size of your tank, what you're feeding them, what the water/basking temps are, what kind of turtles they are, etc.
