new turtle

[marisa]

We got a turtle today, our first. From a friend.

He is a red ear slider I believe, although he has no green or yellow on him except his shell and lips, but people tell me they vary alot. He has jet balck and stark white stripes, and a very dark shell with a bit of yellow underneath. He also has yellow lips like he put lipstick on.

Anyways, Mikey is 13 years old and came in a 15-20 gallon tank

He has about an 8 inch long shell, and some fungus problems.

He has never ever seen sunight or even had UV, considering that he is relativly healthy, hard shell etc. And boy he is a pig, within an hour of being in his new 55 gallon tank he was eating squash and turtle pellets like a hog.

I am putting him outdoors this summer so hopefully that will help with the treatments for fungus!

marisa

[Gorelith]

would be to stick an AquaClear filter system in the tank, it won't get rid of all of the existing fungus but running a filter system will usually prevent it from starting or getting worse. What kind of fungus is it? There's a product called fungus eliminator but it's only good for the tank itself and shouldn't be used while the turtle's in the tank (it's sold in a bright green bottle). Putting him outside could make his fungus worse and will expose him to a lot more strains of bacteria and other types of fungus also, but that may be a risk you want to take. Fresh air and sunlight does all animals good, even the nocturnal species.

[marisa]

For the reply,,,,I am definitly getting him outside a.s.a.p. in a large kiddie pool.

Poor thing never could even get out of water, was in a small tank and had no uv like I mentioned....

I am giving him light saline and salt baths to help with fungus, so far it seems to be clearing up. He has "shed" all his shell sections in the last few days and things are looking good.,

He begs alot though! hehehe. Feeding him once per day. He finally figured out that turtles are supposed to bask, and now gets up on his basking area for an hour or less per day. I'd like to see him bask more but I am sure its all so new to him, that he will later on.

marisa