Soft Shell help please

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LullabyLizard

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Hey

My turtles back half of the shell was soft when we got it (it was from the orphan animal list thing) and since then, it has gotten softer and softer. I take her out into the sun, calcium dusting her food, UV lights......

Is there anything else that I can do? I'm afraid she's dying :cry:

Rosabella
 
I just want to see if there is anything more I can do before a vet trip
 
How often do you see her basking? Theres 2 things that can cause that. Lack of UV and the inability/refusal to bask. When you take her outside how long do you leave her out there?
 
She basks allot... about 3 hours a day! She goes out every week, for the day.
 
It needs more calcium in it's diet, try getting it shrimps, or feed it crushed eggs shell mixed in with turtle cubes. All the UV in the world won't help now if it's diet isn't changed.
 
What are your water chemistry parameters?

Also that diet is totally inadequate for a turtle even though it may be fine for a fish. Mine get feeder fish, frozen krill, fresh prawns, bok choy and good quality turtle pellets (there is one made by Sera which has crushed egg shell in the pellet - sera raffy mineral)
 
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What is that :? I use water ager....

You need to test your pH, general hardness and carbonate hardness levels.

As an example, I run my turtle tanks at a pH of about 7.5 to 8 with about a mid level general hardness and high carbonate hardness. I obtain this with a bit of aquarium salt and using a non-phosphate buffer in the water (One of the ones made by Seachem) I also have a number of sea shells mixed in with my substrate as they help to buffer the water. Adding a couple of bits of cuttle fish (the things given to birds to chew on) to your water may help in the short term. Best bet would be to go to a reputable aquarium store and get a crash course in water chemistry - take a sample of your water in for them to test for you so you know where you are starting from.
 
As Tsubakai said, the quality of your water is very important. If you take some water down to an aquarium shop to have it tested, they will be able to tell you what may be wrong. The pH is the most important in this case, as all the calcium, UV, and Vitamin D3 supplements aren't going to do a thing if your water is too acidic (low pH). Turtles can be quite messy, and if food particles, faecal matter and any other biological material builds up in the tank, it will lower your pH, build up ammonia levels, which, with further breakdowns, will raise your nitrate and nitrite levels. It is easy to let it get to the point where beneficial bacterias in the water cannot keep these levels in check.
In this case, a couple of water changes done perhaps once a week, will help to replace bad water with fresh water with beneficial bacteria. With these water changes, a product called Cycle will help to put a bit of extra bacteria in your water after every water change.
Bloodworms are a great treat for turtles, but should be used as just that, a treat. They aren't a very nutritional food for a turtle, sort of like maccas for people! Crickets, shrimp and small fish are some of the great more natural, healthier foods especially for young and growing turtles.
After the food and water quality have been improved, you should start to see some improvement in your turtle, although it will be a relatively slow process.
 
Thanks for all the help guys! The PH is good and I change the water every 3 days.
 
you could also try going down to your local bait and tackle shop and buying a bag of white bait(baby pilchards i believe) i give these to my turtle and he loves them and they work a treat for providing the extra calcium they need
 
Make sure when you put your turtle outside to bask, dont have any glass lids or walls over what it's kept in as standard glass filters out all UV from sunlight.
 
Are you suppling UV light in the turtle tank, If so how old is the tube??
 
this has happend with one of my turtle juvies once before... it was getting softer and softer... and i took it to the vet and they gave her anjection but he was afraid itwas too late... she died 3 days later but after a post mortem it ended up being a bacterial infection... so take it to the vet right away....good luck...
 
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