Turtle having spasms. Help pls

[Jones of the Jungle]

Just got home to find the turtle twitching all legs, and it looks like his front toes are cramped over. He's not as active as usual, is still moving around a bit, and is still interested in eating turtle pellets. Did a partial water change yesterday. It looks like he's shedding at least thats what I think it is, looks like white skin hanging off his limbs. Last night he got fed a bit of fish flavoured cat food, becuase my daughter fed him the last of the turtle dinner and didnt tell me we needed more. But we were looking at taking him off that anyway, so I bought him the pellets and the fish today.

Sorry if the layout of this post is a little all over the place, I just typed as things came into my head.

 

[ScorpionKing]

can you show us any pic's of your turtle and tank?

What species, how old, what is the tank setup like..??

 

[Jones of the Jungle]

short neck turtle
Rough age estimate we got him in august and he was only a bit bigger then 50c
Tank is 4 feet, with heater and shelf

Im also worried about him not being able to swim to surface to breathe, should i place him in a shallow container of water and sit it under the uv light?

Pics of Tank, and a couple of pics of turtle, took them just then upon request

 

[-Peter]

Whats the UV source, whats the water temp, Where is the basking light, its all very exposed, it needs places to hide. Same as other reptiles. What else do you feed it.? Sorry I cant tell you anything on what you have written. I can only make assumptions and that wont help. A vet would though.
have you tried here
http://www.australianfreshwaterturtles.com.au/index.php

 

[Jones of the Jungle]

Yeah I had a look at the site, but couldnt find anything relevant.
Uv source is a reptistar fluro 30w.
Water temp 26 degrees
Basking light? as in uv? uv light covers the dry shelf and open water
As for hiding, didnt know that, what would be the ideal hide for a turtle?

 

[Jones of the Jungle]

feed, mainly turtle dinner until now. got feeder fish and pellets. Just put some parsley in there after reading it on a vet's website. but he's only eaten the few pellets i gave him so far.

 

[Jones of the Jungle]

My husband thought maybe he was a bit constipated. Could this be so?

 

[Ristof]

In terms of the size of his mouth, how big is the substrate. He may have eaten a pebble.
With shedding it is only the shell, when they shed they shed to their shell pattern, each bit of the pattern is like an individual scale. (this is how all my four shed anyway)
One thing you haven't mentioned in the tank is a calcium block - this is required for their shell and health. These are white blocks normally in the shape of a turtle - there are 2 types, one is just a calcium block the other is like a med block that has calcium and water treatment in it. Do you have one in your tank
Hiding spots is like what they would have in nature, rocks, driftwood, non toxic plants. plant like you have.
What filtration do you have in there - filtration should be at least 4x bigger then the tank water size. I am using a 1200l/ph on a 3ft tank.
If I was you I would remove the substrate and replace it will different size rocks - much bigger then mouth size and some drift wood.
Let me know if you have any more questiones

 

[-Peter]

The UV light is not a basking light. You need a heat lamp for that. Personally I think 26 is to warm for the water but others disagree so we'll forget about that.
How old is your uv tube. They dont last very long and if its not working your turtle wont be metabolising calcium.
Good things for turtles to use as hiding spots are of course plants, driftwood and large formations(rocks). so they can look good to.
If you actually ask on the Freshwater turtles site you may get some information.

 

[Ristof]

Yeah I have my tanks set at 24degrees but the temp is accually a bit cooler in the larger tank because it is only a 25w heater

 

[Eastern Snake Neck]

Did you actually ask for help on the Australian Freshwater Turtles site?

Jones of the Jungle,

Take -Peter's advice: If you are genuinely concerned about this issue and the health of your turtle, then ask your question on the www.australianfreshwaterturtles.com.au site.

If you don't care about your turtle and its potentially grave condition, then the Aussie Pythons and Snakes site is a great place to ask your turtle questions.

Regard,
Michael.