Somethings Wrong With Turtle Shells

[BigBeginner]

The outer layer of my turtles shells have been falling off, when ever i clean the gravel i find pieces, also they are turning different colors and white and it looks really unhealthy, i started happening a while ago but i didn't think anythign of it because it was very little and wasn't bad at all. The pieces falling off are like pieces of plastic

Could this be some sort of water issue, causing their shell to fall apart and lose color? like calcium or just bad water over all? or is this just normal? i kept a few of the "plastic" shell pieces from a long time ago, i could try to find them and take a picture, but they basiclly looks like a clear shell scales (full scales) with a little bit of the shell color on them

Other then that, my turtle seen perfectly fine except for some skin sheding

Here are pictures of the turtles, they are about 4 years old

the green was from a long time ago when they got stained by green water

 

[conner2008]

The outer layer of my turtles shells have been falling off, when ever i clean the gravel i find pieces, also they are turning different colors and white and it looks really unhealthy, i started happening a while ago but i didn't think anythign of it because it was very little and wasn't bad at all. The pieces falling off are like pieces of plastic

Could this be some sort of water issue, causing their shell to fall apart and lose color? like calcium or just bad water over all? or is this just normal? i kept a few of the "plastic" shell pieces from a long time ago, i could try to find them and take a picture, but they basiclly looks like a clear shell scales (full scales) with a little bit of the shell color on them

Other then that, my turtle seen perfectly fine except for some skin sheding

Here are pictures of the turtles, they are about 4 years old

the green was from a long time ago when they got stained by green water

just some questions that may help others and maybe myself help easier.

are they all apart from losing the shell, healthy? are there eyes clouded at all are they still showing normal activity or exhibiting stressed behaviour?

how long have they been losing these pieces of shell?

do you supplement there calicium intake by putting a block of calcium in the water?

whats there diet like, is it varied?

what has changed since they started losing there bits of shell? (e.g change of tank, water quality issues, diet, new plants/animals? ect ect)

 

[BigBeginner]

The outer layer of my turtles shells have been falling off, when ever i clean the gravel i find pieces, also they are turning different colors and white and it looks really unhealthy, i started happening a while ago but i didn't think anythign of it because it was very little and wasn't bad at all. The pieces falling off are like pieces of plastic

Could this be some sort of water issue, causing their shell to fall apart and lose color? like calcium or just bad water over all? or is this just normal? i kept a few of the "plastic" shell pieces from a long time ago, i could try to find them and take a picture, but they basiclly looks like a clear shell scales (full scales) with a little bit of the shell color on them

Other then that, my turtle seen perfectly fine except for some skin sheding

Here are pictures of the turtles, they are about 4 years old

the green was from a long time ago when they got stained by green water

just some questions that may help others and maybe myself help easier.

are they all apart from losing the shell, healthy? are there eyes clouded at all are they still showing normal activity or exhibiting stressed behaviour?

how long have they been losing these pieces of shell?

do you supplement there calicium intake by putting a block of calcium in the water?

whats there diet like, is it varied?

what has changed since they started losing there bits of shell? (e.g change of tank, water quality issues, diet, new plants/animals? ect ect)

yea they are healthy (to me), eyes dont look cloudy, activity is normal, they hide a lot and are a bit shyer then they were when they were in a tank, now if they are sunbathing they will jujmp back in the water when you get close

they have been losing them for a couple year, its very slow

i used to put calcium blocks, should i continue?

i used to feed them pellets and live feeder goldfish (but i was told this isn't very healthy) and i tried putting a piece of lettuce in the water but they dont touch it

I recently put them in a pond type tank (indoors) but they were loseing their shell before this, there is a lot of junk in the gravel but i clean most of it, there used to be fish in the tank, there was a plant but they ate it so i took it out

in the 2nd picture you can see where they have lost parts fo the shell and where there still is

 

[Davo86]

How often is it shredding, if its once or twice per year then its normal but if its pretty much constant then you have a problem.

From the pics it doesn't really look like the turtles have a suitable basking area, can you post a pic of the whole setup?

Do you have a UVB?
what are you feeding?
what filtration do you have on the tank?
how often and what percentage water changes do you do?

 

[BigBeginner]

How often is it shredding, if its once or twice per year then its normal but if its pretty much constant then you have a problem.

From the pics it doesn't really look like the turtles have a suitable basking area, can you post a pic of the whole setup?

Do you have a UVB?
what are you feeding?
what filtration do you have on the tank?
how often and what percentage water changes do you do?

the shedding is not constant, but i dont think it is as slow as 1 or 2 a year maybe 3-5 a year

the basking area is pretty small, in the picture, i planned for the upper level of the pond for them to bask in, but they dont reallygo up their, they usually only go on the ramp and stop bask their (im taking a picture after i post this)

The bulb is ZooMed repti basking spot lamp with UVA i cant find UVB in my LFS

right now pellets

330gph pump canister (one corse pad, one fine pad, and bioballs) right now, it is off, because it started leaking so im fixing it, so there is a spare whisper 10 in there to keep the water moving a bit

i dont do water changes often, and they are like 20%

 

[BigBeginner]

pictures

 

[Davo86]

Do you ever test the water?
With only W10 filter on the tank I can guarantee that your water quality will be terrible i'm afraid,
a W10 is only really suitable for a 10G and thats stocked with fish not turtles

You would need to be doing daily 75% water changes to even attempt to keep the water clean when using a W10.

Edit: what is the actual volume of water in there?

 

[BigBeginner]

did you read my whole post?it is only temperary for today while i fix the leak in my filter
the actual filter is a 330 gph canister (that black thing in the back if my pictures)

the whole thing is 75 gals, there is about 35-50 gals of water im GUESSING

EDIT: the leak is fixed

 

[Davo86]

did you read my whole post?it is only temperary for today while i fix the leak in my filter
the actual filter is a 330 gph canister (that black thing in the back if my pictures)

the whole thing is 75 gals, there is about 35-50 gals of water im GUESSING

EDIT: the leak is fixed

sorry you didn't say just how temporary it was,

with the cannister filter I would still be doing one 30-50% water change per week, and I would definitely take a sample of water to your LFS next time you go in so they can test it, just to make sure that the shredding isn't being caused by a high ammonia or nitrite level.

With regards to feeding, do the pellets you feed contain vitamin D and calcium?
I would look at feeding, the above contained pellet, as well as supplementing this with the odd prawns or river shrimp.

They also need some veg in their diet, i know you said they won't eat lettuce, but it may be worth trying them on deshelled peas, diced cucumber or courgette etc. They should also eat live plants if you have any overgrowing or starting to die off in other tanks perhaps

 

[loraxchick]

i suggest soaking thier pellets in water with some reptodust several times a week (not everyday). has lots of good vitamins for them. overall their shells look healthy in the fact that they do not pyramid- often seen in pet turtles. Reptodust can be found i nthe reptile section of any pet store. they also sell a shell conditioner that you can rub on the shells-but ive never had to use it as i suppliment with reptodust. calcium blocks are good (as are cuttlebones) but the vitamin dust is better as it contains lots of essential trace elements for proper shell growth and maintainence. id say your filtration is most likely adequit but id get my water tested just to make sure the ammonia (or nitrates---never ending battle with them in my tank even with large 3x weekly water changes). turtles are notoriously messy animals and do require so much effort to keep healthy. im really glad that you have uva/uvb...something lots of turtle owners do not provide. is it possible its time to replace the bulb? justa thought. when they bask are they completely out of the water? if not, rethink the current layout and try to provide an area that they will USE that is out of the water. shell rot is not something you would ever want to deal with.
i do highly recommend getting the vitamin dust!!!
cheers and good luck...i loves me the turles!

 

[BigBeginner]

did you read my whole post?it is only temperary for today while i fix the leak in my filter
the actual filter is a 330 gph canister (that black thing in the back if my pictures)

the whole thing is 75 gals, there is about 35-50 gals of water im GUESSING

EDIT: the leak is fixed

sorry you didn't say just how temporary it was,

with the cannister filter I would still be doing one 30-50% water change per week, and I would definitely take a sample of water to your LFS next time you go in so they can test it, just to make sure that the shredding isn't being caused by a high ammonia or nitrite level.

With regards to feeding, do the pellets you feed contain vitamin D and calcium?
I would look at feeding, the above contained pellet, as well as supplementing this with the odd prawns or river shrimp.

They also need some veg in their diet, i know you said they won't eat lettuce, but it may be worth trying them on deshelled peas, diced cucumber or courgette etc. They should also eat live plants if you have any overgrowing or starting to die off in other tanks perhaps

Ok ill take a sample when i do go

And ill look for some food that has that

Should the meats be cooked or raw? how should they be cooked?

Ill try some other things, and they have eaten live plants

i suggest soaking thier pellets in water with some reptodust several times a week (not everyday). has lots of good vitamins for them. overall their shells look healthy in the fact that they do not pyramid- often seen in pet turtles. Reptodust can be found i nthe reptile section of any pet store. they also sell a shell conditioner that you can rub on the shells-but ive never had to use it as i suppliment with reptodust. calcium blocks are good (as are cuttlebones) but the vitamin dust is better as it contains lots of essential trace elements for proper shell growth and maintainence. id say your filtration is most likely adequit but id get my water tested just to make sure the ammonia (or nitrates---never ending battle with them in my tank even with large 3x weekly water changes). turtles are notoriously messy animals and do require so much effort to keep healthy. im really glad that you have uva/uvb...something lots of turtle owners do not provide. is it possible its time to replace the bulb? justa thought. when they bask are they completely out of the water? if not, rethink the current layout and try to provide an area that they will USE that is out of the water. shell rot is not something you would ever want to deal with.
i do highly recommend getting the vitamin dust!!!
cheers and good luck...i loves me the turles!

thanks ill look for some of that reptodust

actually i just replaced it because it burned out a couple weeks ago

Yes they are complete out

i love turtles to =]