Terrrapin (Red-eared slider), Strange Behaviour, Please Help

halfmoonplakat

halfmoonplakat

AC Members
Nov 7, 2009
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Well, he's (my red-eared slider) eating again somewhat. But he is not interested in his food very much...
But now there are even more problems...
I just gave him a massive water change. And he began falling asleep for no reason. Over and over again. Usually he is very active after a water change and demands to be fed. But lately he has been falling asleep. So I watched him for a bit and found that:
Whenever he falls asleep underwater, I can see him opening and closing his mouth as if he is breathing. Bubbles appear and he gasps for a bit. Whenever he does this he immediately wakes up and sticks his head above the water for a nice long breath. But midway through the breath he twitches/has a spasm and sticks his head underneath the water again and begins twitching and shutting his eyelids closed...and then open...and then closed. He opens and closes his mouth underwater. And then he fall asleep again. He twitches so much if he were a fish I would believe it to be a parasite :(
Also, he is acting very sluggishly although the temperature is in the 75-76 degree F range...
The water:land ratio is 65%:35% (+/-), and the land/water areas are both very easily accessible.
I feed him krill/earthworms, and veggie pellets, every day and a piece of lettuce every other week, and sometimes the occasional cucumber. And no, he has no other turtles/fish with him in his 10g. He is a couple of months old and is about 2" (+/-) in shell diameter.
Also when he wakes up he puts his front leg over his head and pulls it downwards as if he were trying to get rid of something on his eye, or above it. Lastly he does not/cannot (?) fully open his eyes much anymore. It is just a matter of sleep, choke underwater, wake up, twitch, fall asleep again. It is kind of like a seizure. I feel so bad right now :(
I would really appreciate a response or help of any form. Ideas and comments would be welcome.
Thank you so much.
Right now I am very scared for his well-being I will try anything to get him better...
Thanks again in advance.
And sorry if I posted this in the wrong forum...
 
Hmmm......well for starters do you use city water with chlorine in it? If that's the case it could be stinging his eyes. I'm also wondering if your turtle is getting a respiratory infection. Is there any discharge coming from the nose and is the turtle weezing at all? What is your filtration like and how often do you change the water? For now I would bump the water temp up to 80 F and see if your turtle improves at all.
 
Vicious_Fish said:
Hmmm......well for starters do you use city water with chlorine in it? If that's the case it could be stinging his eyes. I'm also wondering if your turtle is getting a respiratory infection. Is there any discharge coming from the nose and is the turtle weezing at all? What is your filtration like and how often do you change the water? For now I would bump the water temp up to 80 F and see if your turtle improves at all.
Click to expand...

I just use regular tap water...I had no idea you had to condition it. Would just letting it sit for a few days help? Can you buy a kind of dechlorinator from pet stores or something? (I just use a betta conditioner to condition the water for my bettas).
And no, there is no discharge from the nose as far as I can see...His nasal passages seem clear. I use a sponge filter, the tank is properly cycled, and I do a 75%-90% water change once a week.

jrobinson200 said:
hi, i dont know anything about turtles but i hope he is ok
Click to expand...

Thanks :)

As an update, he is eating less, but I am quite positive (90%) that he is only abstaining from eating because of sluggishness. When he is awake and there is food in front of him (and I mean right in front of him) he will eat. Once he fell asleep with a half-chewed veggie pellet in his mouth.
Also he seems to have problems swimming. He struggles to get air from above the waterline and seemed to be choking and possibly suffocating (this has never happened before) and he "forgot" where the land area was and just stayed in the water area, so I lowered the waterline to about 1 1/8 inches. Then he fell asleep underwater and woke up only to take a breath. And then he began to take a breath while asleep. In the middle of the night, he must have wandered back to the land area because that is where I found him this morning.
Normal red-eared sliders can swim and breathe properly, right? I mean I saw a turtle in a lake once breathing while canoeing.
Thanks for the feedback
 
I'm really starting to think that your turtle has a respiratory infection. Does he have any trouble swimming or does he float at all?
 
He doesn't float but he sinks. Well the lower half of his body floats (the area of a swim bladder for fish), and the upper half sinks. So he has trouble breathing.
 
If that's the case then your turtle does have RI. I would increase the water temp up to 80˚F like I said and if he doesn't improve you'll need to take him to a vet. They have some type of shot that's suppose to help with curing the RI.
 
If you have city water then you have to condition it, could have chloramine and that won't help to leave it out for a day.
He will a much bigger tank, don't thin 10g is ok for even a baby. Adults need 60 gallons at least.
 
Do you have a heat lamp and a UVB light hooked up for him? He needs both.
 
Vicious_Fish said:
If that's the case then your turtle does have RI. I would increase the water temp up to 80˚F like I said and if he doesn't improve you'll need to take him to a vet. They have some type of shot that's suppose to help with curing the RI.
Click to expand...
Okay, I will maintain the water temperature. Is constant sleeping another symptom?

Reframer said:
If you have city water then you have to condition it, could have chloramine and that won't help to leave it out for a day.
He will a much bigger tank, don't thin 10g is ok for even a baby. Adults need 60 gallons at least.
Click to expand...
Whoops, I wasn't aware of that (the conditioning thing) until you guys mentioned it, I will go buy conditioner right now. What do you recommend? And about the tank size, would a 55g be alright? Because I have a spare one that I can use. I'll move him right now.

tomany said:
Do you have a heat lamp and a UVB light hooked up for him? He needs both.
Click to expand...
Yup, I have both :)
 
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