Alligator snapping turtle shell HELP!

[Homer Siped]

Yes, he's unusually out of water for about a mth. It's very odd as he had never been like that. Water should be fine as we have little lobsters and goldfishes doing well in the same tank. What's the link for Fb group? Thanks in advance.

goldfish and crays can take really bad water. Should take goldfish out, they are bad for turts i went though my snapper staying out of water, ecen though it was crystal clear, i did a total water change and immediately within 2 minutes he was back in water. The fb group is all snapper owners check it out

 

[Ally]

goldfish and crays can take really bad water. Should take goldfish out, they are bad for turts i went though my snapper staying out of water, ecen though it was crystal clear, i did a total water change and immediately within 2 minutes he was back in water. The fb group is all snapper owners check it out

Thanks for replying. For the last 2 days he seem to be better and ventured back into water. Unfortunately today when we were back home he was overturned in water and left us.... I'm deeply puzzled, had he drowned in the water... Is that even possible? Or there were probably other illness affecting him. Sign... We only had him for close to two years... Sign.

 

[kljr]

Hey Guys, new update on my turtle. Still very active, his shell colour remains the same but his plastron is recovering.

 

[kabaltah]

Hi kljr, I have been reading chinese forums for some time. They have huge experience on snapping turtles. I have found out that they call this situation fading, as it happens in flowerhorns.
Basically, turtle looses the skin which covers bonny shell scutes. They say that the reason is low ph, dirty water and one-way feeding.
They suggest keeping the water alkaline, full water change once or twice a week, and feeding variety food. They also say that commercial turtle food is bad for their carapace and they must be fed on live or frozen fish and only a little turtle food.
Also they say, the shell will return back to normal, if all the requirements done and provided a good amount of UVB. But it will take a very long time, may be years.
I have the same problem with my ally snappers, I noticed the problem started when I used too much wood in my setup and it gets worse when I delay water changes. One of my affected turtles recovered in 6 months, but the other 2 got worse.
I had the information about the reason and solution only a week ago, so I am not sure if the suggested treatment will work.

 

[kljr]

Update on turtle - 19 December 2015, after removing driftwood from tank for 2months

 

[kabaltah]

Update on turtle - 19 December 2015, after removing driftwood from tank for 2months

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Is it getting better or not? I can not tell the difference cause the previous pics are wet, new ones are dry.
As an update on my turtles, out of seven ally snappers 4 of them show those sypmtoms. All of them are kept in identical setups.
Last week I got a digital ph meter and surprised that all my tanks are above 8 even 8.5 ph. This is a very high alkaline value and caused by high water surface agitation of my filter system.
While this does not match well with my previous theory, since I don't use wood any more. The problem may be due to high ph.

 

[kljr]

Hey guys, an update on my turtle. It seems that the top part of it's shell is turning black. Does it mean that it's recovering? I've recently bought a new uvb 10% bulb for the tank. Here are some pics in the water and out of water.

 

[kljr]

The small part of its shell that came off, i found it behind some rocks

 

[Aaroncboo1]

I've heard uvb will not penetrate water. So I wouldn't think that would do anything unless he comes out of the water. It getting darker is a good thing in my experience with mine.

 

[kabaltah]

Peeling of that outer layer of scutes is not a good sign, problem on my turtles started like this. I don't know if the darkening is good or bad, time will tell. I hope you will continue feedback.
And UVB can't penetrate water this is right but UVA rays may penetrate water. Recent studies shows UVA boosts immune system of reptiles and accelerate healing. So even the turtle doesn't bask, it is better to use UVB bulbs for their lighting, those bulbs produces %30 UVA radiation alongside UVB radiation.