Alligator snapper shell rot

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kabaltah

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 4, 2008
70
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Turkey
Hello friends, I have been keeping two hatchling alligator snappers for a month. One of them is bigger than the other and both of them are a little bigger than two inches.
I keep them in a 30 gal tank, water is 84F, water depth is 4 inches, I have a %5 UVB tube as lighting. Tank is filtered by a 500 gph canister filter and an air driven sponge filter for extra aeration. There was 5 pieces of mopani wood as decor but took them off when the problem accurs to keep water parameters better.
I am not sure if they had the problem when I got them but the situation worsens every day. First I noticed there was two gray scutes at the side of the shell of the bigger snapper. In about a week the discoloration spread to adjancent scutes and when I examine I saw that the skin covering the scutes was absent. Then I noticed the same thing on one scute on the middle back end of the shell of smaller snapper. I started to clean the affected scutes with boric acid solution which is a mild antiseptic against fungal and bacterial infections, then dry dock them for an hour under uvb lighting. And threat the tank water with acriflavine and sera ectopur which is an oxygen releasing salt used to threat fungal infections on fish. I also change the water of the tank everyday while I dry dock the turtles and redose medications. But all of theese doesn't help problem spread to the upper scutes of the bigger snapper.
I attach photos of the infection and the healty scutes on the opposite side as referance. I have seen same thing on snappers of other people on forums but there is no information on how the thing ended.
Any advice and information is welcome. I don't want to loose my turtles.











 
That is what I thought at first so I asked a friend of mine who owns two ally snappers for a year and he said that his allys never shed like that and all scutes are covered with skin. Unfortunately it is not shedding.
 
when you "dry dock" the turtles, do you let their shells dry completely dry out or are they still damp. I have found that letting them get totally dry for a few hours every day or so usually gets that stuff under control even without the extra medications. my turltes of 4-6 inches get set out in a dry bucket overnight every night until any of their shell problems clear. the problem is no matter how much we try we will never be able to do for them in our enclosures as they can do for themselves in the wild. good thing is that they kind of grow out of this sensitive shell thing over time and get much more resistant.
ps - dont under estimate the desire for an AST to want to bask
 
Thank you for reply, I use an antibiotic ointment on them and dry dock for several hours everyday. I had been using acriflavine in their tank but discontinue using it. Meds in water seems to make them more stressed. After spreading to six scutes on my bigger snapper and two scutes on my smaller one, there is no improvement on the damaged tissue yet but the infection seems to stop spreading. I believe it is a bacterial problem but there is a chance that it may be caused by the feeder fish in the tank, nipping on my turtles. So I fed all the feeders to my turtles, will see if the situation continue without those fishes.
If the problem doesn't resolve this way, I will try dry docking them for longer periods everday before using different medications.
 
I would lower water temp to 75f or cooler(to encourage basking). I've heard iodine being the recommended antiseptic(although others could work). Dry docking can probably do the most good for your turtle. Good luck
 
Thank you friend, they already bask all night. I think they know they need to bask so they get on the dry platform of the tank and stay there all the night.
I know about bethadine, it can be lethal for soft shelled turtles, since alligator snappers are not soft shelled but their shell is covered by a kind of skin I afraid to harm them so I don't use bethadine. I do apply antibiotic and dry dock them under uvb lighting for several hours everyday. The situation doesn't seem to be getting better or worse at the moment.
Thr most important thing for me is to know the reason bacterial, fungal, water chemistry or physical damage. Since I don't know the reason I have doupts if I am doing the right threatment.
 
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