If i submerge my red-eared slider turtle into salt water wouldnt that shrivel it up?

Question

i'm doing this cuz its for a treatment cuz my turtle developed white sports due to lack of sunlight and does this really help?

ps: how high should the level of salt water be and how much salt should i put in the water? so it would be the "right" amount of salt and water

Answer 1

I have had two for 36 yrs now plus a 8 yr old and a 5 yr old..



  Ã¢Â€ÂœFungal infections” are fairly common among red-eared sliders, especially younger ones. If you notice what looks like a light layer of cotton on your slider’s shell or eyes or in its mouth, this is most likely some form of fungal infection. Although their appearance can be alarming, most infections in their early stages are fully treatable at home. If a fungal infection remains untreated, however, it can spread across the entire body and cause serious harm to your turtle.

To treat a mild fungal infection, immerse your red-eared slider in a warm saltwater bath for about half an hour each day, using a soft sponge to gently scrub the infected regions. Use a 3/4 water and 1/4 salt. So that means if you put him in the kitchen sink fill it so it just goes over the top of his shell. Lets say you use 6 cups of water , use 1/4 cup salt.  He can keep his head above water..make sure its slightly warm..and put him it this solution for an hr an day..if he ducks and goes under he will be ok,,

You can also treat patches of fungus with topical applications of a mild antiseptic, such as povidone-iodine. As long as the problem isn’t severe, you should notice signs of recovery within a day or two, and a full recovery in about 10–14 days.

If your turtle has a persistent fungal infection that home treatment isn’t curing, take it to the vet for treatment. Several medications are available that can address a fungal infection if it hasn’t spread too far.”

**Shell Rot. *** First make a dry box to keep the turtle in, shell rot needs water to grow.

Keep it warm and give it plenty of light. Scrub the shell gently with a toothbrush and water. Let the turtle swim for about 20 minutes a day in something other than his pond or tank that has real  clean water. 1-2 times a day take a cotton ball apply Hydrogen Peroxide to it then to his shell. It'll start bubbling which means its cleaning it. it. DO NOT get it in his eyes. Then clean the shell and apply providone-iodine solution to the shell, coat the shell and don't clean it off until he is ready to swim the next day.** Keep this up for several weeks and it should go away. . MOST important !!! TOSS in a bird cuttle bone in the water for calcium. it will dissolve real slow and if they eat it that’s fine!!

Respiratory Infections *****Sliders, cooter, map, painted, yellow bellied and other aquatic species are susceptible to respiratory infections. Many respiratory infections that can affect sliders are mild and easily treatable in their EARLY  stages, but there are also some particularly virulent infections that can kill a turtle very quickly without veterinary attention. Sliders usually develop respiratory infections when their tank is too cold. **Symptoms of an infection include a runny nose, wheezing, lopsided swimming (an ailing lung changes the turtle’s buoyancy), lethargy, and a refusal to eat. If you identify the illness in its early stages, you may be able to treat it by removing the sick slider from its quarters into a new, clean tank (especially if you keep multiple sliders, since the majority of respiratory infections are contagious) and keeping it a few degrees warmer than normal. Warmth is the most crucial factor in treating respiratory infections in the home. If the condition persists for more than a few days or worsens, bring your slider to your veterinarian, who will treat the infection with antibiotics.”

Contact the “herpetologicalsocieties.com, for a turtle vet in your city and state.

Answer 2

I'll take a shot at it, here's my best...

You are thinking of Osmosis which depends on having a semi-permiable membrane to pass water through until the turtle in the solution would reach a balance of solute right?

It is my experience that Normal saline is composed of 0.9% salt dissolved in water. I believe http://www.craig.copperleife.com/health/... stated 8 grams per liter of water. That is the same salts concentration of human blood. That amount of salt water will not shrivel the skin of turtles or human as far as I can tell. The salt must be without iodine.

If you have a hydrometer to measure the concentration I would go no higher then 32 salts since the ocean is that heavy in salts. I'm not sure how a turtle would tolerate it. A medicine tank and uv lamp would probably do the trick if it's really caused by lack of sunlight, just spending a little time at a time in the salt bath each day may be a way of getting him into a higher salt concentration and not shriveling. ?4 hours?

Just recently a salesperson at a pet store told me that cold water causes white spots. I was thinking that they looked more like Ick. I treated it with a drop of Melaleuca (tea tree oil) and they were falling off into the bottom of the medicine tank. I changed the water daily for a week with water from my established aquarium that is not infected and it finally went away and the fish did great - no more spots when he was finally introduced into the tank. I was pretty upset at the lies though, they covered up a bacterial infection with some nonsense about temperature (which can affect bacteria - but Ick shouldn't be part of a normal tank flora).

**Tea tree oil is an anti-fungal topical oil and could be added to the water, get the same melacure from aquarium stores or place one drop in the water.

Hydrometers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrometer)... simple and can be bought at a fish supply pet shop for $4 or so. you just take a sample of water and place inside, set on a surface and wait for the needle to tell you how much salt is there, and they also have ones that rest inside the water and float to the number. I prefer the first.

Go to http://www.petguys.com/-051378025030.htm... to buy one online.

Good luck with that, hope this helps