White spot on skin

I wanted to thank everyone in this DBT Group that has helped me out in the past, and especially Rich Hollander most recently. It’s such a great group of people with an unbelievable amount of knowledge and I’m really thankful that I came across you guys! I have only had my Terrapin since September, so when she developed this white spot on her rear leg, I really didn’t have a clue as to what it was or how to treat it. Not only did Rich identify what the growth was and how to treat it (in great detail), but he also told me what was causing it and gave me a long term solution to boot! Because Rich (and many others like him) took the time to help out a “Turtle Newbie”, my little girl is 100% healthy once again. The white fungal growth completely disappeared within 4 days of treatment, and I have also resolved the basking station problem (at least until she gets bigger). Now I have a little time on my side and I can start working on her permanent/long term basking log. Anyway, thanks again………..You guys are great!! JimboCraig (Wildwood, Missouri) —- rcftx wrote:============= Hi Jimbo……I believe what you are seeing is fungal growth( white patches on their skin). I am a breeder and have alot of experience with this and came up with a method a few years back to cure it quickly. It is generally caused by your terrapin not having an adequate basking site. You must construct a warm basking site where your terrapin can get completely out of the water to dry out. If the basking site does not allow your terrapin to get its feet and limbs completely dried off you will continuously battle this problem despite the water clarity. So the long term solution is to construct a proper basking site. My terrapins are all in outdoor ponds and have natural basking sites, however the yearlings that I raise are kept inside during the winter in large tanks. I had to constantly be curing them before I realized what the root of the problem was. I constructed a basking site by getting a long piece of shaped driftwood which dipped lower in the center allowing the terrapins to easily get up and out of the water. I cut the back of the drift wood in a strait line and on one side cut a 90 degree straight angle. I then silicone (Using non toxic marine silicone) the driftwood onto the back and side of the tank about 3/4 up from the bottom. Leaving enough room for them to get out of the water and not too close to my basking lamps to injure themselves. I keep my water temperature at 82 and the basking site at around 88-90 degrees. With a properly constructed basking site once your terrapin is cured from the fungus it should not return. Now to effectively get rid of the fungus. The best method is to combine a strategy of dry docking and applying Betadine solution to the area with a Q-tip. Take your terrapin out of the tank and put it in a warm container kept at about 80-82 degrees with an old towel for it to hide under. Paint the affected area with the betadine after your terrapin has dried off and keep it in the dry-dock container all night. Then in the morning…allow it to rehydrate in another container with about 4 inches of fresh water.. Feed it and allow it to drink and poop. After a few hours then proceed with the dry-dock and betadine procedure. Rehydrate once again for a few hours prior to another night of dry-docking and betadine application. If you follow this procedure for a few days the fungal problem with disappear quickly.It is also a good idea while you are treating your terrain in other plastic containers to thoroughly clean its tank so once cured any remaining fungal contaminants are removed from its environment. If you follow this procedure you will very effectively eliminate the problem. Best of Luck…Rich Hollander—– Original Message —–From: jimbo_craigTo: diamondbackterrapins@yahoogroups.comSent: Saturday, January 21, 2006 4:42 PMSubject: [diamondbackterrapins] White spot on skin?? Hello all,I have a 4 month old CB Concentric Diamondback. She (I think she’sa girl anyway) has a small white “growth” or spot on her right rearleg. I noticed it yesterday and it looks like it has gottenslightly larger than it was yesterday, but it is still a very smallspot. She is right at 3 inches and is still eating like a horse. Iwould say that she has been ultra healthy since I got her 4 1/2months ago and everything has been perfect with her since day one. Iknow that it is extremely important to have clean water for DBT’s,so I do 20% water changes weekly and the filter should be sufficient(Magnum 350 for a 20 gallon long tank). I keep the temp right at 80degrees, feed her a varied diet, and all the other basic stuff. Ihave bought some aquarium salt, but have not added any to the waterjust yet. So can someone out there (as many opinions as possible)please tell me how serious this is and where do I go from here?Will adding the salt do the trick or do I have to medicate the areaalso? Also, how much salt? I have Pimafix on hand…..will thatstuff help?All her behavior is exactly the same as it was before……veryactive swimmer, eating extremely well, and basking the normalamount, so this skin infection doesn’t appear to have affected herin a negative way just yet, but I want to nip it in the butt rightaway (if possible). This is my first Diamondback, so I’m cluelessas to what is the best treatment for this kind of thing. She’s in a20 gallon long tank all by herself (except for a 2″ pleco). pH is7.8 and all other water levels are A-OK. Please let me know if youneed any additional info. THANKS!! JimboSPONSORED LINKS Animal traps Animal control Animal control equipmentSuccess and failure —————————————————————————— YAHOO! GROUPS LINKSa.. Visit your group “diamondbackterrapins” on the web.b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: diamondbackterrapins-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.comc.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! 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